Il -kuk (Evan) Kim is currently a graduate of Yorktown High School in Arlington, VA. Before coming to HRNK, he published Three Names, a collection of paintings and essays about his life in North Korea, South Korea, and the United States. On June 6, 2013, accompanying HRNK’s Songbun report launch, he presented his paintings at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).
 
He was born in North Korea, and his family defected to South Korea when he was nine. After attending elementary and middle school in South Korea, he arrived in the U.S. in 2009. In his high school, he organized a number of awareness events, was the president of a student group raising public awareness of North Korea, and raised funds to rescue North Korean refugees in China. He has also spoken about his personal experience as a North Korean at various high schools in Virginia and Maryland.