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Case No. DPRK2-2018-356417-1
The Asia Foundation
c/o: Hager Associates
1001 Connecticut Ave., NW Suite 507
Washington, DC 20036
Attn: Barry M. Hager
Dear Mr. Hager:
This is in reply to your request dated August 27, 2018, and additional correspondence dated May 28, 2019, June 4, 2019, and February 24, 2020 (collectively, the “Application”) on behalf of the Asia Foundation (TAF), to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) seeking a specific license to make shipments of donated books to North Korea. The Application states that books are donated to TAF from U.S. publishers under the Books for Asia program. TAF pays a freight forwarder to deliver the books to North Korea, via China, with the ultimate consignee as the Grand People’s Study House. The books are then distributed by North Korean Government Entities as they...
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1) BACKGROUND:
The Asia Foundation (TAF) is a U.S. person nonprofit that, since 1996, has had a “Books for Asia program [that] has donated more than 170,000 books and publications to North Korean institutions, including the national library of North Korea, the Grand People’s Study House, and various university libraries, in the areas of science, technology, medicine, economics, English, art, history, international relations, and law. Major donors include McGraw Hill, Lynne Rienner, and W.W. Norton & Company. Books for Asia program has donated more than 170,000 books and publications to North Korean institutions, including the national library of North Korea, the Grand People’s Study House, and various university libraries, in the areas of science, technology, medicine, economics, English, art, history, international relations, and law. Major donors include McGraw Hill, Lynne Rienner, and W.W. Norton & Company.” (See https://web.archive.org/web/20230205172403/https://asiafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Korea_Overview_2017.pdf). The “Grand People’s Study...