Join the Council of Korean Americans (CKA) and 38 North for a special evening exploring ways food shapes culture, identity, and connection.

The evening will feature a discussion on culinary diplomacy followed by a tasting menu prepared by North Korean escapees: a chef and a pastry master. Come hungry for both great food and meaningful conversation.

Event Details

Sunday, August 9, 2026

5:30 PM – 7:30 PM

Industrious Thomas Circle
1 Thomas Circle NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005

For any questions please contact the CKA team at info@councilka.org.

Featured Speakers

Natasha Son

Natasha Son survived one of the darkest journeys imaginable. After losing both parents
to North Korea’s devastating famine, she spent years as a homeless kkotjebi (street
child), was trafficked into China, forcibly repatriated, brutally tortured, and imprisoned
before making a daring escape to freedom. Today, she is the founder of Light of
Liberty, where she advocates for North Korean refugees and human rights,
transforming a story of unimaginable suffering into one of extraordinary courage and
hope.

Johanna Mendelson Forman

Johanna Mendelson Forman is an Adjunct Professor at American University’s School
of International Service. She is also a Distinguished Fellow at the Stimson Center,
where she heads the Food Security Program. Her frontline experience as a policy
maker on conflict and stabilization efforts drove her interest in connecting the role of
food in conflict, resulting in the creation of Conflict Cuisine®: An Introduction to War and
Peace Around the Dinner Table, an interdisciplinary course she teaches at the School of
International Service at American University in Washington, DC. As an Adjunct
Professor leading this innovative curriculum, Johanna challenges her students to
explore new ways of looking at diplomacy, conflict resolution, and civic engagement to
understand how food, as a form of Soft Power, can drive these issues in the 21st
Century. In establishing this link between food and conflict, Johanna developed a new
interdisciplinary platform examining why food is central to survival and resilience in
conflict zones.

Jenny Town (Moderator)

Jenny Town is a Senior Fellow at the Stimson Center and the Co-founder and Director
of 38 North. She is also a Research Fellow in the Department of East Asian Studies at
the University of Vienna, an Associate Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute at Johns
Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), a Member of the National
Committee on North Korea, and an Associate Member of the Council of Korean
Americans. She serves on the Editorial Board for Inkstick, an online foreign policy
journal for emerging scholars. She previously served as the Assistant Director of the
US-Korea Institute at SAIS (2008-2018) and an expert reviewer for North and South
Korea for Freedom House’s Freedom in the World Index (2010-2023), where she
previously worked on the Human Rights in North Korea Project. She was named one of
Worth Magazine’s “Groundbreakers 2020: 50 Women Changing the World” and one of

Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business in 2019 for her role in co-founding
and managing 38 North.

Henry Hyun Seung Song (Interpreter)

Henry Hyun Seung Song is the Founder and Executive Director of The Song
Foundation for North Korea Human Rights (TSF). For more than two decades, he
has worked alongside North Korean defectors to advance freedom and human rights
through international advocacy, public education, and strategic engagement with
policymakers, civil society, and the media.

Tasting Menu

Tasting Menu Prepared by Natasha Son
North Korean-style picked vegetable banchan (장아찌)
Corn noodle soup (spicy) (온면) sold in jangmadangs
Stir fried eggplant (가지 볶음)
Stir fried napa cabbage(배추 벆음)
Pickled vegetable (장아찌)
Fried corn kernel snack
Rice

Desserts prepared by Young Mi Kim, North Korean escapee, former naval sonar
operator)
Madeleines