Home > Events
Events
Announcements
Events
HRNK Brief
North Korea Human Rights Events Calendar
Video Gallery
Image Gallery
Congressional Hearings
July 13, 2021
Featuring:
Family Members of ROK POWs
Colonel David Maxwell
Board Member, HRNK
Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Colonel (RET), U.S. Army
Amanda Mortwedt Oh
Human Rights Attorney, HRNK
Rosa Park
Director of Programs and Editor, HRNK
Greg Scarlatoiu
Executive Director, HRNK
Fredrick (Skip) Vincenzo
Visiting Senior US Naval Special Warfare Fellow, Atlantic Council
HRNK will feature a discussion on the fate of South Korean POWs whom North Korea never returned to their hometowns and families after the July 27, 1953 armistice. Subjected to forced labor and relegated to a very low "Category 43" Songbun status for almost seven decades, dozens of them are still being held captive in the North to this day. HRNK's Greg Scarlatoiu, Amanda Mortwedt Oh, and Rosa Park will be joined by HRNK Board Member U.S. Army COL (RET) David Maxwell (Foundation for the Defense of Democracies) and U.S. Navy SEAL Commander (RET) Frederick (Skip) Vincenzo (Atlantic Council), together with family members of ROK POWs held in the North.
Please click 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.
.png)
July 01, 2021
Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of Korea: The Role of the United Nations" is HRNK's 50th report in our 20-year history. This is even more meaningful as David Hawk's "Hidden Gulag" (2003) was the first report published by HRNK. In his latest report, Hawk details efforts by many UN member states and by the UN’s committees, projects and procedures to promote and protect human rights in the DPRK. The report highlights North Korea’s shifts in its approach to human rights before and after the February 2014 UN Commission of Inquiry report. In conclusion, while following the collapse of the Hanoi Summit and the outbreak of the COVID epidemic, North Korea is currently in an extreme “anti-reform” and “anti-opening” phase. This HRNK report contends that recommendations the United Nations could make to the DPRK may provide a roadmap complete with specific steps for North Korea to become a more "normal" country.
The event will be open to the press, and on-the-record. Please click on the button above or click here to RSVP.
.png)
June 24, 2021
Ambassador Robert King will be featuring his latest book, "Patterns of Impunity: Human Rights in North Korea and the Role of the U.S. Special Envoy." Published by the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Center, Freeman Spogli Institute, Stanford University, Ambassador King's book is a captivating account of his efforts to integrate human rights within U.S. policy with North Korea. The book also provides unique insights into the creation of the UN Commission of Inquiry on human rights in North Korea as well as obstacles to upholding internationally accepted human rights standards and the challenges to providing humanitarian assistance to North Korea.
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.
.png)
June 10, 2021
From the Workers' Paradise to the United States, former North Korean Doohyun Kim will share the life, trials, and journey of his North Korean family, who miraculously escaped North Korea.
Doohyun is a senior at Utah Valley University, majoring in Global Politics. He also studied at Seoul Cyber University in South Korea, majoring in Business Administration. Doohyun is currently a member of HRNK's research, translation, and media-monitoring team.
The event will be open to the press, and on-the-record. Please click on the button above or 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.
May 26, 2021
This event will be on the record.
Featuring:
Ms. Seo-hyun Lee
&
Mr. Hyeun-seung Lee
North Korean Escapees
Hosts, “Pyonghattan” YouTube Program
Moderated by:
Greg Scarlatoiu
Executive Director, HRNK
North Korean escapees Ms. Seo-hyun Lee and Mr. Hyeun-seung Lee will address their life experience in North Korea, South Korea, and the United States. The two hosts of the “Pyonghattan” program will discuss the current state of the North Korean economy, society, politics, and human rights as well as North Korean elites and Kim regime dynamics. They will address the potential role of North Korea’s youth and the “Jangmadang Generation” in transforming North Korea moving forward. The speakers will address the importance of empowering the people of North Korea through information from the outside world. After all, the only way to enact positive change in North Korea is by means of empowering its people through such information.
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.
May 13, 2021
The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) cordially invites you to:
HRNK Board Member Speaking Series
“The Biden Administration: Is a North Korean Human Rights Reset Possible?”
Thursday, May 13, 2021
4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)
This event will be on the record.
Featuring:
Dr. Nicholas Eberstadt
Henry Wendt Chair, American Enterprise Institute (AEI)
Founding Board Member, HRNK
Moderated by:
Greg Scarlatoiu
Executive Director, HRNK
Can the Biden administration stop Kim and thwart his nuclear ambitions? Can the Biden administration retake the higher ground once held on North Korean human rights? The answer is yes—if it is serious about doing so. President Biden has the power and the options at his disposal to progressively reduce the North Korean threat. Accomplishing this, however, will take a vision and resolve his predecessors lacked—and determination as well not to repeat their mistakes in dealing with Pyongyang.
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.
April 27, 2021
Recent reports suggest that North Korean women in China are subjected to systematic rape, sex trafficking, sexual slavery, sexual abuse, prostitution, cybersex trafficking, forced marriage, and forced pregnancy. Reportedly, tens of thousands of North Korean women and girls are being trafficked into China and sold into the sex trade. The business of the sale of North Korean women is worth an estimated $105 million annually. It is a business that will not cease without intervention and certainly not until an organised international effort is underway.
The panelists will discuss the issue and consider what can be done to address the issue.
Speakers include:
Lord Alton of Liverpool, Crossbench Peer at the UK House of Lords
Greg Scarlatoiu, HRNK Executive Director
Jihyun Park, North Korean defector and Human Rights Activist
Please register via Eventbrite: https://traffickingofnkwomen.eventbrite.co.uk
April 22, 2021
Joshua Stanton’s HRNK report “Arsenal of Terror” (2015) generated critical information and analysis credited for contributing to the relisting of North Korea as a state-sponsor of terrorism. Over the years, his work has been instrumental in designing the North Korean sanctions regime while paying particular attention to humanitarian exemptions. Joshua Stanton will focus on recent instances of terror by the North Korean regime, including the assassination of the leader’s half-brother Kim Jong-nam with VX nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur international airport, the threat to emigres inside South Korea, as well as the ongoing need for legislation to clarify definitions and process.
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.
April 08, 2021
The panel addressed the current state of North Korean human rights. The speakers provided an overview of international reactions and initiatives to address North Korean human rights through international fora as well as South Korea's stance on human rights violations in the North. The panel made the case for addressing North Korean human rights as a priority, rather than a "fringe" issue, too often outcompeted by concerns over North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles.
April 01, 2021
The North Korean regime has been classified in the Open Doors World Watch List as the worst state perpetrator of Christian persecution for the past 20 years through 2021. Only when one contemplates the ‘rivals’ for this designation, such as Somalia, Afghanistan, China, Sudan, Yemen, and Uzbekistan, among other world-class persecutors, does the full impact of Pyongyang’s systemic suppression of its Christian population begin to register. The roots of this toxic strain of religious intolerance can be found in the personality and political philosophy of North Korea’s founding father, Kim Il-sung, the current absolute leader’s grandfather. The grandson has shown himself no less vitriolic in his distrust and hatred of followers of the Nazarene. Despite overwhelming odds that could have caused its extinction, the remnant of the North Korean church has endured through over 70 years of relentless persecution. During those decades, silent external partners of goodwill have desperately sought ways to bring hope, encouragement and practical assistance to the beleaguered faithful continually under Caesar's sword. Small pinholes of light in the regime have shed just enough illumination so that those eager to help are able to assist the persecuted. In necessarily general terms, Reverend Peters will describe some of those tactics.
Please RSVP by clicking here.
The Zoom credentials will be sent to you shortly before the program.
Please email the Director of Programs and Editor at [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns.
March 25, 2021
This event was held on the record.
The three presenters presented an overview of the North Korean refugee crisis including: refoulement to North Korea, China’s role, the applicability of the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and the international response. The speakers addressed the U.S. North Korean Human Rights Act, the status of North Korean refugees in the United States, and challenges faced throughout their resettlement process. In addition, the panel discussed the status of former North Koreans in South Korea, including challenges faced during their resettlement and naturalization process and the current South Korean government’s stance on escapee activists and human rights groups. Finally, the panel discussed the impact of the North Korean regime’s COVID “ultra-lockdown” on those who attempt to escape.
March 10, 2021
Ambassador Morse Tan will address accountability for the crimes against humanity and other egregious human rights violations committed by the North Korean regime. The North Korean human rights issue was sidelined during summit diplomacy with the DPRK. However, more than seven years after the UN COI report, accountability is not forgotten. Ambassador Tan, a top authority on global criminal justice and a most prolific North Korean human rights scholar, will share his thoughts on a roadmap to seeking accountability and justice in the DPRK.
The event will be open to the press and on-the-record. Please RSVP by clicking the button above or by clicking here.
The Zoom credentials will be sent to you shortly before the program.
Please email the Director of Programs and Editor at [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns.
February 25, 2021
Please click here to RSVP.
"South Africa’s Apartheid and North Korea’s Songbun: Parallels in Crimes against Humanity" by Robert Collins underlines similarities between two systematically, deliberately, and thoroughly discriminatory repressive systems. This latest report by Robert Collins adds to his many contributions to understanding North Korea’s levers of power, the dominant role of the Korean Workers’ Party and the key elites, the chain of control and command responsible for crimes against humanity and other egregious human rights violations as well as the extent of the oppression brought onto all levels of North Korean society. Together with Collins’ North Korea’s "Organization and Guidance Department: The Control Tower of Human Rights Denial" (2019), "Denied from the Start: Human Rights at the Local Level in North Korea" (2018), "From Cradle to Grave: The Path of North Korean Innocents" (2017), "Pyongyang Republic: North Korea’s Capital of Human Rights Denial" (2016), and "Marked for Life: Songbun, North Korea’s Social Classification System" (2012), "South Africa’s Apartheid and North Korea’s Songbun" provides invaluable insight for decision makers, diplomats, scholars, and human rights defenders.
The event will be open to the press and on-the-record.
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.
.png)
January 25, 2021
This event will be held under the Chatham House Rule
RSVP
Featuring:
Daiji Yamaguchi
Director of Policy, Headquarters for the Abductions Issue, Government of Japan
Moderator:
Greg Scarlatoiu
Executive Director, HRNK
When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.
Director Daiji Yamaguchi will provide a brief overview and update on the issue of abductions of Japanese citizens and nationals of other countries by North Korea. This virtual event, conducted via Zoom, will be open to the public, including press correspondents.
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.
December 21, 2020
Please RSVP here.
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.
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.
December 17, 2020
Featuring
Speakers:
Stephan Haggard
Lawrence and Sallye Krause Distinguished Professor,
School of Global Policy and Strategy,
University of California, San Diego
Marcus Noland
Executive Vice President and Director of Studies,
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Member, Board of Directors, HRNK
Moderator:
Greg Scarlatoiu
Executive Director, HRNK
HRNK is pleased to feature the two authors of our report "Hunger and Human Rights" (2005). Dr. Stephan Haggard and Dr. Marcus Noland will address their work on famine and food insecurity in North Korea. They will also draw comparisons between the human security and human rights situation in North Korea under Kim Jong-il and under the current regime of Kim Jong-un.
The event will be open to the press and on-the-record.
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.
December 15, 2020
Please click here to RSVP: https://forms.gle/WMbwM9UP6PfY3T7z5.
Featuring:
Introductory Remarks:
The Honorable Roberta Cohen
Co-chair Emeritus, HRNK
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights,
U.S. Department of State
Speakers:
The Honorable Robert King
Former Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues,
U.S. Department of State
Member, Board of Directors, HRNK
His Excellency Jung Hoon Lee
Dean, Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS), Yonsei University
Former ROK Inaugural Ambassador-at-Large for North Korean Human Rights
Member, Board of Directors, HRNK
Moderator:
Greg Scarlatoiu
Executive Director, HRNK
HRNK is delighted to inaugurate our Board Speaking Series, which will feature current and former members of HRNK's Board of Directors. The three distinguished speakers will address the role of the U.S. Special Envoy for North Korean human rights and the ROK Ambassador-at-Large for North Korean human rights. The Honorable Robert King and His Excellency Jung Hoon Lee held these positions until January 2017 and September 2017, respectively. The positions have not been filled since.
The event will be open to the press and on-the-record.
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.
.png)
November 19, 2020
HRNK is delighted to host a Zoom event featuring author David Hawk at 10:00 a.m. Eastern on Thursday, November 19. This is going to be the first of our new “Virtual HRNK Author Speaking Series.” For over two decades, David Hawk has investigated and reported on North Korea’s vast system of unlawful imprisonment. His 2003 report “Hidden Gulag” was HRNK’s first, and also the first report ever to combine witness testimony with satellite imagery analysis to scrutinize North Korea’s political prison camps. Ever since, David Hawk has authored four more reports for HRNK, on both the kwan-li-so political prison camps and the kyo-hwa-so reeducation through labor camps. During this program, he will provide an overview of his investigation over the past 20 years as well as his views on the transformation of North Korea’s prison camp system in the 21st century. The event will be moderated by HRNK Executive Director Greg Scarlatoiu.
The event will be open to the press, and on-the-record.
Please click here to RSVP: https://forms.gle/SuQKk6vj6FsWnoe3A.
Please email the Director of Programs and Editor at [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns.
September 10, 2020
The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) cordially invites you to:
The David Sneddon Case:
Not Forgotten
A Discussion with
James Sneddon
Thursday, September 10, 2020
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)
This event will be on the record. Please click here to RSVP: https://forms.gle/2GNXXcQC58J5gqJFA.
Dear Friends of HRNK,
On Thursday, September 10, 2020 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. EDT, HRNK Executive Director Greg Scarlatoiu will moderate a Zoom event with James Sneddon, brother of David Sneddon. In August 2004, David Louis Sneddon, at the time a 24-year-old Brigham Young University student, disappeared in China's Yunnan Province after traveling alone through Tiger Leaping Gorge. The evidence surrounding his disappearance followed patterns identified in multiple cases of North Korean abductions.
As the older brother of David Sneddon, the only US citizen believed to be held against his will in the DPRK, James Sneddon is intimately aware and personally dedicated to the return of all DPRK abductees while helping shine a bright light on the abysmal human rights record of North Korea. He believes that only through this lens, that of the DPRK’s past and concurrent human rights abuses, will his family gain traction to find out the full truth about his brother and secure his release. James personally searched in China and, with his father Roy Sneddon and older brother Michael Sneddon, developed the original detailed executive report utilized today as the launchpad for explaining David’s disappearance.
James, having spent over 20 years working and living in Asia, has keen insight into Asian cultures, and is able to carefully leverage his Japanese language fluency and cultural adaptability to navigate the original abduction information sour
August 28, 2020
Dear Friends of HRNK,
We are delighted to inform you that we have been able to reschedule a very special event, previously postponed due to reasons outside of HRNK's control.
Please join us for a Zoom conversation titled "North Korean Human Rights: An Update in the Age of COVID-19." The event will feature The Honorable Tomás Ojea Quintana, Special Rapporteur for the human rights situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). The event, moderated by HRNK Executive Director Greg Scarlatoiu, will be held from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, August 28, 2020.
Please click here to RSVP: https://forms.gle/7nPJzwn3Vux8akSP7.
The Honorable Tomás OJEA QUINTANA is a lawyer with more than 14 years of activities in the field of human rights. He has worked at the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. He was also the Executive Director of the OHCHR Programme for Protection and Promotion of Human Rights in Bolivia.
Most recently, he has represented the Argentinean NGO “Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo” in cases concerning child abduction during the military regime.
The Honorable Ojea Quintana was Special Rapporteur for the human rights situation in Myanmar between 2008 and 2014.
The Zoom credentials will be sent to you shortly before the program.
Please email the Director of Programs and Editor at [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns.
This report proposes a long-term, multilateral legal strategy, using existing United Nations resolutions and conventions, and U.S. statutes that are either codified or proposed in appended model legislation, to find, freeze, forfeit, and deposit the proceeds of the North Korean government's kleptocracy into international escrow. These funds would be available for limited, case-by-case disbursements to provide food and medical care for poor North Koreans, and--contingent upon Pyongyang's progress
For thirty years, U.S. North Korea policy have sacrificed human rights for the sake of addressing nuclear weapons. Both the North Korean nuclear and missile programs have thrived. Sidelining human rights to appease the North Korean regime is not the answer, but a fundamental flaw in U.S. policy. (Published by the National Institute for Public Policy)
Sep 26, 2022
North Korea’s forced labor enterprise and its state sponsorship of human trafficking certainly continued until the onset of the COVID pandemic. HRNK has endeavored to determine if North Korean entities responsible for exporting workers to China and Russia continued their activities under COVID as well.
George Hutchinson's The Suryong, the Soldier, and Information in the KPA is the second of three building blocks of a multi-year HRNK project to examine North Korea's information environment. Hutchinson's thoroughly researched and sourced report addresses the circulation of information within the Korean People's Army (KPA). Understanding how KPA soldiers receive their information is needed to prepare information campaigns while taking into account all possible contingenc
This report is part of a comprehensive long-term project undertaken by HRNK to use satellite imagery and former prisoner interviews to shed light on human suffering in North Korea by monitoring activity at political prison facilities throughout the nation. This is the second HRNK satellite imagery report detailing activity observed during 2015 to 2021 at a prison facility commonly identified by former prisoners and researchers as “Kwan-li-so No. 14 Kaech’ŏn” (39.646810, 126.117058) and
This report is part of a comprehensive long-term project undertaken by HRNK to use satellite imagery and former prisoner interviews to shed light on human suffering in North Korea by monitoring activity at civil and political prison facilities throughout the nation. This study details activity observed during 1968–1977 and 2002–2021 at a prison facility commonly identified by former prisoners and researchers as "Kyo-hwa-so No. 3, T'osŏng-ni" and endeavors to e
This report is part of a comprehensive long-term project undertaken by HRNK to use satellite imagery and former detainee interviews to shed light on human suffering in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, more commonly known as North Korea) by monitoring activity at political prison facilities throughout the nation. This report provides an abbreviated update to our previous reports on a long-term political prison commonly identified by former prisoners and researchers as Kwan-li-so
Through satellite imagery analysis and witness testimony, HRNK has identified a previously unknown potential kyo-hwa-so long-term prison-labor facility at Sŏnhwa-dong (선화동) P’ihyŏn-gun, P’yŏngan-bukto, North Korea. While this facility appears to be operational and well maintained, further imagery analysis and witness testimony collection will be necessary in order to irrefutably confirm that Sŏnhwa-dong is a kyo-hwa-so.
Jul 22, 2021
"North Korea’s Long-term Prison-Labor Facility Kyo-hwa-so No. 8, Sŭngho-ri (승호리) - Update" is 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.
Jul 01, 2021
Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of Korea: The Role of the United Nations" is HRNK's 50th report in our 20-year history. This is even more meaningful as David Hawk's "Hidden Gulag" (2003) was the first report published by HRNK. In his latest report, Hawk details efforts by many UN member states and by the UN’s committees, projects and procedures to promote and protect human rights in the DPRK. The report highlights North Korea’s shifts in its approach
South Africa’s Apartheid and North Korea’s Songbun: Parallels in Crimes against Humanity by Robert Collins underlines similarities between two systematically, deliberately, and thoroughly discriminatory repressive systems. This project began with expert testimony Collins submitted as part of a joint investigation and documentation project scrutinizing human rights violations committed at North Korea’s short-term detention facilities, conducted by the Committee for Human Rights