Katherine Mitchell is a third-year University College London (UCL) student seeking a degree in History and Politics, and she is currently undertaking her exchange year at Cornell University. Katherine traces her interest in North Korea to a formative trip to South Korea. What she saw and experienced looking out at the DMZ kindled a passion for human rights advocacy in relation to the treatment of North Koreans.

At UCL, Katherine’s interest in political advocacy led her to the United Nations Society and Amnesty UK. During her time at Cornell, she has undertaken steps to further her interests, including taking classes that concern human rights law and Korean history. In her final year at UCL, Katherine intends to pursue a dissertation that studies how U.S. actions toward North Korea can better focus on the human rights of North Korean citizens. To this end, she has sought out an internship with HRNK in parallel with the second semester of her year abroad at Cornell.