NCNK - Key Persons
Mr. Babson is a consultant on Asian affairs with a concentration on North Korea and Myanmar. He worked for the World Bank for 26 years before retiring in 2000. Since then he has consulted for the World Bank and United Nations and been involved in projects sponsored by various institutes, foundations and universities. In Maine, he is President of the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust and recently has taught a course on the Two Koreas and Geopolitics of Northeast Asia at Bowdoin College.
Job Titles:
- Edith Stix Wasserman Professor of Asian Studies Professor of Political Science / Wellesley College / NCNK Advisory Committee
Job Titles:
- Edith Stix Wasserman Professor of Asian Studies Professor of Political Science / Wellesley College / NCNK Advisory Committee
Job Titles:
- Senior Expert on North Korea / U.S. Institute of Peace / NCNK Advisory Committee
- Senior Expert on North Korea / U.S. Institute of Peace / NCNK Advisory Committee Member since 2017
Frank Aum currently serves as Senior Expert on North Korea at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, DC. He was also a Visiting Scholar in the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. He previously worked as a political appointee in the Obama administration from 2010-2017, serving as the Senior Advisor for North Korea in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. During this time, he advised four Secretaries of Defense on issues related to Northeast Asia and the Korean Peninsula, including North Korea policy, defense posture, counter-missile capabilities, missile defense, military exercises, contingency planning, and POW/MIA remains recovery. Frank also served as head of delegation for working level negotiations in Seoul with the Republic of Korea (ROK), spearheading coordination of bilateral agreement on a range of key strategic issues, including the ROK's Revised Missile Guidelines and the transition of wartime operational control. In 2017, he received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service.
Prior to his political appointment, he worked as a corporate attorney on private equity and mergers & acquisitions at the law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, LLP. Frank also has extensive experience in the public and non-profit sectors. He completed a Fulbright Scholarship in Jeju Island, South Korea and worked as a speechwriter in the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In addition, he worked to strengthen the Koreatown community in Los Angeles at the city's Department of Neighborhood Empowerment and the Korean American Coalition (KAC).
Frank received his B.A. from Dartmouth College, his M.P.P. from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, and his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director Emeritus
Karin is currently an MSW candidate at The Catholic University of America's National Catholic School of Social Service, and previously was the executive director of the National Committee on North Korea (NCNK) from February 2006 until July 2014. In this capacity she helped to expand NCNK's membership and program activities. She made her first trip to the DPRK in 1998 and her final trip in the fall of 2013.
Prior to becoming the NCNK's director, as the Senior Fellow for the East Asia Policy Education Project of the Friends Committee on National Legislation Karin gave presentations and introduced congressional staff to key resource people active in the DPRK. Earlier, as an East Asia Representative for the Quaker International Affairs Program of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Karin developed and supported dialogue, reconciliation, and social change initiatives within East Asia, and between North Korea and the United States. In this role, she brought the first medical delegation from DPRK to the United States for a tour of U.S. medical facilities. Karin worked in the AFSC's Development Department for ten years.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Advisory Board Member of the Center for Constitutional Democracy
Keith Luse is the Executive Director of the National Committee on North Korea. Previously, Luse was the Senior East Asia Policy Advisor for Chairman and later Ranking Member Senator Richard G. Lugar at the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations
Committee from 2003 until 2013. Luse also served as Staff Director for Mr. Lugar at the Senate Agriculture Committee from 1999 through 2002, where the Senator also served as Chairman and later Ranking Member. While at the Senate Agriculture Committee, Luse made the first of eventually five trips to North Korea.
Mr. Luse joined Senator Lugar's Indiana Office in 1978 and was appointed State Director in 1982. In the 1990's while in the private sector, Luse traveled throughout East Asia for eight years, conducting research for U.S. businesses.
In addition to assisting Senator Lugar at the Foreign Relations Committee on legislative initiatives, Luse directed or participated in several oversight projects and investigations. They included the integrity of the U.S. - funded humanitarian assistance distribution process inside North Korea; the murder of Americans in Papua, Indonesia; corruption and transparency challenges at The Asia Development Bank and The World Bank, and an evaluation of the effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance to countries in East Asia with an emphasis on Cambodia and Indonesia.
Luse's reports to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee included "China's Impact on Korean Peninsula Unification and Questions for the Senate" (2012); "Trafficking and Extortion of Burmese Migrants in Malaysia and Southern Thailand" (2009); and "North Korea and Its Nuclear Program - A Reality Check" (2008).
In 2016, Luse was presented the Vietnam "Medal of Friendship" by President Truong Tan Sang for active contributions to the process of Normalization and Development of the U.S. - Vietnam relationship.
Upon departing the Senate in 2013, Luse received the Philippine Legion of Honor Award from President Aquino for assisting Senator Lugar's efforts to foster relations between the United States and the Philippines and Southeast Asia. He is also a Co-Recipient of the 2010 Kato Ryozo Award for Service to the U.S. - Japan Alliance.
Luse has traveled extensively in East Asia including five visits to North Korea, and has participated in numerous Track 1.5 and Track 2 sessions about North Korea or with North Korean officials outside of their country.
Luse is an Advisory Board Member of The Center for Constitutional Democracy at Indiana University's Maurer School of Law. He formerly served on the Boards of The American Center for International Leadership, The Indianapolis Museum of Indian Heritage and The Indianapolis Hispano-American Center. From 1989 to 1991 he was Chairman of the Indiana Republican Party.
Luse has also been a guest lecturer at The University of Indonesia (Jakarta), The Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs Diplomatic Academy, The Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs Diplomatic Academy (Hanoi), The Foreign Language Institute (Pyongyang), The Indonesian Parliament (Jakarta) and several American universities.
Luse's Bachelor of Arts degree in political science is from Indiana University. His graduate certificate in public management and additional graduate studies were obtained at Indiana University - Purdue University, Indianapolis.
Job Titles:
- Director for Nonproliferation Policy / Arms Control Association / NCNK Advisory Committee
- Director for Nonproliferation Policy / Arms Control Association / NCNK Advisory Committee Member since 2018
- Director for Nonproliferation Policy at the Arms Control Association
Kelsey Davenport is the Director for Nonproliferation Policy at the Arms Control Association, where she provides research and analysis on the nuclear and missile programs in Iran, North Korea, India, and Pakistan and on nuclear security issues. Kelsey also reports on developments in these areas for Arms Control Today and runs the Arms Control Association's project assessing the effectiveness of multilateral voluntary initiatives that contribute to nonproliferation efforts. She is the lead author of the P4+1 and Iran Nuclear Deal Alerts newsletter, which assesses developments related to the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, and the North Korea Denuclearization Digest, which tracks developments related to U.S-North Korea diplomacy. Kelsey is also the co-author of a series of seven reports assessing the impact of the Nuclear Security Summits on efforts to prevent nuclear terrorism. Kelsey has been quoted in numerous outlets, including the Washington Post, The New York Times, Foreign Policy, AFP, Reuters, the Christian Science Monitor, and The Guardian. Kelsey is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and participates in the CSIS Mid-Career Cadre. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship and is a member of the Atlantic Council's Iran Task Force.
Kelsey joined the Arms Control Association in August 2011 as the Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellow. She holds a masters degree in peace studies from the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame and a bachelor of arts in international studies and political science from Butler University.
Job Titles:
- Program Officer
- Program Officer at the National Committee
Marisa McPherson is the Program Officer at the National Committee on North Korea, where she designs and manages NCNK's public-facing content, oversees member relations & outreach, and works alongside the team to conceptualize and implement NCNK's programs. She also serves as the primary supervisor for NCNK's communications interns. Prior to joining NCNK, she served as a Project Associate for the National Democratic Institute's Communications & Government Relations department. Her background also includes positions at the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Campus Leadership Council, and the Osgood Center for International Studies. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from American University and had the opportunity to study abroad at Yonsei University, where she conducted research on generational divides in attitudes towards multiculturalism in South Korea and the establishment of the Kim dynasty in North Korea. Outside of the office, she enjoys finding new dishes to cook, practicing her Korean language skills and crocheting more hats than one person really needs.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President and Director / the Asia Foundation
- Senior Vice President and Director of the Asia Foundation 's Washington
Nancy Yuan is Senior Vice President and Director of The Asia Foundation's Washington, DC office. As a member of the senior management team of the Foundation, her responsibilities include representation to the U.S. government, diplomatic community, Congress, policy community and private sector; policy input, and program liaison with 18 offices in Asia, the San Francisco headquarters; and programming in Asian affairs in Washington. She joined the Foundation in 1985 as a program officer in the Asian-American Exchange (AAX) program focusing on legislative, business development, and media exchanges. She later served as advisor all long-term Asia Foundation fellows across the U.S.
As a part of her responsibilities, Nancy has monitored developments in North Korea over the past decade, oversees programs with DPRK in the U.S. and third countries. She serves as the Asia Foundation's main liaison with the DPRK Mission in New York and with U.S. government officials on DPRK issues. Nancy holds a B.A. in Political Science from Barnard College and an M.A. in International Relations from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- President
- President and CEO of World Affairs
Philip Yun is President and CEO of World Affairs, a prominent San Francisco-based organization that provides a forum for thoughtful discourse on global issues by providing in-depth analysis of experts and activists in the field. Prior to joining World Affairs, Mr. Yun was Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of Ploughshares Fund. Before that, Prior to joining, he was a vice president at The Asia Foundation (2005-2011), a Pantech Scholar in Korean Studies at the Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center at Stanford University (2004-2005) and a vice president at the private equity firm of H&Q Asia Pacific (2001-2004).
Mr. Yun was a presidential appointee at the U.S. Department of State (1994-2001), serving as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. During this time, he also worked as a senior advisor to two U.S. Coordinators for North Korea Policy -- former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry and former Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. Mr. Yun was a member of a government working-group that managed U.S. policy and negotiations with North Korea under President Clinton and was part of the U.S. delegation that traveled to North Korea with Secretary of State Madeline Albright in October 2000.
Prior to government service, Mr. Yun practiced law at the firms of Pillsbury Madison & Sutro in San Francisco and Garvey Schubert & Barer in Seattle. He also was a foreign legal consultant at the firm of Shin & Kim in Seoul, Korea.
Mr. Yun's writings and commentary have appeared on CNN, The Hill, Foreign Policy.com, AP TV, Fox News, National Public Radio, NBC, U.S. News and World Report, and the Los Angeles Times, among others. He is the co-editor of a book entitled, North Korea and Beyond (2006).
Mr. Yun attended Brown University (magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa) and the Columbia University School of Law. He was a Fulbright Scholar to Korea. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and member of the Board of Overseers for Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies.
Job Titles:
- Senior Fellow
- Co - Editor of North Korea in Transition
- Senior Fellow for Korea Studies and Director of the Program on U.S. - Korea Policy
Scott Snyder is senior fellow for Korea studies and director of the program on U.S.-Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), where he had served as an adjunct fellow from 2008 to 2011. Prior to joining CFR, Snyder was a senior associate in the international relations program of The Asia Foundation, where he founded and directed the Center for U.S.-Korea Policy and served as The Asia Foundation's representative in Korea (2000-2004). He was also a senior associate at Pacific Forum CSIS. Snyder has worked as an Asia specialist in the research and studies program of the U.S. Institute of Peace and as acting director of Asia Society's contemporary affairs program. Snyder was a Pantech visiting fellow at Stanford University's Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center during 2005-2006, and received an Abe fellowship, administered by the Social Sciences Research Council, in 1998-99. He has provided advice to NGOs and humanitarian organizations active in North Korea and serves as co-chair of the advisory council of the National Committee on North Korea.
Snyder has authored numerous book chapters on aspects of Korean politics and foreign policy and Asian regionalism and is the author of The Japan-South Korea Identity Clash: East Asian Security and the United States (with Brad Glosserman, 2015),China's Rise and the Two Koreas: Politics, Economics, Security (2009), Paved With Good Intentions: The NGO Experience in North Korea (co-editor, 2003), and Negotiating on the Edge: North Korean Negotiating Behavior (1999).
Snyder is the co-editor of North Korea in Transition: Politics, Economy, and Society (Rowman and Littlefield, October 2012), and the editor of Middle-Power Korea: Contributions to the Global Agenda (Council on Foreign Relations, June 2015), Global Korea: South Korea's Contributions to International Security (Council on Foreign Relations, October 2012) and The U.S.-South Korea Alliance: Meeting New Security Challenges (Lynne Rienner Publishers, March 2012). He served as the project director for CFR's Independent Task Force on policy toward the Korean Peninsula. He currently writes for the blog, "Asia Unbound."
Snyder received a BA from Rice University and an MA from the regional studies East Asia program at Harvard University and was a Thomas G. Watson fellow at Yonsei University in South Korea.
Job Titles:
- Program Manager
- Certified Associate
- Program Manager for the National Committee
Seth Joyner serves as Program Manager for the National Committee on North Korea. He has nearly 15 years of international education management experience and specializes in cross-cultural training, managing strategic citizen diplomacy initiatives, and facilitating intercultural communication.
Before joining the National Committee on North Korea, Seth served as Program Manager for the Youth Ambassador Program: an exchange program of the US Department of State as part of the USA Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. While Seth directed recruitment and promotion efforts as Program Manager, the Expo 2020 Dubai Youth Ambassador Program cohort was the most diverse on record.
Most recently, he worked on the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) team at American Councils for International Education and oversaw the execution of programming in cooperation with the US State Department's Office of International Visitors.
In 2017, Seth earned his MA in International Education Management with a Korean-language focus at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California. Seth completed his fieldwork in Incheon, South Korea, where he designed and implemented intercultural training workshops for university students and the surrounding community while in residence at the University of Utah Asia Campus.
From 2011-2014 and again from 2017-2020, Seth lived in South Korea as an English instructor. He spearheaded English literacy initiatives in rural public schools.
Seth is a Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPMⓇ) from the Project Management Institute and also has a TOPIK II Level 3 (2019) professional working command of the Korean language. He is passionate about fostering dialogue and exchange as a way toward peace and mutual understanding.
Suzanne DiMaggio is a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she focuses on U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East and Asia. She is one of the foremost experts and practitioners of diplomatic dialogues with countries that have limited or no official relations with the United States, especially Iran and North Korea. For over two decades, she has led track 1.5 and track 2 conversations to help policymakers identify pathways for diplomatic progress on a range of issues, including regional security, nonproliferation, conflict prevention/management, and bilateral relations, among others.
Her research and work draw on an approach to unofficial engagement she has been developing since the late 1990s, which began with a focus on U.S. relations with China, Russia, and Japan, and later expanded to Iran, Myanmar/Burma, and North Korea. She directs a long-running U.S.-Iran dialogue that is often cited as a model for how to conduct informal diplomacy effectively and creatively.
Before joining Carnegie, Ms. DiMaggio was a Senior Fellow at New America (2014-2018), where she directed several high-level policy dialogues, including with Iran, North Korea, and China. She was the Vice President of Global Policy Programs at the Asia Society (2007-2014), where she set the strategic direction for moving the Society's work in the policy arena from a public program-focused forum to a global think tank aimed at addressing the most critical challenges facing the United States and Asia. She was the Vice President of Policy Programs at the United Nations Association of the USA (1998-2007), where she directed programs that advanced multilateral approaches to global problem solving and advocated in support of constructive U.S. international engagement. Before joining UNA-USA, she was a Program Officer at the United Nations University (1993-1998), a research institute that links the UN system with international academic and policy communities. First based in Tokyo, Japan, and later at UN headquarters in New York, her work at UNU focused on international security issues and development.
Ms. DiMaggio is an Associate Senior Fellow in the Disarmament, Arms Control and Nonproliferation Program at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). She also is a co-founder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft (where she served as the inaugural Board Chair), the Director of the Iran Project, an Advisor to the Vienna-based Open Nuclear Network, and a member of Foreign Policy for America's Advisory Board. She holds a BA from New York University and an MA from City College of New York (CUNY). She is a frequent commentator in the news media and her op-eds have appeared in national and international press outlets. She resides in NYC's Greenwich Village with her husband, jazz bassist and composer Ben Allison, and daughter.