Albright served as U.N. ambassador during President Clinton's first term and as secretary of state in the second Clinton administration. As secretary of state, she visited Pyongyang in October 2000. In this interview, she describes her visit and what it was like to negotiate with Kim Jong Il. She argues that holding direct talks with North Korea should not be considered appeasement, and tells FRONTLINE that the Bush administration, "has kind of dug its heels in and said anything that we did vis-a-vis North Korea is appeasement. Once you define it that way, it's very hard to unpaint yourself, and I think that's where we are now." This interview was conducted on March 27, 2003.

Currently dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, Bosworth was U.S. ambassador to South Korea from 1997-2000. From 1995 to 1997, he served as the executive director of KEDO, the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, an entity created to implement some of the agreements made in the 1994 Agreed Framework. In this interview, he describes how the Agreed Framework became a "political orphan" despite his argument that U.S. engagement would modify aggressive North Korean behavior. He acknowledges criticism that this may mean the U.S. would be rewarding bad behavior, but tells FRONTLINE, "Much of diplomacy is rewarding bad behavior. You're trying to figure out how you can stop the worst of the behavior at the lowest possible price." This interview was conducted on Feb. 21, 2003.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy from 1993-1996, Carter was the senior advisor to former Secretary of Defense William Perry on the Clinton administration's 1999 North Korea policy review. He tells FRONTLINE that a year ago he was more confident that diplomatic talks might have succeeded in convincing North Korea to give up its plans for obtaining nuclear weapons. Today, he fears it may be too late. This interview was conducted on March 3, 2003.

Carter was the 39th president of the United States (1977-1981). In 1994, at the height of tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, he traveled to Pyongyang for a private meeting with then leader Kim Il Sung to broker a peace deal. He tells FRONTLINE that he believes the two nations were on the verge of war in 1994, and says that the U.S. should agree to direct negotiations to resolve the current conflict. This interview was conducted on March 21, 2003.

Kim Duk Hong is one of the highest ranking officials to defect from North Korea. He escaped from North Korea in 1997, first to Beijing and then to Seoul, along with Hwang Jang Yop, the architect of the North Korean regime's ideology known as "Juche," meaning "self reliance." Kim was Hwang's assistant for many years. He is officially barred from talking to the press by the South Korean government, however, FRONTLINE obtained this exclusive interview at an undisclosed location in South Korea.

Gallucci was the chief U.S. negotiator with North Korea during the nuclear crisis of 1994. Months of tense negotiations resulted in the controversial Agreed Framework of 1994, in which North Korea promised to freeze its existing nuclear program in return for two alternative proliferation-resistant nuclear reactors and the promise of improved economic and political relations with the U.S. Though Gallucci believes that the North Koreans cheated on this agreement, he nonetheless deems it a success, since it stopped the plutonium program and avoided an almost certain military confrontation. He is skeptical of the current administration's refusal to negotiate with North Korea. This interview was conducted on March 5, 2003.

Gregg was U.S. ambassador to South Korea from 1989-1993. Prior to that he served in the CIA and the National Security Council, and as national security adviser to Vice President George H.W. Bush. In this interview, he is critical of the current approach to North Korea, telling FRONTLINE that the Bush administration "never had a policy. It's had an attitude -- hostility." He says that the relationship between the two nations could be resuscitated by an expression of high-level interest on the part of the U.S. and a non-aggression pact between the two countries. However, he warns that time is running out to start a dialogue before North Korea becomes a nuclear power. This interview was conducted on Feb. 20, 2003.

A career Foreign Service officer, Hubbard is the current U.S. ambassador to South Korea. Designated by the State Department to speak on behalf of the Bush Administration, he says the administration believes that the current problems with North Korea can be resolved peacefully through a multilateral diplomatic process and that bilateral negotiations are not in U.S. interests. He also maintains that North Korea violated the Agreed Framework by pursuing a uranium enrichment program. This interview was conducted on Feb. 28, 2003.

A longtime expert on Northeast Asia, Ambassador Kartman is the Executive Director of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), the international organization created to help implement of the 1994 Agreed Framework. KEDO was charged with providing North Korea with alternative energy sources -- heavy fuel oil and modern, proliferation light-water nuclear reactors -- in exchange for the country's freezing and eventually dismantling its graphite-moderated reactors and related facilities. Before taking over the leadership of KEDO in May 2001, he served as the U.S. representative to the organization, and as Special Envoy for the Korean Peace Talks. He believes that today, the Bush administration is making a mistake by refusing to engage the North Koreans. "Not talking to the North Koreans seems to have a higher priority than getting rid of a North Korean nuclear weapons program," he says. "I can't understand that. It seems to me that getting rid of this nuclear weapons program should be one of our very highest priorities." This interview was conducted on Feb. 20, 2003.

At the time of this interview, Perle was serving as chairman of the Defense Policy Board, an influential civilian group advising the Pentagon. In the Reagan administration, he served as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy from 1981 to 1987. Perle is highly critical of the Clinton administration's approach to North Korea; in this interview, he equates the 1994 Framework Agreement to extortion: "The basic structure of the relationship implied in the Framework Agreement," he says, "is a relationship between a blackmailer and one who pays a blackmailer." This interview took place on Thursday, March 27, 2003. That same day, he announced his resignation of the chairmanship of the board.

Perry was U.S. secretary of defense from 1994 to 1997, and Clinton's North Korea policy coordinator from 1998 to 2000. He supports the 1994 Agreed Framework, and believes that "coercive diplomacy" -- that is, diplomacy backed up with a credible military threat from the combined forces of the U.S, Japan, and South Korea military -- can avoid war on the Korean Peninsula. Currently, Perry is the Michael and Barbara Berberian professor at Stanford University and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. This interview was conducted in Feb. 26, 2003.

A former intelligence chief for South Korea, Lim Dong Won was also adviser to the former President Kim Dae Jung, and chief negotiator with North Korea. He was the architect of South Korea's "Sunshine Policy," which calls for engaging with North Korea rather than isolating it, in hopes of reunifying the Korean Peninsula. Despite the Bush administration's rejection of this approach to North Korea, he tells FRONTLINE that he remains optimistic. The only alternative to engagement, he believes, is war. This interview was conducted on March 1, 2003.