The Role of NGOs in Promoting Humanitarian Engagement and Human Rights in North Korea

Thursday, May 20, 2021
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
(Pacific)

Via Zoom: Register at https://bit.ly/3eocnCk

This is the third event in a three-part series on North Korea Human Rights hosted by APARC's Korea Program in the spring quarter.

Two experts in North Korea human rights issues, Minjung Kim of Save North Korea and Keith Luse of National Committee for North Korea, will discuss the range of humanitarian assistance to North Korea as well as challenges non-government organizations face from South Korea, the U.S. and North Korean governments in providing assistance.

Speakers:

Image
Minjung Kim, Save North Korea. Speaker of May 20 event.
Minjung Kim is Associate Executive Director at Save North Korea (SNK), a non-government organization focusing on human rights in North Korea; and a Vice President at Future Korea Media, a bi-weekly journal focusing on national security and politics in South Korea. Since joining SNK as a founding member 22 years ago, she has been managing various projects from producing mid-wave radio programs, bringing North Korean defectors into South Korea, helping them adjust socially and culturally, to sending leaflet-balloons and hidden cameras into North Korea. Kim is also a visiting researcher at Georgetown University and a research fellow at the Yonsei Institute for Modern Korean Studies. She is a Ph.D. candidate at Yonsei Graduate School of International Studies.

Image
Keith Luse, National Committee on North Korea. Speaker of May 20 event on North Korea human rights.
Keith Luse is Executive Director of the National Committee on North Korea (NCNK), an organization dedicated to promoting principled engagement between the United States and North Korea. NCNK members include representatives of US non-governmental organizations providing humanitarian assistance to North Korea. Other members are former US Ambassadors, nuclear scientists, and members of the academic community. NCNK members specialize in matters related to nuclear nonproliferation, Korean War POW/MIA/human remains; human rights and families divided by the Korean War, among other topics. Luse has made five visits to North Korea. The first occurring in 2002 on behalf of Senator Richard Lugar, then-Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee focused on monitoring and accountability regarding the distribution of U.S. food assistance. Subsequent trips for Senator Lugar were during his tenure as Chairman and later Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Yong Suk Lee, deputy director of the Korea Program, will moderate the discussion.