In 1999, President Bill Clinton sent an envoy to North Korea for a rare negotiation aimed at stopping the country’s nuclear development. That was the moment, the envoy says, when everything could have gone differently. Guest: William Perry, the secretary of defense from 1994 to 1997, who went on that diplomatic mission. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.