Mintaro Oba

Mintaro Oba is a speechwriter at West Wing Writers. He was a Korea Desk Officer at the U.S. Department of State until September 2016. In this role, he advised senior officials on key issues in U.S.-Korea relations, crafted strategic messages to help officials advance U.S. interests, and worked closely with Korean diplomats. His portfolio included Koreas diplomatic relations with Japan and China and inter-Korean relations, among many other South and North Korea issues. He has also covered U.S.-Korea economic and environmental cooperation issues. Previously at the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, he worked on publications on North Korean prison camps, its internal security apparatus, and songbun social caste system.