He served throughout his time in the European Parliament as a member of the Japan Delegation and as a member of the Korean Peninsula Delegation from its formation in 2004. In these roles he visited North Korea almost 50 times. He was the EU's Chief Election Observer in Indonesia in 2004 and in Aceh 2006–7. In 2008, he published, "North Korea on the Brink: Struggle for Survival" (Pluto) which has been subsequently been published in Japanese and Korean. He wrote for The Japan Times.