Description
The National Committee on North Korea (NCNK), founded in 2004, is an independent program of the global aid and development organization Mercy Corps. NCNK’s 81 members include diplomats, policymakers, scholars, scientists, humanitarian aid workers, journalists and business people. Prior to joining NCNK in 2014, executive director Keith Luse served at the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee as Senior East Asia Policy Advisor for Chairman and later Ranking Member Senator Richard Lugar.
Requested funding would be primarily directed toward two initiatives, the first to educate policymakers and the public about topics related to North Korea, and the second to improve coordination and information sharing among non-governmental organizations conducting humanitarian work in the country. NCNK’s “policy salons ,” events the Foundation has assisted through previous grants, convene policymakers, journalists, and scholars for in-depth discussion on U.S. policy toward North Korea. The salons regularly draw upon experts from Europe and Asia with access to the DPRK not readily available to Americans , thereby, as Luse stresses, “injecting fresh thinking and unique perspectives.” Our most recent grant also enabled a 2017 conference, “Change and Continuity: Lessons from Humanitarian Engagement with North Korea,” attended by 30 people, from six countries, involved with humanitarian, development and capacity-building programs in the DPRK. NCNK seeks to continue these conferences as a means of shedding light on the complex and shifting circumstances on the Korean Peninsula and enhancing understanding of the impact of international sanctions on humanitarian efforts. With our support, NCNK would reach out to a broader set of organizations and individuals at a critical time for this work. Findings would be shared on a confidential basis with a select group of specialists and policymakers.
A grant would also be used for a pilot initiative for students and young professionals. Organized as an annual workshop or conference, its aim is to connect a new generation with more senior experts to learn about the policymaking process as it relates to the DPRK. Finally, a small portion of our funds would support maintenance of North Korea in the World , an interactive website developed in cooperation with the East-West Center as a resource on the DPRK’s external and diplomatic relations. Along with explanatory text, the site includes maps of North Korea’s foreign embassies, data on annual North Korean entrants into China, and numbers on inter-Korean family reunion meetings. NCNK notes that the Trump administration’s pressure on North Korea’s diplomatic and economic ties has made this website a particularly timely and relevant resource for policymakers and journalists.
The Foundation’s support would help NCNK continue to achieve its two primary organizational goals: serving as a source for reliable information and informed discussion on North Korea, and facilitating the work of individuals engaging directly with North Korea to improve the lives of its people and promote peace and security on the Peninsula. “These goals,” writes Luse, “have become even more important in the past year, amidst an intense debate within the U.S. government on how to proceed in the face of North Korea’s frequent nuclear and missile tests, and a growing sanctions regime complicating engagement efforts by private citizens.”
Recommendation: That the Directors of the Henry Luce Foundation approve a three-year grant of $200,000 to Mercy Corps to support programming of the National Committee on North Korea.
Approved by the Board: March 7, 2018
