Rebecca Pankratz first developed an interest in international human rights work during the three years that she lived in India, where her father worked with a nonprofit human rights organization. In 2019, she received her BA at Pepperdine University in International Studies. While a student at Pepperdine, she spent a year studying abroad in Argentina; she also worked for two years as a resident assistant in the dorms and studied voice.

This past year, she was a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship to teach English in South Korea. On her weekends in South Korea, she was involved in tutoring children from North Korean refugee families. She is now in the U.S. working with HRNK and teaching English remotely to Asian students. She is passionate about HRNK’s mission to advocate for the basic human rights of the North Korean people.