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Richard Williamson
Ambassador Richard Williamson passed away in December 2013 at the age of 64. He was a member of the HRNK Board of Directors.
It is with extraordinary sadness that the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) announces the sudden passing of Board member Richard Salisbury Williamson, American thought leader, diplomat, lawyer and teacher. Ambassador Williamson served as United States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and as United States Ambassador to the United Nations for Special Political Affairs. HRNK will always remember Ambassador Williamson’s commitment to shedding light on North Korea’s human rights violations. While serving as Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 2004, he gave strong support to the UN’s appointment of a special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea. He recognized the importance of concentrating a special international focus on the human rights situation in that country and spoke out to help bring freedom and democracy to the people of North Korea. His profound commitment to the promotion of democratic values extended worldwide. As United States Special Envoy for Sudan, he played an important role in speaking out against genocide in Darfur. His book, America’s Mission in the World: Principles, Practices and Predicaments, published in 2009, expressed the need to expand human rights, democracy and freedom in countries and regions throughout the world. This year he co-authored a widely publicized report with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on the responsibility to protect. In it, he called for a United States commitment to promote protection for civilians from genocide and other forms of mass atrocity. HRNK lost an extremely capable advocate of North Korean human rights and a true leader in the fight for freedom worldwide. Ambassador Williamson’s work continues to set a shining example for HRNK’s future.
Greg Scarlatoiu, Executive Director
Roberta Cohen and Andrew Natsios, Co-Chairs, Board of Directors
Jae Hoon Ahn
Jaehoon Ahn, a member of the HRNK Board of Directors, passed away in June 2011.
As a native son of Pyongyang whose family was forced to flee after Kim Il-sung's takeover, Mr. Ahn personally understood the unique urgency of promoting North Korean human rights.
Before joining HRNK, Mr. Ahn brought rigor and integrity to his many journalistic endeavors. He served as a correspondent for JoongAng Ilbo, a researcher for The Washington Post, and founding director of Radio Free Asia's Korean Service. His hard work and persistence in building the Korean Service from scratch helped to establish Radio Free Asia as an important source of information on both sides of the 38th parallel.
Mr. Ahn's knowledge, passion, and team spirit enabled HRNK to make the best use of its diverse range of talent and opinions.
HRNK lost an extremely capable advocate of North Korean human rights and a widely respected human being. Jaehoon Ahn was a mentor to many, and an inspiration to all.
Fred Iklé
HRNK was saddened to lose Fred C. Iklé in 2011. One of the earliest and most consistent supporters of HRNK, Mr. Iklé leveraged his many connections to secure important sources of funding for the fledgling organization in its early years.
Mr. Iklé enhanced HRNK’s credibility by bringing a lifetime of service and achievement to the Board, including but not limited to his role as architect of U.S. nuclear defense strategy under President Ronald Reagan. He made significant contributions to the policy community following his government service through his years as a Distinguished Fellow of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and as a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), among others.
HRNK has become a strong organization with a record of original research and well-received publications on North Korean human rights in no small part because of Mr. Iklé's ideas, passion, and reputation.
James Lilley
Ambassador James R. Lilley passed away in November 2009 at the age of 81. He was a former Co-Chair of the HRNK Board of Directors.
Ambassador Lilley served for decades in the diplomatic, intelligence, and policy communities. After a career as a CIA operative in Asia, he served as director of the American Institute in Taiwan, Ambassador to South Korea, and Ambassador to China. He earned a reputation as a consummate Asia hand, receiving effusive praise from Democrats and Republicans alike. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Ambassador Lilley "one of our nation's finest diplomats;" President George H.W. Bush remarked that Lilley was a "most knowledgeable and effective ambassador who served with great honor and distinction."
Ambassador Lilley balanced a pragmatic, bipartisan approach with passionate advocacy for human rights. Responding to the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989 in China, Lilley maintained a principled but careful approach that allowed the United States to express its negative reaction to the incident without permanently debilitating US-China relations.
The 2012 Ambassador James R. Lilley and Congressman Stephen J. Solarz North Korean Human Rights Act, the most significant legislative accomplishment for the North Korean human rights community in the United States, is a testament to the spirit of bipartisan comity and pragmatic idealism that Ambassador Lilley brought to HRNK.
Ambassador Lilley's leadership continues to set a shining example for HRNK's future.
Stephen Solarz
Stephen J. Solarz, a former US Representative from New York and a Co-Chair of the HRNK Board of Directors, passed away in 2010 after a fight with esophageal cancer. He was 70.
Congressman Solarz left behind a legacy of service, congressional leadership, and personal diplomacy in over 100 countries as a leading voice on foreign policy and human rights in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1980, he flew from Pretoria to Pyongyang to become the first American politician to visit North Korea and meet with Kim Il-sung, an experience which reinforced his conviction that North Korea is "truly the most repressive regime in the world, bar none." For his extensive diplomacy and foreign travel, Congressman Solarz earned the moniker of "the Marco Polo of Congress."
Most importantly, Congressman Solarz brought his longstanding record of bipartisan cooperation on foreign policy and human rights issues to HRNK. In the face of significant opposition from many members of his own party in the House of Representatives, Congressman Solarz worked with the respected Republican House Minority Leader Bob Michel to build bipartisan support for the resolution that authorized the Gulf War. His bipartisanship extends to North Korean human rights issues; the 2012 Ambassador James R. Lilley and Congressman Stephen J. Solarz North Korean Human Rights Act bears his name and that of his Republican colleague James R. Lilley, a fellow Board member of HRNK.
Congressman Solarz brought ideas, connections, and credible leadership to HRNK. He urged HRNK to send its recommendations to the Obama administration. Congressman Solarz guided and inspired HRNK beginning in its early years. HRNK is a respected, bipartisan organization today because Congressman Solarz helped to pave the way.
In this submission, HRNK focuses its attention on the following issues in the DPRK: The status of the system of detention facilities, where a multitude of human rights violations are ongoing. The post-COVID human security and human rights status of North Korean women, with particular attention to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). The issue of Japanese abductees and South Korean prisoners of war (POWs), abductees, and unjust detainees.
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 No. 25 by providing details of activity observed during 2021–2023. This report was originally published on Tearline at https://www.tearline.mil/public_page/prison-camp-25.
This report explains how the Kim regime organizes and implements its policy of human rights denial using the Propaganda and Agitation Department (PAD) to preserve and strengthen its monolithic system of control. The report also provides detailed background on the history of the PAD, as well as a human terrain map that details present and past PAD leadership.
Oct 17, 2023
HRNK's latest satellite imagery report analyzes a 5.2 km-long switchback road, visible in commercial satellite imagery, that runs from Testing Tunnel No. 1 at North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test facility to the perimeter of Kwan-li-so (political prison camp) no. 16.
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