BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//HRNK - ECPv6.15.18//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:HRNK X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://www.hrnk.org X-WR-CALDESC:Events for HRNK REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20160313T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20161106T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20170312T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20171105T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20180311T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20181104T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20190310T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20191103T060000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20171212T183000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20171212T210000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T132548Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T132549Z UID:712492-1513103400-1513112400@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:Korea Club with Gen. Wallace DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/korea-club-with-gen-wallace-2/ CATEGORIES:Events,North Korean Human Rights Events Calendar END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20171212T183000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20171212T210000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T125130Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T125131Z UID:712117-1513103400-1513112400@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:Korea Club with Gen. Wallace DESCRIPTION:North Korea: The Land of Lousy Options \nGuest Speaker:  \nGen. Wallace “Chip” Gregson (USMC\, Ret) Senior Advisor\, Avascent Global Advisors Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs \n Woo Lae Oak Korean Restaurant 8240 Leesburg Pike Vienna\, VA 22182   \nDear Colleague: \nYou are invited to attend a meeting of the Korea Club on Tuesday\, December 12\, 2017. The event will feature Gen. Wallace “Chip” Gregson\, who will give a presentation entitled\, “North Korea: The Land of Lousy Options.” \n​Lieutenant General Wallace “Chip” Gregson (USMC\, Ret.) is the Senior Advisor at Avascent International. He most recently served as the Assistant Secretary of Defense\, Asian and Pacific Security Affairs. Previously\, he served as Chief Operating Officer for the United States Olympic Committee as an independent consultant before entering Government in 2009. In Japan\, he was Director of Asia-Pacific Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 1998 to 2000. \nFrom 2003 to 2005\, he was Commanding General of the Marine Corps Forces Pacific and Marine Corps Forces Central Command\, where he led and managed over 70\,000 Marines and Sailors in the Middle East\, East Africa\, Asia\, and the United States. From 2001 to 2003\, he served as Commanding General of the III Marine Expeditionary Force in Japan\, where he was awarded the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun\, the Gold and Silver Star; the Korean Order of National Security Merit\, Gukseon Medal; and the Order of Resplendent Banner from the Republic of China. \nPlease note: THIS EVENT IS ON-THE-RECORD \n PROGRAM DETAILS \nThe reception will begin at 6:30 pm\, followed by dinner at 7:00 pm\, and the speaker’s presentation and Q & A session. The program will conclude at 9:00 pm. The cost of the dinner is $25.00\, payable at the door by either check or cash. \nRSVP is required for this program. Seating is limited. To register for this program or for further questions\, please e-mail Sang Kim\, Director of Public Affairs\, at sk@keia.org. \n WOO LAE OAK RESTAURANT IN TYSONS CORNER \nThe evening program will be held at Woo Lae Oak Korean restaurant in Tysons Corner—see address above. The program will start at 6:30 pm with a cash bar\, set up inside the Korea Club conference room on the 1st floor of the restaurant. For more information on Woo Lae Oak\, please take a few minutes to visit the restaurant’s website:  http://www.woolaeoak.com. \n FOR DRIVERS \nWoo Lae Oak is conveniently located in the heart of Tysons Corner. If you need assistance locating the restaurant\, please call the restaurant (703-827-7300). Ample free parking is available in the restaurant’s multi-story parking garage. \n FOR METRO RIDERS \nSilver Line stop at Greensboro Metro Station. The restaurant is located just south of Greensboro Metro Station. Upon arriving at Greensboro Metro Station\, please exit using the West Entrance Exit. For step-by-step directions\, please use  http://wmata.com. URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/korea-club-with-gen-wallace/ CATEGORIES:Events,HRNK Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.hrnk.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2017-12-04-at-11_03_35-AM.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20171212T093000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20171212T104500 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T125130Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T125131Z UID:712118-1513071000-1513075500@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:REPORT FINDINGS: Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity in North Korean Political Prisons DESCRIPTION:The War Crimes Committee of the International Bar Association invites you to the launch of a Report on the findings of a nearly two-year Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity in North Korean Political Prisons.  The Inquiry Report finds reasonable grounds to conclude that Kim Jong-un and members of his regime have committed ten of the eleven crimes against humanity enumerated in the Rome Statute\, the treaty that created the International Criminal Court (ICC). The event will be held at the National Press Club from 9:30-10:45am on Tuesday\, December 12. Under the auspices of the War Crimes Committee\, three internationally renowned judges – Navanethem 'Navi' Pillay (Chair)\, Thomas Buergenthal and Mark Harmon – led the Inquiry and authored the Report.  Judge Navi Pillay will deliver keynote remarks at the December 12 event.  Among other things\, Judge Pillay has served as a judge on the International Criminal Court\, as President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda\, and as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008-2014.  Greg Kehoe of the IBA's War Crimes Committee also will deliver remarks.  Among other things\, Mr. Kehoe\, a former federal prosecutor\, led the team of lawyers and investigators that advised the Iraqi Special Tribunal\, an ad hoc court formed to prosecute Saddam Hussein and other regime officials. The Report contains nine (9) Calls for Action\, including a call for the UN to provide the International Criminal Court or a special international tribunal with jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute those responsible for committing crimes against humanity in North Korea's political prisons\, known as kwanliso .  The Report also calls on North Korea to dismantle its gulag system and release an estimated 80\,000-130\,000 political prisoners.  (Note: this figure includes scores of children\, spouses\, parents\, etc.\, who have been imprisoned pursuant to North Korea's longstanding policy of eliminating the “seed” of three generations of “class enemies.”) Further\, it calls for targeted sanctions against persons responsible for past or ongoing crimes against humanity in North Korea's political prisons\, as well as a ban on the importation of products made with materials or labor from North Korea's penal system. Relying on satellite imagery and the testimony of numerous defectors – including North Korea's highest ranking defector in recent years\, Thae Yong-ho – the Report debunks North Korea's ongoing denial of the very existence of its political prisons\, which Amnesty International describes as “very possibly home to some of the most appalling torture in the world.”  Evidence of crimes presented to the Inquiry included: \n\nprisoners tortured and killed on account of their religious affiliation\, with officials instructed “to wipe out the seed of [Christian] reactionaries”\na prisoner's newborn baby being fed to guard dogs and killed\nan abortion induced by three men standing on a wooden plank placed on a pregnant prisoner's stomach\na female prisoner losing consciousness after enduring a beating designed to trigger premature labor\, with prison officials killing her baby before she could regain consciousness\nthe deaths of countless prisoners as a result of deliberate starvation\, malnutrition and overwork\, including 16-hour shifts in coal mines for minors and adults alike\nroutine public executions carried out in front of prisoners of all ages\, including young children\n\nFinally\, Hogan Lovells\, an international law firm that previously has worked to raise awareness of human rights abuses in North Korea\, provided very significant pro bono assistance to the Inquiry. Thank you for giving this your consideration. We hope to see you at the National Press Club on December 12th. \n  \nRSVP to this event by e-mailing: sosseh.prom@int-bar.org URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/report-findings-inquiry-on-crimes-against-humanity-in-north-korean-political-prisons/ CATEGORIES:Events,HRNK Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.hrnk.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2017-12-07-at-1_43_20-PM.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20171212T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20180112T000000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20230109T195016Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230522T195213Z UID:725922-1513036800-1515715200@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:Protecting North Korean Refugees: Statement by Greg Scarlatoiu\, HRNK Executive Director DESCRIPTION:“PROTECTING NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES”\nHouse Foreign Affairs Committee\nSubcommittee on Africa\, Global Health\, Global Human Rights\, and International Organizations\n\nStatement of Greg Scarlatoiu\, Executive Director\, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK)\, on “Protecting North Korean Refugees” at the Hearing of the Subcommittee on Africa\, Global Health\, Global Human Rights\, and International Organizations\, December 12\, 2017\nGood afternoon\, Chairman Smith\, Ranking Member Bass\, and members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for the invitation to testify before you today. It is a true honor and a privilege.\n\nMy name is Greg Scarlatoiu. I am the executive director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK). We are a nonpartisan research organization headquartered in Washington\, DC that conducts original research on North Korean human rights issues. Over the last 16 years\, we have published over 30 reports available at HRNK.ORG\, documenting for the world the horrifying truth about the extent of human rights abuses in North Korea. Our work has played a central role in assisting and informing the efforts of the US State Department\, the UN Commission of Inquiry\, and numerous other stakeholders who care passionately about the rights of people in North Korea. Most recently\, the report submitted by UN Secretary-General António Guterres to the UN General Assembly on August 28th quoted one of HRNK’s publications.\n\nOn behalf of HRNK\, thank you for your time and interest in the plight of North Korean refugees\, an ongoing human rights issue and crisis perpetuated by both North Korea and China today. The protection of North Korean refugees relates to fundamental human rights\, human dignity\, and state obligations under international law.\n\nOn the current situation of North Korean refugees in China\n\nIn July 2017\, a North Korean refugee family of five\, on their way to the Republic of Korea\, committed suicide while in Chinese custody awaiting forcible repatriation to North Korea. More recently in November\, reports by BBC Korea stated that China forcibly returned a group of ten refugees to North Korea\, including a mother and her four-year-old son. This information comes from a Mr. Lee\, the husband and father of these two victims\, currently hiding in China.\n\nFor the past few years\, among the interns trained at HRNK we have also worked with former North Korean refugees\, currently holding South Korean citizenship. Some of these young bright escapees explained their experiences living on the run in China. One intern\, when asked how she had learned Chinese\, clarified that prior to her escape to South Korea\, she had grown up in secret\, hidden behind closed doors in China. As she was undocumented and feared the Chinese government would arrest her and forcibly return her to North Korea\, her Chinese protectors brought her books to help her learn and pass the time.\n\nChina does not uphold its obligations under international law because it very rarely allows North Korean refugees access to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)\, instead only permitting the UNHCR an office in Beijing\, far from the border. As evidenced by their forcible repatriation\, China denies many North Koreans the ability to apply for asylum or have safe passage to the Republic of Korea or other countries. China claims that North Koreans in need of protection are illegal economic migrants. But in reality\, they are victims fleeing persecution or those who face a well-founded fear of persecution if forcibly returned to North Korea.\n\nTime after time\, we hear from North Korean refugees that when they were repatriated by China they faced imprisonment\, torture\, and various forms of sexual violence. Especially if the interrogators suspect that the repatriated refugees came across South Korean nationals or Christian missionaries while in China\, the punishment is sure to be harsh. Determined to escape the oppression and chronic human insecurity of North Korea\, some attempt to escape again\, even after detention and imprisonment. Some are successful and manage to tell the stories of their harrowing escape to the outside world. Through the voices of escapees who find their way to freedom in South Korea and other countries and based on the gender ratio of former North Koreans resettled in South Korea\, we know that up to eighty percent of North Korean refugees in China are women. In the absence of any semblance of protection\, they fall victim to human traffickers and other criminals. Many of those forced into sexual bondage\, under the guise of “marriage” with Chinese men in run-down rural areas\, are often abused by the would-be “spouse” and the entire family. Their children’s human security is beyond precarious. China denies North Korean children the right to education\, health\, and personal security\, as well as liberty\, when they are detained awaiting forcible repatriation.\n\nOn the UN Commission of Inquiry\n\nIn 2014\, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea (UN COI) found that North Koreans forcibly repatriated by China systematically endure persecution\, torture while being interrogated about their activities abroad\, sexual violence\, and imprisonment in North Korea’s inhuman detention system. Persons found to have had contact with the Republic of Korea or Christian churches may be forcibly disappeared into political prison camps\, imprisoned in forced labor camps\, or summarily executed.\n\nThe UN COI also found that North Koreans who try to flee their country and those in detention are among the primary targets of a systematic and widespread attack by North Korea\, making them the most vulnerable and in need of protection. Not only are North Koreans targeted for escaping their totalitarian state\, but then they are targeted by the Chinese government\, and ultimately victimized again once repatriated to North Korea and imprisoned. It truly is a vicious cycle of political oppression and violence perpetrated against countless innocents.\n\nDespite the UN COI’s findings and despite the fact that North Koreans are entitled to international protection as refugees fleeing persecution or refugees sur place\, “China pursues a rigorous policy of forcibly repatriating citizens of [North Korea] who cross the border illegally” with the view that these persons are “illegal economic migrants.”\n\nFurthermore\, China received a warning by the UN COI in 2014 that its policy of forcibly repatriating North Korean refugees could potentially amount to aiding and abetting North Korean perpetrators of crimes against humanity. The UN COI urged China to caution relevant officials that conduct could amount to the aiding and abetting of crimes against humanity where repatriations and information exchanges are specifically directed toward or have the purpose of facilitating the commission of crimes against humanity in North Korea.\n\nWithout question\, China has been put on notice that its policies\, practices\, and support for North Korea are unacceptable—yet\, at the fourth annual UN Security Council meeting on human rights abuses in North Korea held yesterday\, China called for a procedural vote to stop the public meeting. This effort failed\, but China persists in its efforts to support the Kim regime\, as evidenced by its forcible repatriation of North Korean refugees.\n\nOn human trafficking\n\nUp to ninety percent of North Korean women and girls in China fall prey to traffickers in China who sell them into sexual slavery\, either in forced marriages or prostitution\, to their shock and horror. Countless North Korean women are victimized in this manner because they are vulnerable as they try to escape the brutal conditions of their home country. In China\, the women and girls are fodder for often-rural men looking for wives. They may have arrived in China with young children too\, only to be cruelly separated by human traffickers. The cycle of violence and oppression once again continues as these women and girls are held against their will or are coerced into submission out of fear that the Chinese family will report them to authorities. Additionally\, women and girls impregnated by Chinese men are further victimized when the Chinese government does not recognize the children they bear as legal residents otherwise entitled to basic rights to education and other public services.\n\nOn prison camps\n\nA core HRNK objective is to completely\, verifiably\, and irreversibly dismantle North Korea’s vast system of unlawful imprisonment\, where up to 120\,000 men\, women\, and children are detained under abysmal circumstances\, forced to work and die in prison camps because of their perceived lack of loyalty to the Kim family. As such\, HRNK is aware of six operational political prison camps and the existence of over twenty potential labor camps inside North Korea\, recently documented in our October 2017 report The Parallel Gulag.\n\nOur 2015 report\, The Hidden Gulag IV: Gender Repression and Prison Disappearances\, documents the particular vulnerabilities of North Korean women jailed in a network of “political prison camps” (kwan-li-so) and “labor camps” (kyo-hwa-so). Increasingly\, these facilities house women who have attempted to flee the country\, and here\, rates of mortality\, malnutrition\, forced labor\, and exploitation are high. As our Co-Chair Emeritus Roberta Cohen\, a distinguished human rights and displaced persons expert noted\, “Women in particular are fleeing North Korea in ever greater numbers. When they are apprehended\, they are subjected to deliberate starvation\, persecution\, and punishment. Their situation cries out for international attention.”\n\nIn this report\, we also found evidence that an additional section of Camp 12 at Jongo-ri\, North Hamgyong Province\, was built to imprison the influx of women arrested and forcibly repatriated by China. Our interviews with former prisoners at this camp indicate that upwards of one thousand women are enslaved here. Eighty percent\, eight hundred of them\, are forcibly repatriated refugees. According to our witnesses\, former Camp 12 prisoners themselves\, so many women prisoners were brought to the camp that a new building annex was constructed to house them. We were able to confirm the presence of the new construction through satellite imagery acquisition and analysis. In the aftermath of Typhoon Lionrock in August-September 2016\, Camp 12 was flooded\, as confirmed by satellite imagery we acquired and analyzed. The humanitarian impact of that natural catastrophe on the human security of Camp 12 inmates was likely very dire\, as prisoners represent one of the most vulnerable segments of North Korea’s population.\n\nIn her written testimony submitted after this hearing\, HRNK Co-chair Emeritus Roberta Cohen will raise\, among other points\, the treatment of forcibly repatriated North Koreans and the development of a potential UN role for protecting them. This is the topic of an ongoing project run by HRNK in collaboration with our partner organization The Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights (HRNK).\n\nOn China’s non-compliance with international conventions\n\nNorth Koreans fleeing political persecution–based on North Korea’s discriminatory social class system known as songbun–are refugees as defined in the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. North Koreans with a well-founded fear of persecution upon their forcible return to North Korea by China are refugees sur place and must be given protection under China’s international obligations\, including the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees.\n\nChina’s forcible repatriation of North Korean refugees violates its obligation to uphold the principle of non-refoulement under the Refugee Convention. Furthermore\, China violates article 3 of the Torture Convention\, which states\, “No State Party shall expel\, return (‘refouler’) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.”\n\nOn US and global efforts to protect refugees and surge information\n\nNotwithstanding high-level advocacy\, China has forcibly repatriated tens of thousands of North Koreans. However\, over 30\,000 North Korean refugees now reside in over 20 nations\, with the vast majority of them\, 31\,000 currently living in the Republic of Korea. While the United States Refugee Admissions Program remains the largest in the world\, fewer than 220 refugees from North Korea have resettled since the enactment of the North Korea Human Rights Act of 2004.\n\nAs part of efforts to provide information on North Korea’s human rights abuses\, HRNK wrote and published a series of Wikipedia contributions on human rights in North Korea\, including in Chinese. China is perhaps the only country in the world with substantial leverage on the Kim regime\, accounting for over 80% of North Korea’s foreign trade. As a result\, the awareness and support of the Chinese people is now more imperative than ever\, although the degree to which the public can actually influence foreign policy in China is highly debatable\, to say the least. The Wikipedia pages created by HRNK are available in English\, Korean\, and Chinese.\n\nOn United States policy\n\nPainfully aware of ongoing concerns and echoing HRNK’s previous recommendations submitted together with then HRNK Board Co-Chair Roberta Cohen before a March 5\, 2012 hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China\, I respectfully recommend the following:\nFirst\, the United States should urge China to immediately halt its forcible repatriation of North Korean refugees\, and thus fulfill its obligations pursuant to the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees\, the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees\, the Torture Convention\, and the 1995 Agreement on the Upgrading of the UNHCR Mission in the People’s Republic of China.\nSecond\, the United States should call upon China to allow the UNHCR unimpeded access to North Koreans inside China to determine whether they are refugees and whether they require assistance.\nThird\, the United States should call upon China to adopt legislation incorporating its obligations under the Refugee Convention\, the Convention against Torture\, and other international human rights agreements and to bring its existing laws into line with internationally agreed upon principles. It should be expected to declare and uphold a moratorium on deportations of North Koreans until its laws and practices are brought into line with international standards.\nFourth\, the United States should call upon China to recognize the legal status of North Korean women who marry or have children with Chinese citizens and ensure that all such children are granted resident status and access to education and other public services in accordance with both Chinese law and international standards.\nFifth\, in the absence of a Chinese response\, the issue should be brought before international refugee and human rights fora. UNHCR’s Executive Committee as well as the UN Human Rights Council and General Assembly of the United Nations should all be expected to call on China by name to carry out its obligations under refugee and human rights law and enact legislation to codify these obligations so that North Koreans will not be forcibly repatriated while facing a credible fear of persecution.\nSixth\, the United States should promote a multilateral approach to the problem of North Koreans leaving their country. Their exodus affects more than China. This critical issue concerns our South Korean allies most notably\, as South Korea already houses 31\,000 North Korean escapees\, and its Constitution offers citizenship to North Koreans. Together with UNHCR\, a multilateral approach should be designed that finds solutions for North Koreans based on principles of non-refoulement and human rights and humanitarian protection. Building on the precedent of other refugee populations\, international burden sharing should be developed to protect North Koreans seeking to escape the tyranny of the Kim regime.\nSeventh\, following the passage of the North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2017\, which mandates the position of the Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights\, I respectfully urge the US Congress to encourage the prompt appointment of a qualified candidate. I share in the belief that the large number of special envoys in the State Department should be greatly reduced. I strongly believe\, however\, that this particular issue merits the full-time\, high-profile focus across various agencies that the Special Envoy has so effectively brought and would continue to bring.\n\nEighth\, additional funds should be appropriated for clandestine information flow into North Korea\, for non-governmental organizations working to improve human rights in North Korea\, and for the resettlement of North Korean refugees in the United States.\n\nThe most critical challenge our country faces today is the nuclear and ballistic missile threat posed by the regime of Kim Jong-un. Grateful for the Subcommittee’s unabated determination to protect North Korean refugees in China\, I respectfully urge you to continue to consider the vital importance of formulating and adopting a robust human rights policy\, including a North Korean refugee protection policy\, that can be integrated into US security policy toward both China and North Korea’s Kim regime.\n\nHRNK resources\n\nFour HRNK publications address the precarious plight of North Koreans in China and the cruel and inhumane practice of forcibly sending them back to one of the world’s most oppressive regimes.\n·      The first\, The North Korean Refugee Crisis: Human Rights and International Response (2006)\, edited by Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland\, establishes that most if not all North Koreans in China merit a prima facie claim to refugee or refugee sur place status. This report is available at: https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/The_North_Korean_Refugee_Crisis.pdf.\n·      The second\, Lives for Sale: Personal Accounts of Women Fleeing North Korea to China (2010)\, calls upon China to set up a screening process with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to determine the status of North Koreans and ensure they are not forcibly returned. This report is available at: https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/Lives_for_Sale.pdf.\n·      The third\, Hidden Gulag Second Edition by David Hawk (2012)\, presents the harrowing testimony of scores of North Koreans severely punished after being returned to North Korea. This report is available at: https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_HiddenGulag2_Web_5-18.pdf.\n·      The fourth\, Gender Repression and Hidden Gulag IV: Gender Repression and Prisoner Disappearances by David Hawk (2015) finds that North Korean women\, desperate to ensure their families’ survival after catastrophic famine in the 1990s—are excessively victimized and detention facilities for women have notably expanded. This report\, as well as satellite imagery that verifies the additional structure\, are available here: https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/Hawk_HiddenGulag4_FINAL.pdf and https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/ASA_HRNK_Camp12_201608_v10_LR.pdf.\n\nIn October 2017\, HRNK published The Parallel Gulag: North Korea’s “An-jeon-bu” Prisons by David Hawk with Amanda Mortwedt Oh. The Honorable Michael Kirby\, former Chair of the UN COI\, states that Parallel Gulag “updates the record contained in the COI report” and “shows that North Korea’s system of political oppression remains in place as an affront to the conscience of humanity.” The report is available at: https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/Hawk_The_Parallel_Gulag_Web.pdf with picture files available at https://www.flickr.com/photos/159228385@N04/sets/72157661876737398/.\n\nPrior Congressional testimony to the CECC on North Korean refugees by Roberta Cohen and Greg Scarlatoiu is available at: https://www.hrnk.org/events/congressional-hearings-view.php?id=7 and https://www.hrnk.org/events/congressional-hearings-view.php?id=1.\n\nThank you for your kind consideration.\n\nGreg Scarlatoiu\nExecutive Director\nCommittee for Human Rights in North Korea URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/protecting-north-korean-refugees-statement-by-greg-scarlatoiu-hrnk-executive-director/ LOCATION:Rayburn\, United States CATEGORIES:Congressional Hearings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20171212T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20171212T000000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20230109T193708Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230109T194321Z UID:725916-1513036800-1513036800@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:Protecting North Korean Refugees: Written Statement by Roberta Cohen\, HRNK Co-Chair Emeritus DESCRIPTION:“PROTECTING NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES”\nHouse Foreign Affairs Committee\nSubcommittee on Africa\, Global Health\, Global Human Rights\, and International Organizations\nWRITTEN STATEMENT OF ROBERTA COHEN\, CO-CHAIR EMERITUS\, COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN NORTH KOREA (HRNK) ON “PROTECTING NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES” AT THE HEARING OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA\, GLOBAL HEALTH\, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS\, AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS\, DECEMBER 12\, 2017\nMy appreciation to Congressman Christopher Smith and Ranking Member Karen Bass for holding this hearing to maintain a spotlight on North Korean refugees and their need for international protection. The world community’s preoccupation with massive movements of people fleeing war-torn countries has often overlooked the plight of smaller groups of refugees in desperate straits. The North Korean case is one such situation that should warrant international attention because of the extraordinary cruelty to which the asylum seekers and refugees are subjected. Unlike most governments\, North Korea has made it a criminal offense to leave its country without permission\, thereby preventing its citizens from exercising their internationally recognized right to seek asylum and become a refugee. Second\, those who do try to escape face increasing obstacles — electrified fences\, enhanced border patrols\, exorbitant bribes\, and traffickers. Only 1\,418 managed to reach South Korea in 2016. Third\, if caught and returned\, North Korean refugees are subject to systematic and brutal punishment\, which the United Nations Commission of Inquiry (COI) has found to constitute crimes against humanity.[1]  Fourth\, neighboring China collaborates with the DPRK in arresting and turning back North Koreans despite the abusive treatment they routinely suffer at the hands of North Korea’s security forces.[2]\n\nIn his 2017 report to the UN General Assembly\, the Special Rapporteur on human rights in the DPRK\, Tomas Ojea Quintana\, drew attention to the “deplorable conditions” in the holding centers near the border with China where repatriated North Koreans are confined before being sent off to reeducation or other camps for extended punishment. Women constitute the majority of those who flee and of those returned and are “the target of violent practices.”[3]During interrogation and detention\, they are subject to beatings\, torture\, and sexual and gender-based violence. Those found to be pregnant are reported to have their pregnancy terminated by force\, but “the shame and secrecy attached to this practice make precise statistics on cases of forced abortion difficult to collect.”[4] When placed in reeducation through labor camps and other prison facilities\, forcibly repatriated North Koreans are deliberately denied adequate food and medical attention\, and are subject to forced labor and sexually abusive treatment.\n\nTo North Korea\, those who leave without permission are criminal offenders\, even traitors to the Kim regime. To United Nations human rights bodies\, North Koreans who leave illegally are potential refugees. They flee persecution as well as the socioeconomic deprivation emanating from the songbun system of social and political classification to which the government subjects them. But even if they were not refugees when they left North Korea\, they become so (that is\, refugees sur place) because of the well-founded fear of persecution and punishment they face upon return. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 2017 called on North Korea to decriminalize illegal border crossing\, and because of the high number of women forcibly repatriated\, to  ensure that the women “are not subjected to invasive body searches\, sexual violence and forced abortions\, and that their rights to life and to a fair trial are respected.”[5] It further called upon North Korea to allow international organizations “access to all women’s detention facilities.”[6]\n\nUN bodies have also sent warnings to China\, which the UN COI found to be enabling North Korea’s crimes. A letter signed by COI Chair\, Justice Michael Kirby\, and appended to its 400-page report\, warned Chinese officials that they could be found to be “aiding and abetting crimes against humanity” by sharing information with North Korea’s security bodies and turning back North Koreans to conditions of danger.[7] It challenged China’s claims that North Koreans entering China illegally are economic migrants who must be deported\, and that those returned are not subject to punishment.\n\nOn occasion China has allowed North Koreans to proceed to South Korea\, but these cases are few and far between.[8]Over the years China has tolerated thousands of North Koreans residing illegally in its country\, some ‘married’ to Chinese men\, but the North Koreans have no rights\, are vulnerable to exploitation and bribes\, constantly fear deportation and may be expelled. The UN Committee against Torture (CAT) in 2016 described China as practicing a “rigorous policy of forcibly repatriating all nationals of the DPRK” on the grounds that they cross the border illegally for economic reasons.[9] It called on China to set up a refugee determination process for North Koreans and allow UNHCR access to border areas. The CAT noted that it had 100 testimonies showing that North Koreans forcibly returned were “systematically” subjected to torture and ill-treatment and recommended UNHCR monitoring of North Koreans forcibly returned to assure that they are not subject to torture.\n\nWhen UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited China in 2006 as UN High Commissioner for Refugees\, he told Chinese officials that forcibly repatriating North Koreans without any determination process and where they could be persecuted on return stands in violation of the Refugee Convention. UNHCR also proposed a special humanitarian status for North Koreans to enable them to obtain temporary documentation\, access to services and protection from forced return. To the refugee agency\, North Koreans are deemed “persons of concern\,” meriting humanitarian protection.\n\nTo date\, there has been little progress in persuading North Korea or China to cooperate with the international community. Nonetheless\, China’s more critical stance toward North Korea of late as well as reports of its making refugee contingency plans in the event of a crisis in North Korea\,[10] might lead to more open discussions\, the relaxing of some of its policies and the possible modification of others.\n\nThe following recommendations are offered with a view to promoting protection for North Korean refugees.\n\nRECOMMENDATIONS\n\nFirst\, an overall international strategy is needed for dealing with the refugee issue. To this end\, the United States should propose a multilateral approach to the North Korean refugee situation. Just as international burden sharing has been introduced for other refugee populations\, so should it be developed here. The North Korean refugee situation is not an economic migrant question for China and North Korea to decide alone according to their own agreements. Other countries are profoundly affected\, in particular South Korea whose Constitution offers citizenship to North Koreans and already houses more than 31\,000 North Koreans who have fled over the past two decades. Countries in East\, Southeast and Central Asia\, East and West Europe\, and North America have admitted thousands upon thousands\, of North Korean refugees. Working together with UNHCR\, a multilateral approach could be designed based on principles of non-refoulement and human rights protection. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres\, who has extensive experience with this and other refugee situations\, should be asked to initiate the process.\n\nSecond\, the United States\, South Korea and allied governments should make China’s treatment of North Korean refugees a high priority in their bilateral dialogues with China. They should make known their willingness to admit North Koreans who cross the border without permission and should call on China to allow UNHCR to begin a determination process so that North Koreans could apply for refugee status and remain temporarily in China while their requests are being processed. The United States and its allies should remind China that more than 150 governments in the General Assembly have called upon China as a country neighboring North Korea to cease the deportation of North Koreans because of the terrible mistreatment they endure upon return. Chinese officials should be encouraged to build on the instances where China has allowed North Koreans to leave for the South\, increase such cases and introduce a moratorium on forced repatriations on humanitarian grounds to remain in effect until such time as North Korea ceases its persecution and punishment of those repatriated. A new approach would enhance China’s international standing\, encourage other states in Asia to uphold international norms\, and exert influence on North Korea to modify its practices. China for its part will need to be assured that the United States and other countries are not seeking to forcibly reunify Korea\, destabilize the North and expand United States influence. Certainly\, the most effective way to reduce the number of North Koreans going into China is not for the Chinese and North Koreans to push back North Koreans but for the DPRK to begin to provide for the well-being and security of its population.\n\nThird\, the United States should expand its practice of identifying and sanctioning North Korean as well as Chinese officials and offices involved in forced repatriations and make them aware that they could be held accountable in future trials. [11] Special Rapporteur Ojea Quintana recently observed that “The more the international community has insisted on the necessity to seek justice…\, the more the [North Korean] authorities have seemingly opened to a conversation with human rights mechanisms on ways to fulfil their obligations…”[12] In response to North Koreans’ fear of accountability\, he described reports\, albeit unconfirmed\, of improved practices in detention facilities\, including toward pregnant women.[13] North Korea also responded for the first time to a United Nations human rights inquiry about returned refugees by providing some statistics. It claimed that only 33 North Korean women out of 6\,452 returned from 2005 to 2016 had been punished.[14] This small number of course contradicted the findings of many UN-commissioned reports that spoke of the routine punishment of tens of thousands returned. But North Korea’s engagement in the conversation shows that international demarches have had some effect. It is important therefore for the United States to strongly support the collection of evidence about forcibly returned North Koreans and make sure that the Seoul office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)\, which is tasked with documenting information with a view to accountability\, has sufficient resources and staff to perform its functions effectively. In particular\, the United States should contribute to the hiring of international criminal justice experts to review existing evidence\, including on forced repatriations\, and to promote the effective working of a central information and evidence repository to be set up in 2018 to facilitate future prosecutions. It should contribute the names and information it has collected to the central repository.\n\nFourth\, the United States should call on the international humanitarian organizations it funds to request\, when appropriate\, international access to detention facilities and reeducation camps that house political prisoners\, among these\, significant numbers of forcibly repatriated women. Such an opportunity arose in September 2016 when a typhoon struck the northeast and flooded not only schools\, clinics\, roads and agricultural lands\, but also a reeducation through labor camp\, Kyo-hwa-so Number 12\, housing some 5\,000 prisoners\, including up to 1\,000 forcibly repatriated women.[15] HRNK provided the UN with satellite imagery of the flooded camp\, which the Secretary-General included in his report to the General Assembly\,[16]  but the humanitarian agencies did not try to help the persons inside. It appeared they were reluctant to antagonize North Korean officials and possibly undermine humanitarian operations for other flood victims\, despite the fact that information was available to them showing that the women and other prisoners in the camp were given starvation rations\, lacked medical care and were subject to exploitation and forced labor.[17] The humanitarian organizations\, it should be noted\, had some leverage in this case because North Korea had requested the aid and had to listen to their views. While North Korea could have turned down the request\, at least the question of entering a flooded camp and reaching its vulnerable people would have been on the table as a legitimate ‘ask’ to be revisited in future.\n\nIt is important that the United States make known to the World Food Program\, UNICEF and other humanitarian agencies that they must stand up for all people at risk\, not just those North Korea might choose to assist\, and use the leverage they have to generate meaningful dialogue on the human rights principles central to humanitarian work. Failure to do so will condone the Kim regime’s persecution and marginalization of the people it considers disloyal\, contrary to the principles upon which humanitarian organizations are founded. Building upon General Assembly resolutions that call on North Korea to grant unimpeded humanitarian access to all affected persons\, including those in detention facilities and prisons\,[18] the United States should reinforce the recent call made by the UN Special Rapporteur to humanitarian agencies: he said they should “ensure” that their programs benefit “vulnerable groups\, including those who are in detention facilities\, prison camps and political prison camps.”[19] It is also time for the United States to urge Secretary-General Guterres to apply to North Korea the UN policy of 2013 which he endorsed – namely the Human Rights up Front (HRuF) approach\, which calls upon the entire UN system to come together in the face of serious human rights violations and take steps on behalf of the victims.\n\nFifth\, the United States should develop contingency plans with China for addressing a crisis in the north that also encompasses protection and assistance for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). Significant numbers of North Koreans can be expected to flee to China and South Korea in the event of an emergency\, and even more become internally displaced\, making it desirable for the United States and South Korea to develop plans with China for managing migration.[20] China is already reported to be constructing refugee camps along its border areas with North Korea.[21] An agreement among the three under United Nations auspices should aim at stabilization of the peninsula\, provision of material aid\, protection of displaced persons\, and incentives and opportunities to build and transform the country in accordance with international human rights\, humanitarian and refugee standards and humane treatment of displaced persons.\n\nFinally\, the United States should revisit any restrictions now placed on the admission of North Korean refugees that could conflict with the spirit and intent of the North Korean Human Rights Act (2004). Our government should make known its readiness\, given the persecution and punishment to which North Koreans are subject\, to increase the number of North Korean refugees admitted to this country. In FY 2017\, only 12 were reported to be admitted\, contributing to a total of 212 since 2006. While the vast majority of North Koreans will choose to seek refuge in South Korea\, some have reasons for seeking to resettle in the United States\, and should not be discouraged. As Victor Cha and Robert Gallucci have recommended the United States should “seek public and private sector funding” for “educational scholarships and vocational training\,” [22] in particular from the Korean American community\, to empower the North Koreans already admitted to this country and help them overcome the traumas they experienced in fleeing one of the most tyrannical governments on the planet.\n\n\n\n\n[1] UN General Assembly\, Report of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the DPRK\, A/HRC/25/63\, 7 February 2014\, paras. 42\,76\, 89(m) [henceforth COI report].\n\n\n[2] COI report\, ibid.\, para. 43.\n\n\n[3] UN General Assembly\, Report of the Special Rapporteur on human rights in the DPRK\, A/72/394\, 19 September 2017\, para. 25 [henceforth SR Report].\n\n\n[4] SR Report\, ibid.\n\n\n[5] UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women\, Concluding Observations\, CEDAW/C/PRK/CO/2-4\, 17 November 2017\, para. 45 (c).\n\n\n[6] Ibid.\, para. 45 (d).\n\n\n[7] UN General Assembly\, Report of the detailed findings of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the DPRK\, A/HRC/25/CRP.1\, 7 February 2014\, para. 1197 [henceforth COI report 2].\n\n\n[8] See Roberta Cohen\, “China’s Forced Repatriation of North Korean Refugees Incurs United Nations Censure\,” International Journal of Korean Studies\, Spring/Summer 2014\, pp. 72-3.\n\n\n[9] UN Committee against Torture\, CAT/C/CHN/CO/5\, 3 February 2016\, paras. 46-48.\n\n\n[10] See Jane Perlez\, “China Girds for North Korean Refugees\,” New York Times\, December 12\, 2017; and David E. Sanger\, “Tillerson Speaks on a Largely Secret North Korea Contingency Plan\,” New York Times\, December 18\, 2017.\n\n\n[11] In October 2017\, the Department of the Treasury announced sanctions on seven North Korean individuals and three entities for hunting down of asylum seekers abroad and other abuses. See “U.S. Sanctions North Koreans for ‘Flagrant’ Rights Abuse\, Reuters\, October 26\, 2017.\n\n\n[12] SR Report\, para. 3.\n\n\n[13] SR Report\, ibid.\, para. 26; see also Cohen\, “China’s Forced Repatriation of North Korean Refugees\,” pp. 74-75.\n\n\n[14] North Korea told this to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 2017. See Elizabeth Shim\, “North Korea: Repatriated women defectors are not punished\,” UPI\, August 4\, 2017.\n\n\n[15] Roberta Cohen\, “UN Humanitarian Actors and North Korea’s Prison Camps\,” International Journal of Korean Studies\, Spring/Summer 2017\, pp. 1-24.\n\n\n[16] UN General Assembly\, Report of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights in the DPRK\, A/72/279\, 3 August 2017\, para. 37.\n\n\n[17] COI report 2\, para. 804.\n\n\n[18] UN General Assembly\, Resolution on the Situation of human rights in the DPRK\, A/C.3/72/L.40\, 31 October 2017\, paras. 2(vi)\, 5\, and 15(m).\n\n\n[19] SR Report\, para. 48.\n\n\n[20] See Roberta Cohen\, “Human Rights and Humanitarian Planning for Crisis in North Korea\,” International Journal of Korean Studies\, Fall/Winter 2015\, pp. 11-16.\n\n\n[21] See Jane Perlez\, “China Girds for North Korean Refugees\,” New York Times\, December 12\, 2017; and “Report: China’s Military Prepared for Collapse Scenario\,” Daily NK\, May 5\, 2014.\n\n\n[22]  See Victor Cha and Robert L. Gallucci\, Toward a New Policy and Strategy for North Korea\, George W. Bush Institute\, 2016\, p. 8; and Education and Employment Among U.S.-Based North Koreans: Challenges and Opportunities\, George W. Bush Institute\, 2016. URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/protecting-north-korean-refugees-written-statement-by-roberta-cohen-hrnk-co-chair-emeritus-2/ CATEGORIES:Congressional Hearings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20171211T133000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20171211T164000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T132551Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T132551Z UID:712493-1512999000-1513010400@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:The Role of UN Human Rights Mechanisms in the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Ko DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/the-role-of-un-human-rights-mechanisms-in-the-protection-and-promotion-of-human-rights-in-the-democratic-peoples-republic-of-ko/ CATEGORIES:Events,North Korean Human Rights Events Calendar END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20171208T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20171208T163000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T132548Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T132549Z UID:712491-1512745200-1512750600@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:The 54th HUMAN RIGHTS WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/the-54th-human-rights-workshop/ CATEGORIES:Events,North Korean Human Rights Events Calendar END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20171113T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20171113T153000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T125130Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T125130Z UID:712116-1510581600-1510587000@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:From Cradle to Grave: The Path of North Korean Innocents DESCRIPTION:AGENDA \nPresenters: \nRobert Collins\, Author \nAmanda Mortwedt Oh\, Author \nDiscussants: \nJames Durand Member of the Board of Directors\, International Council of Korean Studies Editor-in-Chief\, International Journal of Korean Studies  \nGeorge Hutchinson Member of the Board of Directors\, International Council of Korean Studies Editor\, International Journal of Korean Studies  \nMark Tokola Vice President\, Korea Economic Institute \nModerator:  Greg Scarlatoiu Executive Director\, HRNK \nQ&A \nClosing Remarks \n  \nThe event will be on the record.  \nRSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/from-cradle-to-grave-the-path-of-north-korean-innocents-tickets-39348193506 \nPlease email Rosa Park\, HRNK Director of Programs\, at rosapark@hrnk.org with any questions or concerns. URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/from-cradle-to-grave-the-path-of-north-korean-innocents/ CATEGORIES:Events,HRNK Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.hrnk.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2017-10-27-at-9_29_37-PM.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20171026T093000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20171026T110000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T125130Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T125130Z UID:712115-1509010200-1509015600@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:The Parallel Gulag: North Korea's "An-jeon-bu" Prison Camps DESCRIPTION:The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) cordially invites you to: ​ THE PARALLEL GULAG: North Korea's “An-jeon-bu” Prison Camps \nThursday\, October 26\, 2017 ​9:30 a.m.–11:00 a.m. \nNational Press Club ​First Amendment Lounge 529 14th Street\, NW  Washington\, DC 20045 \nOpening Remarks Victor Cha\, Korea Chair\, CSIS \nPresenters David Hawk\, Author Amanda Mortwedt Oh\, HRNK \nDiscussants Roberta Cohen\, Co-Chair Emeritus\, HRNK Stephen Noerper\, Senior Director\, Korea Society Moderator: Greg Scarlatoiu\, Executive Director\, HRNK \nQ&A \nClosing Remarks ​ The event will be on the record.  \nTo RSVP for this event\, please click to register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-parallel-gulag-north-koreas-an-jeon-bu-prison-camps-tickets-38539427465?aff=es2 \n​Please email Rosa Park\, HRNK Director of Programs at rosapark@hrnk.org with any questions or concerns.  URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/the-parallel-gulag-north-koreas-an-jeon-bu-prison-camps/ CATEGORIES:Events,HRNK Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.hrnk.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2017-10-10-at-10_28_29-AM.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20171007T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20171007T133000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T132548Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T132548Z UID:712489-1507381200-1507383000@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:North Korea DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/north-korea/ CATEGORIES:Events,North Korean Human Rights Events Calendar END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20171007T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20171007T133000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T132548Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T132549Z UID:712490-1507381200-1507383000@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:North Korea DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/north-korea-2/ CATEGORIES:Events,North Korean Human Rights Events Calendar END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170927T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170927T130000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T132548Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T132548Z UID:712488-1506513600-1506517200@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:SEMINAR: U.S. POLICY ON NORTH KOREA HUMAN RIGHTS DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/seminar-u-s-policy-on-north-korea-human-rights/ CATEGORIES:Events,North Korean Human Rights Events Calendar END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170913T183000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170913T210000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T125126Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T125128Z UID:712113-1505327400-1505336400@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:Korea Club with Gen. In-Bum Chun (ROK\, Ret) DESCRIPTION:Korea Club Wednesday |  September 13\, 2017 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm \nFacing North: Managing North Korea's Military Challenge\nGuest Speaker: \nGen. In-Bum Chun (ROK\, Ret)\n Visiting Scholar\, U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins SAIS Visiting Fellow\, Center for East Asia Policy\, Brookings Institution \nWoo Lae Oak Korean Restaurant 8240 Leesburg Pike Vienna\, VA 22182 \n  \nDear Colleague: \nYou are invited to attend a meeting of the Korea Club on Wednesday\, September 13\, 2017. The event will feature Gen. In-Bum Chun\, who will give a presentation entitled\, “Facing North: Managing North Korea's Military Challenge.” \n \n  \n  \n  \n  \nLieutenant General In-Bum Chun (ROK\, Ret) is a Visiting Scholar at U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins SAIS and Visiting Fellow at the Center for East Asia Policy Studies of the Brookings Institution after his retirement from 35 years of active duty in July2016. His past positions include the chief of the Election Support Branch\, Civil Military Affairs/Strategic Operations Directorate of the multinational forces in Iraq\, the director of U.S. affairs at the Korean Ministry of National Defense\, deputy assistant chief of staff of operations for the US-ROK Combined Forces Command\, the commander of the ROK Special Warfare Command\, and the deputy commander for the First ROK Army. As one of the most decorated officers in ROK military history\, his awards include three U.S. Legions of Merit\, a U.S. Bronze Star Medal and the first Korean and third Asian to receive the USSOCOM Medal. \n Please note: THIS EVENT IS OFF-THE-RECORD \n PROGRAM DETAILS \nThe reception will begin at 6:30 pm\, followed by dinner at 7:00 pm\, and the speaker’s presentation and Q & A session. The program will conclude at 9:00 pm. The cost of the dinner is $25.00\, payable at the door by either check or cash. \nRSVP is required for this program. Seating is limited. To register for this program or for further questions\, please e-mail your confirmation to Sang Kim\, Director of Public Affairs\, at sk@keia.org. \n WOO LAE OAK RESTAURANT IN TYSONS CORNER \nThe evening program will be held at Woo Lae Oak Korean restaurant in Tysons Corner—see address above. The program will start at 6:30 pm with a cash bar\, set up inside the Korea Club conference room on the 1st floor of the restaurant. For more information on Woo Lae Oak\, please take a few minutes to visit the restaurant’s website:  http://www.woolaeoak.com. \n FOR DRIVERS \nWoo Lae Oak is conveniently located in the heart of Tysons Corner. If you need assistance locating the restaurant\, please call the restaurant (703-827-7300). Ample free parking is available in the restaurant’s multi-story parking garage. \n FOR METRO RIDERS \nSilver Line stop at Greensboro Metro Station. The restaurant is located just south of Greensboro Metro Station. Upon arriving at Greensboro Metro Station\, please exit using the West Entrance Exit. For step-by-step directions\, please use  http://wmata.com. \n  \nKorea Club Directors \nGreg Scarlatoiu  \nHRNK \n (202) 499-7973     \nJim Kelman                                              \nMeridian International Center                                         \n (703) 568-6987         \nSang Kim \nKEI   \n(202) 464-1985 URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/korea-club-with-gen-in-bum-chun-rok-ret/ CATEGORIES:Events,HRNK Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.hrnk.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2017-09-11-at-10_34_34-AM.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170907T093000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170907T104500 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T132544Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T132546Z UID:712487-1504776600-1504781100@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:Understanding North Korea by Sheena Greitens DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/understanding-north-korea-by-sheena-greitens/ CATEGORIES:Events,North Korean Human Rights Events Calendar END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170830T100000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170830T120000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T132544Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T132546Z UID:712486-1504087200-1504094400@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:"Danny from North Korea" DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/danny-from-north-korea/ CATEGORIES:Events,North Korean Human Rights Events Calendar END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170824T183000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170824T204500 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T132544Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T132545Z UID:712485-1503599400-1503607500@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:Speakers on the Square: Liberty in North Korea DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/speakers-on-the-square-liberty-in-north-korea/ CATEGORIES:Events,North Korean Human Rights Events Calendar END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170813T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170813T130000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T132544Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T132545Z UID:712484-1502625600-1502629200@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:TED Talk: My escape from North Korea with Hyeonseo Lee DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/ted-talk-my-escape-from-north-korea-with-hyeonseo-lee/ CATEGORIES:Events,North Korean Human Rights Events Calendar END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170806T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170806T000000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T132541Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T132541Z UID:712478-1501977600-1501977600@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:Jinhye Jo speaks at TEDxLakeArtemesia DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/jinhye-jo-speaks-at-tedxlakeartemesia/ CATEGORIES:Events,North Korean Human Rights Events Calendar END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170801T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170801T173000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T132544Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T132544Z UID:712483-1501603200-1501608600@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:How I Became A North Korean DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/how-i-became-a-north-korean/ CATEGORIES:Events,North Korean Human Rights Events Calendar END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170729T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170729T160000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T132541Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T132542Z UID:712479-1501336800-1501344000@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:Not just Otto: The 4th Teach North Korean Refugees Global Leadership Forum DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/not-just-otto-the-4th-teach-north-korean-refugees-global-leadership-forum/ CATEGORIES:Events,North Korean Human Rights Events Calendar END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170729T103000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170729T130000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T132541Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T132542Z UID:712480-1501324200-1501333200@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:Official Launch: Connect: North Korea's 1st Monthly Meet-Up DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/official-launch-connect-north-koreas-1st-monthly-meet-up/ CATEGORIES:Events,North Korean Human Rights Events Calendar END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170727T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170727T223000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T132541Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T132542Z UID:712481-1501183800-1501194600@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:Meet Ellie: HanVoice Pioneers Project Launch Party 2017 DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/meet-ellie-hanvoice-pioneers-project-launch-party-2017/ CATEGORIES:Events,North Korean Human Rights Events Calendar END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170725T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170725T200000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T132541Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T132543Z UID:712482-1501005600-1501012800@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:NORTH KOREAN HUMAN RIGHTS: IS THERE A WAY FORWARD? DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/north-korean-human-rights-is-there-a-way-forward-2/ CATEGORIES:Events,North Korean Human Rights Events Calendar END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170725T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170725T200000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T125126Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T125128Z UID:712112-1501005600-1501012800@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:NORTH KOREAN HUMAN RIGHTS: IS THERE A WAY FORWARD? DESCRIPTION:  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPROGRAM \nDate: Tuesday\, July 25\, 2017\nVenue: International Conference Hall B2\, Minerva Complex\, HUFS\n  \n  \n1. Opening of Ceremony ————————————— Greg Scarlatoiu \nModerator \nExecutive Director\, HRNK \n2. Keynote Speech ————————————— H.E. Jung-Hoon Lee \n             Ambassador for North Korean Human Rights\, \nMinistry of Foreign Affairs\, Republic of Korea \n“North Korean Human Rights: Past\, Present\, Future” \n  \n  \n3. Speakers ———————————————————–Signe Poulsen \nRepresentative\, UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (Seoul) “The Balance between Accountability and Engagement” \n  \nKwang-Jin Kim \nSenior Researcher\, ROK Institute for National Security Strategy \n“An Update on Kim Regime Dynamics and Overseas Economic Activities” \n  \nKwang-Il Jeong \nPolitical Prison Camp Survivor Director and Founder\, “No Fence for North Korea” “From Political Prison Camp Survivor to Information Warrior \n  \nTim A. Peters \nFounder-Managing Director of Helping Hands Korea “Beyond Conventional Approaches: Asymmetric Border Initiatives Aiding \nNorth Koreans in Crisis” \n  \nAmanda Mortwedt Oh Seoul-based Field Project Officer\, HRNK \n“A View from Above: Using Satellite Imagery to Investigate Crimes against Humanity” \n— \nRaymond Ha HRNK Editorial Consultant/Stanford University Korean-English Interpretation \n  \n  \n4. Q & A Session ——————————————————-Moderator \n  \n  \n5. Closing of Ceremony ———————————————–Moderator \n  \n6. Commemorative Photographing \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe North Korean Human Rights Situation \nFor almost 70 years\, North Korea’s human rights record has been abysmal. Almost thirty years after the collapse of communism in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe\, North Korea’s Kim regime has maintained its absolute grip on power\, while accomplishing two hereditary transmissions of power: from Kim Il-sung to Kim Jong-il in July 1994\, and from Kim Jong-il to Kim Jong-un in December 2011. The primary strategic objective of the Kim regime continues to be its own self-preservation\, regardless of the toll imposed on the North Korean people’s fundamental human rights. \nAlthough North Korea is bound\, as a UN member state\, by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights\, and although it is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights\, the International Covenant on Economic\, Social\, and Cultural Rights\, the Convention on the Rights of the Child\, the Genocide Convention\, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women\, each and every conceivable human right continues to be violated in that country. In the year 2017\, North Korea remains the only country on the face of the planet that is running a political prison camp system. Up to 120\,000 men\, women\, and children continue to be brutally persecuted behind the barbed wire fences of North Korea’s political prison camps\, subjected to unrelenting induced malnutrition\, forced labor\, torture\, sexual violence as well as public and secret executions. Those suspected of being disloyal to the regime\, of being\, from the regime’s viewpoint\, wrong-thinkers\, wrong-doers\, of possessing wrong knowledge\, of having engaged in wrong associations\, or of coming from the wrong family background\, are subjected to extrajudicial arrest and detention\, often together with members of three generations of their families. They are held in North Korea’s hidden gulag indefinitely\, in most cases without charge or hope for recourse. \nIn the year 2017\, pursuant to Songbun—a system of social discrimination established in the 1950s—the people of North Korea continue to be divided into three social categories and 51 subcategories\, based on their degree of loyalty to the regime\, and on the perceived allegiance of their parents and grandparents. Their access to food\, jobs\, and any type of opportunity continues to depend on their social classification. In the mid to late 1990s\, as up to 3 million North Koreans starved to death\, the Kim regime continued to invest in the development of its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs\, and purchased dozens of jet fighters. \nHuman Rights Trends under the Kim Jong-un Regime \nThe human rights situation has deteriorated under the Kim Jong-un regime. Three trends stand out in particular: an aggressive crackdown on attempted defections—the number of North Korean escapees arriving in South Korea declined by almost 50% from 2011 to 2012/2017; an aggressive purge—culminating in the execution of Jang Sung-taek\, the leader’s uncle\, and his associates in December 2013 as well as the assassination of Kim Jong-un’s half-brother Kim Jong-nam with VX nerve gas at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in February 2017\, and more than 340 senior officials reportedly executed since 2012; and the “restructuring” of North Korea’s political prison camp system—facilities near the border with China have been closed\, while other camps have been expanded. \nThe UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) \nOn March 21\, 2013\, the United Nations Human Rights Council—composed of 47 UN member states—adopted by consensus a resolution to establish a “Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (COI).” While NGOs such as HRNK\, tasked to monitor\, research and report on the North Korean human rights situation\, had been aware of the extent of the North Korean human rights violations for many years\, this was the first time that an investigative body was established by the United Nations to determine the extent and gravity of North Korea’s human rights abuses. \nAfter investigating “the systematic\, widespread and grave violations of human rights” in North Korea\, the COI released its report on February 17\, 2014\, one month ahead of the formal submission to the UN Human Rights Council on March 17. The report finds that “in many instances\, the violations found entailed crimes against humanity based on State policies.”[1]  \nIn 2014\, 2015\, 2016 and 2017\, the UN Human Rights Council passed resolutions including strong language on crimes against humanity committed pursuant to policies established at the highest level of the state in North Korea\, and the recommendation that the UN Security Council submit the North Korean case to the International Criminal Court. In 2014\, 2015\, and 2016\, the UN General Assembly passed similar resolutions. In December 2014\, 2015\, and 2016\, the UN Security Council voted to include North Korean human rights in its agenda\, next to North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. Following up on the recommendations of the UN COI\, in June 2015\, a UN field office was established in Seoul to continue the commission’s investigative work. \nThe COI’s Findings \nThe COI has determined that systematic\, widespread and gross human rights violations have been\, and are being\, committed by North Korea. These include: \n\narbitrary detention\, torture\, executions and enforced disappearance to political prison camps;\nviolations of the freedoms of thought\, expression and religion;\ndiscrimination on the basis of State-assigned social class\, gender\, and disability\nviolations of the freedom of movement and residence\, including the right to leave one’s own country;\nviolations of the right to food and related aspects of the right to life ; and\nenforced disappearance of persons from other countries\, including through international abductions.\n\nIn light of the gravity\, scale and level of organization of these violations\, the COI has concluded that crimes against humanity have been committed by officials of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea\, pursuant to policies established at the highest level of the State. These crimes against humanity involve extermination\, murder\, enslavement\, torture\, imprisonment\, rape\, forced abortions and other sexual violence\, persecution on political\, religious\, racial and gender grounds\, the forcible transfer of populations\, the enforced disappearance of persons and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation. The COI has also established that crimes against humanity continue to be committed in North Korea because the policies\, institutions and patterns of impunity that lie at their heart remain in place. \nOne of the most important determinations made by the COI is that North Korea can be characterized as a totalitarian state that does not content itself with ensuring the authoritarian rule of a small group of people\, but seeks to dominate every aspect of its citizens’ lives and terrorizes them from within. In other words\, the COI has found that crimes against humanity and other abysmal human rights violations are at the very core of the North Korean regime’s modus operandi. The COI has characterized North Korea as “a state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world\,” due to the “gravity\, scale\, and nature of the violations committed” by the North Korean regime. \nThe Victims of North Korea’s Crimes against Humanity \nThe COI determined that crimes against humanity target anyone viewed as a threat to the political system and leadership of North Korea\, in particular: \n\nthe estimated 80\,000-120\,000 inmates of the DPRK’s political prison camps;\ninmates of other detention facilities\, including political prisoners;\npersons who try to escape North Korea\, in particular those forcibly repatriated by China to conditions of danger;\nreligious believers\, Christians in particular;\npeople considered to introduce “subversive” influences into North Korea\, such as those who smuggle South Korean video material into North Korea\, or those who are suspected of having had contacts with South Koreans;\nthe COI determined that crimes against humanity have been committed by deliberately starving selected segments of the North Korean population\, in particular during the great famine of the 1990s. The purpose of de facto condemning targeted groups to death by starvation was the preservation of North Korea’s leadership and political system;\nthe COI found that crimes against humanity have been\, and are being committed against the citizens of the Republic of Korea\, Japan\, and other countries abducted by agents of the North Korean regime.\n\nThe Way Forward \nAlthough North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs continue to take center stage\, it is essential to continue to investigate and interview witnesses\, and to continue to bring attention to the systematic\, widespread crimes against humanity and egregious human rights violations perpetrated by the North Korean regime\, to protect the victims\, to bring justice to their tormentors\, and\, without further delay\, to seek ways to improve the human rights situation in that country. \n  \nKeynote Speaker \nHis Excellency Lee-Jung Hoon \nAmbassador for North Korean Human Rights\, Ministry of Foreign Affairs\, Republic of Korea \nDirector Yonsei Center for Human Liberty \nJung-Hoon Lee is the ROK government’s inaugural Ambassador for North Korean Human Rights. Before his appointment in September\, he served for three years as Ambassador for Human Rights. He is also a professor of international relations at Yonsei University\, where he is currently Director of the Yonsei Center for Human Liberty\, which he founded in January 2014. The Center has played an active role in raising awareness and providing a venue for collaboration in research\, media outlet\, and NGO/think tank network. His former positions include research and teaching at U.C. Berkeley\, University of Tokyo\, CSIS in Washington\, D.C.\, and Keio University. He is currently a senior member of South Korea’s National Unification Advisory Council and policy advisor at the Ministry of Unification. In the latter case\, he chaired the Advisory Committee for Humanitarian Affairs. Other main commitments include his role as Co-Chair of Save NK\, an NGO dealing mainly with North Korean human rights\, Chairman of the Future Korea Weekly\, a bi-weekly current affairs magazine based on Christian and conservative values\, and Vice-Chair of the Supporter’s Group for ‘House of Sharing’ where several remaining “comfort women” are housed. He is also Chair/CEO of the Board of Tongwon Foundation that houses Tongwon University\, Hanyoung Foreign Language High School\, Hanyoung High School\, Hanyoung Junior High School\, Hanyoung Kindergarten\, and Kukje Haksulwon\, a research think-tank. Ambassador Lee also hosted a weekly TV program on current affairs for five years\, and his writing and commentary frequently appear in local and foreign media. His contributions to over a hundred op-ed articles have been compiled into a book that was recently published entitled Tongbukah Kyŏkrang ui Hanbokpanesŏ [In the Midst of a Northeast Asian Current]. His most recent journal article\, “Drawing the Line: Combating Atrocities in North Korea\,” was published in The Washington Quarterly’s summer 2016 issue. He received his BA from Tufts University\, MALD from the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy\, and PhD from the University of Oxford (St. Antony’s College). \n  \nModerator \nGreg Scarlatoiu \nExecutive Director Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) \nFaculty Member HUFS ISS \nGreg Scarlatoiu is Executive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) in Washington\, D.C. At HRNK\, he plans\, coordinates\, manages and conducts research and outreach programs aiming to focus world attention on human rights abuses in North Korea\, and to seek creative solutions for improving the human rights situation in that country. A regular guest on CNN and Al Jazeera TV as well as the John Batchelor radio show\, he has authored a weekly radio column broadcast by Radio Free Asia to North Korea for fourteen years. Scarlatoiu has authored numerous journal articles as well as op-eds and letters to the editor in publications including The Washington Post and The New York Times. Scarlatoiu is a member of the board of directors of the International Council of Korean Studies. A returning visiting professor at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) in Seoul\, Scarlatoiu co-chairs the Korea and Japan class at the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Service Institute. He has testified before the U.S. Congress on several occasions\, and given lectures addressing the Korean peninsula at numerous U.S. academic institutions as well as other venues in Asia\, North and South America\, and Europe. Now a naturalized U.S. citizen\, Scarlatoiu was born and raised in communist Romania under the regime of Nicolae Ceausescu. He  lived in Seoul for 10 years and is fluent in Korean\, French and Romanian. He holds MAs in international relations from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy\, Tufts University\, and Seoul National University\, and a BA in international relations from Seoul National University. In 1999\, Scarlatoiu was conferred the title of Citizen of Honor\, City of Seoul. Scarlatoiu is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Council on Korean Studies (ICKS). \nPrior to joining HRNK\, Scarlatoiu was the Director of Public Affairs and Business Issues of the Korea Economic Institute (KEI) in Washington\, D.C. In that capacity\, he planned\, designed and implemented outreach programs to educate Americans on developments on the Korean peninsula and U.S.-Korea relations both inside and outside of Washington\, DC. Before his work with KEI\, he was Management Associate for the International Science and Technology Institute\, Inc. (ISTI) in Arlington\, Virginia. He was tasked with business development\, project management\, technical assistance implementation\, and liaising with multilateral and bilateral development agencies\, partners\, and clients under USAID\, World Bank and Asian Development Bank projects worldwide. \n  \nSpeakers \nSigne Poulsen \nRepresentative \nOffice of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Seoul) \nSigne Poulsen has served as the Representative of OHCHR(Seoul) since August 2015. Prior to this\, she served in various capacities for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights including postings in Liberia\, Timor-Leste\, Kyrgyzstan\, Papua New Guinea. Before joining the United Nations Ms. Poulsen worked in international human rights organizations including Amnesty International. She is a Danish national and holds a MSc. From the London School of Economics and Political Science. \nJeong Kwang-il \nPolitical Prison Camp Survivor \nFounder and Director\, No Chain for North Korea \nMr. Jeong Kwang-il was a prisoner at No.15 Yodeok Political Penal-labor Colony for three years\, from 1999 to 2002. He is currently one of the best-known former North Koreans involved in outreach activities aiming to expose North Korea’s human rights violations and to inform the international public opinion on the human rights situation in that country. Mr. Jeong’s UN testimony was critical in passing a resolution on North Korean human rights by the UN General Assembly in the fall of 2014. He has provided testimony to UN representatives in New York City and Geneva and human rights organizations around the world. He has also been compiling lists of prisoner names in North Korea\, a rare asset in the hands of the North Korean human rights investigator. Such information will prove critical to the accountability and transitional justice process in North Korea. \nTim A. Peters \nFounder-Managing Director \nHelping Hands Korea (HHK)/Catacombs \nTim Peters is a Christian activist and founder of the NGO\, Helping Hands Korea_Catacombs (HHK). In 1996\, HHK undertook a fundamental shift in focus from projects in South Korea to the needs of North Koreans in crisis. In response to news of famine in North Korea\, Peters began by launching a pilot program to provide food aid to the most vulnerable sectors of North Korean society. Through these efforts and frequent innovations over 21 years\, asymmetric avenues of aid delivery have been developed to reach the most vulnerable as well as maximize transparency in distribution\, a chronic challenge for aid groups to North Korea. From 1998\, HHK undertook the additional task of assisting North Koreans in China who had fled famine and oppression in their own country only to find their lives also at risk in China. Emergency aid to North Korean refugees in China in their bid to escape to third countries via the so-called ‘underground railroad’ has included secret shelters\, food\, clothing\, emergency medical treatment\, and logistical support in transportation\, communication\, etc. Melanie Kirkpatrick’s landmark book\, Escape from North Korea\, The Untold Story of Asia’s Underground Railroad\, cites HHK’s aid work repeatedly in her groundbreaking 2012 study of Christian humanitarian assistance provided to escapees who flee DPRK tyranny. Since 2005\, aid by HHK in China to orphaned children of forcibly repatriated North Korean refugee women has also grown into a significant aspect of HHK’s work. \nMr. Peters’ has given U.S. Congressional testimony on three occasions between 2002 and 2005 and twice (2012 and 2014) to the U.K. Parliament’s All Party Parliamentary Group on North Korea. Peters’ written submission to the 4/28/2004 hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives  International Relations Committee\,“Korean Pathetique: A Symphony of Refugee Tears Unheeded” contains the essence of his analysis and policy recommendations as requested by the World Economic Forum later in 2004. Peters formalized this study as a chapter in the collaborative volume\, Korea Confronts the Future (2005). In 2015 Peters authored “Beset from Within; Beleaguered from Without: The North Korean Catacombs in an Era of Extermination\,” a case study chapter dealing with the history and current persecution of Christians on the Korean Peninsula in the book\, Freedom of Belief and Christian Mission\, Vol. 28 of the Regnum Edinburgh Centenary Series (Oxford). \nPeters’ Christian activism was profiled in a cover story of TIME magazine (Asia) on May 1st of 2006 and HHK has received periodic attention in the international media. In 2007 The Wall Street Journal recommended Peters for the Nobel Peace Prize. HHK’s founder was the recipient of the 2008 St. Stephen’s Prize in Oslo\, presented by Norway’s former Prime Minister\, Kjell Bondevik\, on behalf of the human rights organization\, Stefanus Alliance International. \nKim Kwang-jin \nSenior Researcher \nROK Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS)/HRNK \nAs non-resident fellow at the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea\, Mr. Kim Kwang-jin is an invaluable\, experienced resource shedding light into the darkest corners of the North Korean regime‘s secret and illegal international financial operations. His revelations have saved re-insurance companies tens of millions of dollars and brought an end to an important method the corrupt regime purloined from foreign sources the funds it needed to maintain its internal oppression. \nIn September 2003\, Kim Kwang-jin and his family rushed to an airport in Southeast Asia to fly to freedom in Seoul\, South Korea. Months earlier\, Mr. Kim lived a privileged life working for the government’s overseas banking operations in Singapore. Then\, Mr. Kim fell out of favor after he was suspected of leaking information about the regime to foreign nationals. Before being summoned back to North Korea to face severe punishment\, Kim made the decision to defect with his family. During his banking career\, Mr. Kim helped earn millions of dollars for what he calls North Korea's “Royal Court Economy\,” i.e.\, the enterprises and often illegal schemes that financially supported the country’s totalitarian regime. \nSince arriving in South Korea\, Mr. Kim has served as an analyst at the ROK Institute for National Security Strategy.  A household name on TV and radio programs addressing North Korea\, he has worked as a consultant for the ROK Unification Ministry as well as media organizations including KBS\, MBC\, and RFA. He is a standing member of the ROK National Unification Advisory Council (NUAC). His educational background includes completion of Ph.D. course work and an MBA in Finance and Insurance from Kookmin University (Seoul\, 2014\, 2012)\, a Master’s in Economics/IT of North Korea at the University of North Korean Studies (Seoul\, 2008)\, and a BA in British Literature from Kim Il Sung University (Pyongyang\, 1989). Working for the North Korean regime\, Mr. Kim served as Singapore Representative of North East Asia Bank (2002-2003); an agent of the Korean Foreign Insurance Company and North East Asia Bank\, Pyongyang\, (1998-2002)\, and Professor of the Pyongyang Computer College (1991-1997).  He has published numerous papers and articles on the North Korean economy and the current power transition in North Korea\, including: “Gulag\, Inc.—The Use of Forced Labor in North Korea’s Export Industries” (HRNK\, 2016); “After Kim Jong-il: Can We Hope for Better Human Rights Protection?” (HRNK\, 2009\, 2011); “Financial Institutions in North Korea and Their Role”(2016); “North Korea's Provocations after Presidential Elections in South Korea”(2012); “On KWP's Role and Its Prospect in Power Transition to Kim Jong-eun” (2011); “The Defector's Tale\, Inside North Korea's Secret Economy”\, World Affairs Journal (2011); “Kim Jong Il’s Royal Court Economy and Destruction of the People’s Economy” (2008); “The Change of North Korea’s Foreign Exchange Control System and its Increasing Dependence on Foreign Currency” (2008); “The Dollarization of North Korea Economy and Kim Jong Il’s Royal Court Economy” (2007); “The Korea Foreign Trade Bank and North Korea’s Foreign Exchange Control System” (2007); and “The US Financial Sanctions Regime on North Korea and Its Prospect” (2006) \nAmanda Mortwedt Oh \nProject Officer \nHRNK \nAmanda Mortwedt Oh is a project officer at HRNK in charge of a series of more than 30 studies monitoring and investigating North Korea’s political prison camps through satellite imagery and escapee testimony. Her research focuses on human rights\, international criminal law\, and North Korea’s prison camps. Amanda authored a report that was submitted to the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea (COI) on behalf of HRNK and co-authored a Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights study calling for a “Rights Up Front” policy toward North Korea. She holds a Master of Laws in International Law (LLM) degree from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University\, where she studied “North Korean State and Society” and wrote her thesis on North Korea and transitional justice. Amanda also serves as an attorney in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General's Corps. \n  \nKorean-English Interpretation \nRaymond Ha \nEditorial Consultant \nHRNK \nStanford University \nRaymond Ha is an editorial consultant for HRNK\, and was the Office Manager & Outreach Coordinator from 2014 to 2016. He has participated in editorial work on publications including North Korean House of Cards: Leadership Dynamics Under Kim Jong-un; Arsenal of Terror: North Korea\, State Sponsor of Terrorism; Pyongyang Republic: North Korea's Capital of Human Rights Denial; and Gulag\, Inc.: The Use of Forced Labor in North Korea's Export Industries. He has a B.A. in Politics from Princeton University and is currently a Ph.D. student in Political Science at Stanford University. \n  \n\n\n[1] Human Rights Council\, A.HRC.25.63\, Report of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic Republic of Korea\, February 17\, 2014\, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/CoIDPRK/Pages/ReportoftheCommissionofInquiryDPRK.aspx.  URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/north-korean-human-rights-is-there-a-way-forward/ CATEGORIES:Events,HRNK Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.hrnk.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2017-07-18-at-5_34_00-PM.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170720T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170720T180000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T132538Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T132538Z UID:712474-1500555600-1500573600@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:Bridging Borders: Lessons from Cuba and Myanmar for North Korea's underground media DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/bridging-borders-lessons-from-cuba-and-myanmar-for-north-koreas-underground-media/ CATEGORIES:Events,North Korean Human Rights Events Calendar END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170718T100000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170718T140000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T132538Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T132539Z UID:712476-1500372000-1500386400@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:International Forum for ONE KOREA by Global Peace Foundation DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/international-forum-for-one-korea-by-global-peace-foundation/ CATEGORIES:Events,North Korean Human Rights Events Calendar END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170626T091500 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170626T170000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T132538Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T132539Z UID:712475-1498468500-1498496400@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:Leadership Dynamics: The Korean Peninsula in the Moon and Trump Era JoongAng Ilbo-CSIS Forum 2017 DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/leadership-dynamics-the-korean-peninsula-in-the-moon-and-trump-era-joongang-ilbo-csis-forum-2017/ CATEGORIES:Events,North Korean Human Rights Events Calendar END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170624T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170624T160000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T132538Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T132540Z UID:712477-1498312800-1498320000@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:Dear Leader: Q&A with a former North Korean poet propagandist DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/dear-leader-qa-with-a-former-north-korean-poet-propagandist/ CATEGORIES:Events,North Korean Human Rights Events Calendar END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170622T080000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170622T180000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T125126Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T125126Z UID:712109-1498118400-1498154400@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:The Annual Conference of ICKS: THE CHANGING SITUATION ON THE KOREAN PENINSULA: CHALLENGES FOR NEW PRESIDENTS IN 2017 DESCRIPTION:  \nTHE ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF \nTHE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON KOREAN STUDIES \njointly with \nCOMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN NORTH KOREA AND \nKOREA ECONOMIC INSTITUTE OF AMERICA \n  \nTHE CHANGING SITUATION ON\nTHE KOREAN PENINSULA:\nCHALLENGES FOR NEW PRESIDENTS IN 2017\n  \nJune 22\, 2017\, Thursday \nKorea Economic Institute of America \n1800 K Street\, NW Suite 1010\, Washington\, DC 20006 \n  \nClick here to RSVP \n Conference Schedule: 8:00 AM \n Registration \n 8:45–9:00 AM \n Opening Remarks Dr. Bruce E. Bechtol\, Jr.\, President International Council of Korean Studies and Angelo State University   Honorable Donald Manzullo\, President Korea Economic Institute of America Mr. Greg Scarlatoiu\, Executive Director Committee for Human Rights in North Korea 9:00–11:45 AM \n Panel I: Human Rights in North Korea Moderator: Mr. Christopher J. Griffin Executive Director\, Foreign Policy Initiative Papers: “The North Korean Gulag Humanitarian Crisis: A Military Perspective” Mr. Robert Collins\, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea “The North Korean Gulag and International Humanitarian Action: A Human Rights Perspective” Ms. Roberta Cohen\, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea  “Overseas North Korean Laborers” Mr. Greg Scarlatoiu\, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea Discussants: Dr. Steve Noerper\, Korea Society and Columbia University Mr. David Chulwoo Lee\, Korean-American Public Affairs Committee Dr. Bruce E. Bechtol Jr.\, Angelo State University   12:00–1:45 PM \n Luncheon and Luncheon Speech Sponsored by the Korea Economic Institute of America “Topic to be announced” General John H. Tilelli\, Jr.\, USA (Retired)\, Co-Chairman Council on U.S.-Korean Security Studies (U.S. Council)  Introduced by Dr. Bruce E. Bechtol Jr. 2:00 – 3:45 PM \n Panel II: Prospects for Korea’s Economy  Moderator: Dr. Anthony Bartl\, Angelo State University  Papers: “Population Prospects for the ROK to 2040: Impending Changes and Their Implications” Dr. Nicholas Eberstadt\, American Enterprise Institute “THAAD and Economic Relations with China” Mr. Troy Stangarone\, Korea Economic Institute of America “The Strategic Case for Korea to Join the ‘TPP 11” Mr. Kyle Ferrier\, Korea Economic Institute of America Discussants: Mr. William Brown\, Korea Economic Institute of America Mr. David Maxwell\, Georgetown University Mr. William Newcomb\, Former UN Security Council Panel\, DPRK\, Panel of Experts 3:45–4:00 PM \n Coffee Break  \n 4:00–5:45 PM \n Panel III: Korea and Major Powers: The Quest for Peace and Security   Moderator: Dr. Jai Poong Ryu\, Professor Emeritus\, Loyola University Maryland and President\, One Korea Foundation Papers: “China and the Korean Peninsula” Mr. Gordon G. Chang\, Forbes.com “Japan’s Role in North Korean Security Issues” Mr. James Durand\, International Council of Korean Studies  “The United States and the Korean Peninsula” Mr. James Kendall\, Sasakawa Peace Foundation Discussants: Dr. Andrew Scobell\, Rand Dr. Douglass Streusand\, Marine Corps University Mr. George Hutchinson\, George Mason University  5:45–6:00 PM \n Closing Remarks  Dr. Bruce E. Bechtol\, Jr.\, President International Council of Korean Studies and Angelo State University Honorable Donald Manzullo\, President Korea Economic Institute of America Mr. Greg Scarlatoiu\, Executive Director Committee for Human Rights in North Korea 6:00 PM   \n End of the Conference URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/the-annual-conference-of-icks-the-changing-situation-on-the-korean-peninsula-challenges-for-new-presidents-in-2017/ CATEGORIES:Events,HRNK Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.hrnk.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/icks_composite_image_2.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20170607T183000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20170607T210000 DTSTAMP:20260409T183057 CREATED:20190107T132538Z LAST-MODIFIED:20190107T132538Z UID:712473-1496860200-1496869200@www.hrnk.org SUMMARY:Korea Club with the U.S. Department of State DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.hrnk.org/event/korea-club-with-the-u-s-department-of-state-2/ CATEGORIES:Events,North Korean Human Rights Events Calendar END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR