Robert Egan

Robert Egan (born about 1958) is a restaurateur, author, and unofficial representative of North Korea in the United States. He also ran a trade group trying to improve ties between the two countries.

Egan had befriended Le Quang Khai, a Vietnamese Communist diplomat who eventually defected to the United States, while working on accounting for all missing US servicemen in Vietnam. He was contacted by Han Song Ryol, the North Korean deputy ambassador to the United Nations. Egan and Han established a relationship, including fishing trips and meals at Egan's restaurant "Cubby's" in, in order to provide a diplomatic and commercial back channel in the United States where national diplomacy continuously failed. His efforts have been dubbed "barbecue diplomacy". He has also functioned as an informant for the FBI, once surreptitiously obtaining a sample of hair from Han Song Ryol, the North Korean deputy ambassador.

He co-wrote  with Kurt Pitzer; the book was published in 2010. The New York Times reviewed Egan's story, calling it "a boisterous if improbable book about barbecue diplomacy."

 has reported that HBO may be making a movie based on the book, possibly produced by, where Egan would be played by.