May 18, 2023
The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK), the Hoover Institution, and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) have the pleasure to invite you to a full-day conference entitled "North Korean Human Rights: Is There Still a Way Forward?" on Thursday, May 18 at NED.
As North Korea continues to advance its nuclear and missile capabilities, this conference will examine the human rights situation in the country and explore how human rights issues may be elevated in future bilateral & multilateral interactions with Pyongyang.
The full program agenda is enclosed below.
The welcome & opening remarks and the first session will be livestreamed online at https://www.ned.org/events/north-korean-human-rights-is-there-still-a-way-forward/.
Program Agenda
8:45 a.m. | Welcome and Opening Remarks
- Damon Wilson, President and CEO, NED
- Dr. Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy, Freeman Spogli Institute for Int'l Studies at Stanford University
- Greg Scarlatoiu, Executive Director, HRNK
9:15 a.m. | Refugees, Prison Camps, and the Chinese Dimension
- The Hon. Roberta Cohen, Co-Chair Emeritus, HRNK
- Dr. Tara O, Adjunct Fellow, Hudson Institute
- Ethan Hee-Seok Shin, Researcher, Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG)
- Moderator: Olivia Enos
March 29, 2023
HRNK will be featuring its latest report, The Root of All Evil: Money, Rice, Crime & Law in North Korea by Joshua Stanton.
The Root of All Evil examines the record of UN and U.S. sanctions implementation against North Korea, and it "proposes a long-term, multilateral legal strategy...to find, freeze, forfeit, and deposit the proceeds of the North Korean kleptocracy into international escrow."
"By forfeiting misspent funds and disbursing them for humanitarian purposes," Stanton argues, "a coalition [of like-minded nations] can compel Kim Jong-un to make better decisions with the wealth that rightfully belongs to the North Korean people."
The report launch will be conducted virtually, via Zoom, at 5:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time (ET) on Wednesday, March 29.
Access information will be shared with confirmed participants the day prior to the event.
The event will be open to the press and on-the-record.
Please click on this link to RSVP.
Presenter: Joshua Stanton
Author, The Root of All Evil: Money, Rice, Crime & Law in North Korea
Discussants:
Soo Kim
Practice Area Lead, LMI
William Newcomb
Former Member, UN Panel of Experts on DPRK Sanctions
Moderated by: Greg Scarlatoiu
Executive Director, HRNK
March 19, 2023
The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK), the International Bar Association (IBA), and the Center for International Studies of the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) at Yonsei University have the pleasure to invite you to an event entitled Ten Years after the UN COI: Pressure Points and the Future of the North Korean Human Rights Movement.
The event, organized in cooperation with the CREDO Association and the Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS), will be held on Monday, March 20 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (Korea Standard Time) in a hybrid format: virtually on Zoom and in-person at Yonsei University in Seoul. This event is centered on both the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) and a Report published by HRNK and IBA (with pro bono assistance from the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton), addressing crimes against humanity committed at North Korea’s detention centers.
A 12-minute mini-documentary produced by HRNK & the IBA on crimes against humanity in North Korea's detention centers will be played at the event. The event will also provide a forum for proposing a “human rights up front” approach to North Korea, 10 years after the establishment of the UN COI & 34 years after the end of the Cold War.
[Schedule of Events]
Welcoming Remarks (10:00-10:05 a.m.)
- Dean Lee Jung-Hoon, GSIS, Yonsei University
Opening Remarks (10:05-10:15 a.m.)
-
March 17, 2023
The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) and the Permanent Mission of Australia to the United Nations have the pleasure to invite you to a side-event on “Investigating DPRK Human Rights, Ten Years after the UN COI: Satellite Imagery, Lines of Responsibility, Accountability” that will be held on Friday, 17th March 2023, 13:00-14:00 (Geneva time) in-person at Palais des Nations, Room XXII.
Ten years after the establishment of the UN Commission of Inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), this event aims to highlight the human rights infringements and crimes against humanity perpetrated at DPRK detention facilities as well as the chain of command and control responsible for those violations in order to emphasize the importance of human rights accountability in the DPRK.
The event will feature remarks and briefings by ROK Ambassador-at-Large Shin-wha Lee, HRNK Senior Satellite Imagery Analyst Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr., HRNK Senior Advisor & Author Robert Collins, and Executive Director Greg Scarlatoiu, based on an ongoing HRNK investigation of DPRK detention facilities, which uses a methodology combining satellite imagery, witness testimony, and open-source research. The event will also feature three witnesses who experienced imprisonment in North Korea’s detention system.
March 14, 2023
The offices of MEP Michiel Hoogeveen and MEP Lukas Mandl (Chair of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with the Korean Peninsula - D-KOR), together with The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) have the pleasure to invite you to a side-event on “Investigating DPRK Human Rights, Ten Years after the UN COI: Satellite Imagery, Lines of Responsibility, Accountability” that will be held on Tuesday, 14th March 2023, 13:30-15:00 in-person – at the European Parliament in Strasbourg in WEISS S2.2.
At this event we will be joined by three North Korean defectors, who will give testimonies about their time in North Korean prison camps.
PROGRAMME:
Welcoming Remarks:
MEP Michiel Hoogeveen
Part 1: “DPRK Human Rights, Ten Years after the UN COI: Past, Present, Future”
Moderator: MEP Michiel Hoogeveen
Pierre Rigoulot, French historian and author of The Aquariums of Pyongyang
Greg Scarlatoiu, Executive Director, HRNK
Part 2: “Witnesses to Inhumanity: Satellite Imagery, Lines of Responsibility, Accountability”
Moderator: MEP Lukas Mandl
Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr., HRNK Senior Advisor (via live video link)
Robert Collins, HRNK Senior Advisor and Author
Jung Gwang-il, Chairman, No Chain for North Korea and survivor, Political Prison Camp No. 15 (Yoduk)
Two former North Korean women prisoners, Re-education through Forced Labor Camp No. 12 (Jongo-ri)
Part 3: Q&A Session
Modera
February 28, 2023
Dear Friends of HRNK,
We invite you to "One Decade Since the UN COI: Advocating for a Human Rights Up Front Approach," an event celebrating the tenth anniversary of UN Human Rights Council Resolution 22/13, which established, by consensus, the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Human Rights in North Korea.
This event, hosted by HRNK, will be held at the DACOR Bacon House (1801 F St. NW, Washington, D.C.) on Tuesday, February 28, 2023 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
This event will aim to: assess progress on North Korean human rights over the past decade; propose a "paradigm shift" that would place a "Human Rights Up Front" approach at the center of North Korea policy and interactions with North Korea, next to other critical issues; and assess the likelihood of Korean unification under a free, prosperous, democratic, capitalist Republic of Korea as the key to resolving the North Korean security & human rights conundrum.
An overview of the "Human Rights Up Front" approach to North Korea, published by the National Institute for Public Policy in January 2023, can be accessed at this link.
The schedule of events is enclosed below.
Welcoming Remarks (9:30-10:00 a.m.)
Greg Scarlatoiu, HRNK Executive Director
H.E. Cho Tae-yong, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the United States
H.E. Lee Shin-wha, Republic of Korea Ambassador-at-Large for North Korean Human Rights (remote)
The Hon. Robert Joseph, HRNK Board Member & former Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security
[Session 1]
November 16, 2022
Dear Friends of HRNK,
You are kindly invited to participate in a hybrid lecture, "North Korea and its Regime," organized by the Dutch United Nations Student Association (SIB Amsterdam) and the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK).
The lecture will highlight HRNK's role as a North Korean human rights advocate, the Kim regime and Juche ideology, human rights violations in North Korea, and what can be done by the general public.
This hybrid event will be held on Wednesday, 16 November 1 PM (EST) / 7 PM (CET). The physical event will be hosted by SIB in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (UvA Roeterseilandcampus, Roetersstraat 11). It will also be live-streamed on Zoom.
For further information, please contact SIB Amsterdam at
[email protected]
October 28, 2022
The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK), The Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights (JBI), the Permanent Mission of Lithuania to the United Nations, the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the United Nations, and the European Union Delegation to the UN hosted a side-event, “Investigating the DPRK Human Rights: Satellite Imagery, Lines of Responsibility, Accountability” on Friday, 28th October 2022, 1:15-2:45 PM (EST) in a hybrid format: virtually on Zoom and in-person at the premises of the Permanent Mission of Lithuania to the UN.
This event highlighted the human rights infringements and crimes against humanity perpetrated at DPRK detention facilities as well as the chain of command and control responsible for those violations, in order to emphasize the importance of human rights accountability in the DPRK.
Following presentations by ROK Ambassador-at-Large Lee Shin-wha and UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the DPRK Dr. Elizabeth Salmón, the event featured briefings by HRNK Senior Advisors Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr. and Robert Collins, based on an ongoing HRNK investigation of DPRK detention facilities, which uses a methodology combining satellite imagery, witness testimony, and open-source research.
Over three decades since the end of the Cold War, the DPRK has persisted as an egregious human rights violator. In the third decade of the 21st century, the DPRK continues to run a system of political prison camps and other unlawful detention facilities. Up to 200,000 men, women, and children are imprisoned at the
DPRK’s political prison camps, pursuant to a feudal-inspired system of guilt-by-association, which punishes up to three generations for the perceived wrongdoing of one family member.
To this day, the DPRK continues to discriminate against its own c
September 26, 2022
On Monday, September 26, 2022, HRNK held a virtual launch of its latest report, North Korean Workers Officially Dispatched to China & Russia: Human Rights Denial, Chain of Command & Control by Greg Scarlatoiu, with Raymond Ha and Hyunseung Lee.
The report finds that "the working conditions at overseas worksites constitute forced, slave labor." In particular, "there are severe violations of the International Labor Organization's core Conventions and North Korea's own labor laws." The report also provides information about the situation of overseas workers in China & Russia during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as an outline of the chain of command & control that directs the official dispatch of overseas workers.
The report is available online at https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/Overseas_Workers_0926.pdf.
Greg Scarlatoiu, HRNK Executive Director, opened the event with an overview of the practice of dispatching North Korean workers overseas, along with a summary of HRNK's efforts to investigate the issue.
Raymond Ha, HRNK Director of Operations & Research, then provided an assessment of the gravity of labor standard violations affecting North Korea's overseas workers.
This was followed by Hyunseung Lee, HRNK Advisor and North Korea analyst, who gave a detailed presentation about how the North Korean regime manages and oversees the official dispatch of overseas workers.
The event concluded with a brief Q&A session.
Please click on the following link to view the video recording of the report launch: https://youtu.be/fSdjRB1pIXE
September 15, 2022
HRNK hosted the 18th General Meeting of the International Parliamentarians' Coalition for North Korean Refugees and Human Rights (IPCNKR) on Thursday, September 15 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m at the DACOR Bacon House.
Greg Scarlatoiu, HRNK Executive Director, moderated the event.
Opening & Congratulatory Remarks
(9:00-9:30 a.m.)
The Hon. Ha Tae-keung, IPCNKR Chairperson & ROK National Assembly
The Hon. Damon Wilson, President & CEO, National Endowment for Democracy
The Hon. Hwang Woo-yea, IPCNKR Honorary Chairperson & former ROK Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs
Session 1: Promotion & Protection of Freedom of Opinion & Expression in N. Korea
(9:30-10:40 a.m.)
Jang Hyoek, former entrepreneur & defector from N. Korea
Dr. Baek Jieun, Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center
The Hon. Hong Suk-joon, ROK National Assembly
Kwon Eun-kyoung, Executive Director, NK Net
Session 2: Crimes Against Humanity in N. Korea & Accountability I
(11:00 a.m. - 12:20 p.m.)
The Hon. Nakagawa Masaharu, member of the House of Representatives, National Diet of Japan (remote)
The Hon. Futori Hideshi, member of the House of Representatives, National Diet of Japan
The Hon. Ji Seong-ho, ROK National Assembly
Choi Sung-yong, head of the Abductees' Family Union
The Hon. Park Sun-young, former member, ROK National Assembly
Luncheon (12:20-1:30 p.m.)
Session 3: Crimes Against Humanity in N. K
August 12, 2022
On October 9, 1983, North Korean agents planted a bomb at the Martyrs' Mausolem in Rangoon, Burma, attempting to assassinate the fifth president of South Korea, Chun Doo-hwan. Although Chun was unharmed due to an act of providence, fourteen South Korean presidential advisers, journalists, and security officials were killed, together with four Burmese nationals. One out of three North Korean assassins survived. This is the story of Kang Min-chol, the lone survivor of the 1983 North Korean terrorist hit squad.
The report launch will be conducted virtually, via Zoom, at 10:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time (ET) on Friday, August 12.
Following a presentation by Amb. Ra Jong-yil, the event will feature remarks by retired Lt. General Chun In-bum, ROKA, who was at the scene of the attack in 1983 as a first lieutenant, and Robert Collins, HRNK Author and Senior Adviser.
Greg Scarlatoiu, HRNK Executive Director, will moderate the discussion.
Zoom access information will be shared with registered participants on Thursday, August 11. The event will be open to the press and on-the-record.
June 27, 2022
On June 27, 2022, following an exhaustive multi-year Inquiry, HRNK and the International Bar Association (IBA) launched in Washington, D.C. a report entitled "Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity in North Korean Detention Centers." The Inquiry, chaired by four renowned international judges--including the former Presidents of the ICC and the Rwanda Tribunal, as well as judges who served on the criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Cambodia--concluded that crimes against humanity have been, and continue to be, committed in North Korea's pre-trial detention centers, holding centers, and labor training camps.
Remarks by:
Navanethem 'Navi' Pillay (Inquiry Chair)
- Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Former President, Rwanda Tribunal; Former Judge, International Criminal Court (ICC)
Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi
- President, Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC; Former President, ICC
Wolfgang Schomburg
- Former Judge, Rwanda and Former Yugoslavia Tribunals
Greg Kehoe
- Former Co-Chair, IBA War Crimes Committee; Partner, Greenberg Traurig
Nawi Ukabiala
- Pro Bono Counsel, Debevoise & Plimpton, LLP
Roberta Cohen
- Former Co-Chair, HRNK; Former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights
David Tolbert
- Former Deputy Chief Prosecutor, Former Yugoslavia Tribunal; Former Exec. Dir., Int'l Center for Transitional Justice
June 09, 2022
This event will begin with a screening of the documentary Abandoned Heroes No. 43 from 2:00 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion, featuring:
Mr. Seon-Woo Lee
POW in North Korea from 1953 to 2006, when he escaped to South Korea
Lt. Gen. Wallace "Chip" Gregson, Jr. (USMC, Retired)
President, WC Gregson & Associates
Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs
Ms. Hee-Eun Kim
Founder, President & CEO, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy (CAPS)
Col. David Maxwell (U.S. Army, Retired)
Board Member, HRNK
Senior Fellow, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD)
Dr. Bruce E. Bechtol Jr. (USMC, Retired)
Professor, Department of Security Studies and Criminal Justice, Angelo State University
Remarks by the speakers will be followed by a Q&A session. The panel discussion will be moderated by HRNK Executive Director Greg Scarlatoiu.
June 02, 2022
Moderated by HRNK Co-Chair Emeritus Roberta Cohen
Presenters:
Dr. Rana Siu Inboden
Adjunct Assistant Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs
Distinguished Scholar, Strauss Center for International Security and Law
North Korea and Authoritarian Collaboration in the United Nations: The Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review Process
The report Dr. Inboden will feature examines ways that North Korea benefits from protection in the UN human rights system. In particular, it examines patterns where other authoritarian countries shield North Korea from human rights criticism during the UN's Universal Periodic Review process by offering praise for the North Korean government, even in the face of severe human rights violations. It shows that jointly North Korea and other countries, such as China, blunt the effectiveness of external human rights scrutiny and monitoring. The North Korean regime and its allies frequently band together in multilateral bodies to shield each other from international human rights pressure. This is particularly evident during the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR). During all three of North Korea’s UPR sessions before the Human Rights Council (HRC), a number of its backers not only defended it but even applauded North Korea’s record. The most active countries shielding North Korea were China, Cuba, and Venezuela, but they were also joined by Syria, Belarus, Russia, Vietnam, Iran, and Burundi.
Greg Scarlatoiu
Executive Director, HRNK
North Korea and Authoritarian Collaboration in the United Nations: The ECOSOC NGO Committee
The report Executive Director Scarlatoiu will feature examines the role of the ECOSOC NGO Committee as “gatekeeper” of international civil society access, based
April 26, 2022
HRNK will be featuring Army of the Indoctrinated: The Suryong, the Soldier, and Information in the KPA by George Hutchinson, the latest report in an ongoing project to examine North Korea's information environment.
The report launch will be conducted virtually, via Zoom. Login information will be shared with confirmed participants the day prior to the event.
The event will be open to the press and on-the-record.
Please email Raymond Ha, HRNK Director of Operations and Research, at
[email protected] if you have any questions or concerns.
March 04, 2022
Dear Friend of HRNK and IBA,
We invite you to a Hearing in connection with an Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity in North Korean Detention Centers that is being led by HRNK and the IBA. The Hearing, which will be held on March 4, 2022 from 09:00 to 17:30 (EST), will feature (1) in-person testimony from survivors of North Korean detention centers, and (2) expert testimony on command and control structures in the Kim regime, satellite images of detention centers, etc. The goal of the Hearing is to determine culpability for alleged crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute, ranging from actors at the highest level of the regime (i.e., Kim Jong-un), to low-level guards who carry out many of the worst human rights abuses.
Four renowned international jurists – who, together, have presided over the most consequential international criminal tribunals since the Nuremberg trials – will preside over the March 4th Hearing:
1. Navi Pillay (Chair) is a South African jurist and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. During her UN tenure, Judge Pillay appointed Justice Michael Kirby to conduct the landmark UN Commission of Inquiry (2014) on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. She also served as President of the Rwanda Tribunal and as a judge on the International Criminal Court (ICC).
2. Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi served as the former President of the ICC and currently serves as the President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC (2021-2023).
3. Wolfgang Schomburg served as Germany’s first judge on the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda Tribunals.
4. Dame Silvia Cartwright is the former Governor-General of New Zealand and served as an international judge on the Cambodia Tribunal.
Th
December 22, 2021
HRNK will be featuring its latest report under a long-term project employing satellite imagery analysis and former political prisoner testimony to shed light on human suffering in North Korea's prison camps.
The report launch will be conducted virtually, via Zoom. Login information will be shared with confirmed participants the day prior to the event.
The event will be open to the press and on-the-record.
Please email Raymond Ha, HRNK Director of Operations and Research, at
[email protected] if you have any questions or concerns.
November 03, 2021
HRNK will be featuring its latest report under a long-term project employing satellite imagery analysis and former political prisoner testimony to shed light on human suffering in North Korea's prison camps.
The report launch will be conducted virtually, via Zoom. Login information will be shared with confirmed participants the day prior to the event.
The event will be open to the press and on-the-record.
Please email Raymond Ha, HRNK Director of Operations and Research, at
[email protected] if you have any questions or concerns.
October 26, 2021
Featuring:
The Honorable Tomás Ojea Quintana
Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Moderated by:
Greg Scarlatoiu
Executive Director, HRNK
Mr. Tomás Ojea Quintana was appointed Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of Korea by the Human Rights Council in 2016.
Mr. Ojea Quintana is a lawyer from Argentina working in the field of criminal law, human rights and public interest, representing NGOs and other groups in different cases, including child abduction by the military regime, sexual abuses by members of the church, and business criminal liability for human rights abuses. He is currently the attorney of a universal jurisdiction case on the abuses against Rohingyas.
He served as the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar from 2008 to 2014, and previously as Consultant for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Bolivia. He also worked as a lawyer at the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (OAS). He is a consultant for the Parliament of Argentina, and has worked as an adviser to government agencies on human rights and security issues.
This is Mr. Quintana's second and final visit to Washington, D.C. during his mandate as Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the DPRK.
Please email Greg Scarlatoiu, HRNK Executive Director, at
[email protected] if you have any questions or concerns.
July 22, 2021
HRNK will be featuring the latest report under a long-term project employing satellite imagery analysis and former political prisoner testimony to shed light on human suffering in North Korea's prison camps.
The event will be open to the press, and on-the-record. Please click here to RSVP.
The Zoom credentials will be sent to you shortly before the program.
Please email Rosa Park, HRNK Director of Programs and Editor, at
[email protected] if you have any questions or concerns.