The activity will entail designing, resourcing, and implementing various confidence building measures (CBMs) aimed at supporting an innovative, US-led multilateral diplomacy aimed by achieving a durable peace on the Korean Peninsula.

These CBMs will fall into two broad categories: 1) a humanitarian assistance program in collaboration with the DPRK diplomats accredited to the United Nations in New York; and 2) cultural, educational, and other exchange programs targeted at building mutual trust between the US and the DPRK.

Humanitarian Engagement
As key facilitators of engagement between the US and the DPRK – especially for actors in the private sector, such as NGOs, universities, think tanks, etc. – the DPRK diplomats accredited to the UN play a critical role in promoting the successful outcome of US diplomacy. The objective of this program is to foster good relations with the diplomats and their family members during their service in the US by collaborating with them in meeting their humanitarian needs.
Exchange Programs
These programs will be carried out on a rolling, ad hoc basis in collaboration with partner organizations both in the US and abroad. Several programs are in various stages of development for implementation in 2023 and beyond.

This includes a proposed collaboration with the Coalition of Families of Korean & Cold War POW/MIAs on a phased project designed to uncover what happened to a sample group of the 900 or so US airmen who were lost in the DPRK during the Korean War. All these airmen remain unaccounted for today, despite the signing of an armistice agreement almost 70 years ago. To help bring closure to their family members, and as a confidence building measure to improve US-DPRK relations, we hope to launch this collaboration in Spring 2023. It is designed as a pilot project to develop and test procedures that could be applied to more comprehensive search and recovery operations in the future.

Mission Statement