Valerie Johnson is a first-year master’s student at Lund University in Sweden, seeking a degree in Human Rights Studies. She particularly focuses on human rights access, international development policy, and good governance. Her interest in the East Asian region was sparked by teaching English in South Korea for nearly three years. This experience offered her a firsthand understanding of the complexities of inter-Korean relations and motivated her to pursue graduate studies in human rights.

In her academic work, Valerie explores issues affecting marginalized communities, with a particular interest in the rights and conditions of sexual minorities, incarcerated youth, and disabled individuals in North Korea. This research interest will likely shape her master’s thesis in the following academic year. Valerie’s internship at HRNK marks a strategic step toward immersing herself in the critical study of human rights issues in North Korea, with the aim of contributing to research that aims to enhance access to human rights. She is committed to advocating for strategies and interventions that address the urgent human rights challenges facing marginalized communities in East Asia and beyond.

In the long term, as a researcher and advocate, Valerie aspires to amplify the voices and stories of the North Korean people, fostering a deeper global understanding and humanizing the narrative surrounding their lives.

Gayeong Lee, a senior at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, is majoring in Political Science and Diplomacy while double majoring in BRICs Business and Economics. Her keen interest lies in International Relations, she is especially intrigued by the complex relationship between South Korea and North Korea.

As a research intern, she hopes to analyze the political and economic conditions in North Korea that have led to the human rights issues in that country. Additionally, she aspires to delve into the economic, political, and social issues within both South Korea and North Korea, as well as the broader international dynamics surrounding the Korean Peninsula.

Samantha Garcia is a first-year Master's student at Ewha Women's University, specializing in Developmental Cooperation with a keen interest in international law and gender studies. Her interest in East Asia began during her undergraduate years at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where she earned her bachelor's degree in International Criminal Justice. Throughout that period, she concentrated on North Korea and the prevalent human rights issues in the region. This focus prompted her to intern with various U.S.-ROK NGOs, providing her with a deeper understanding of the challenges faced in the field.

Motivated by these experiences, Samantha enthusiastically applied for and was accepted to the Global Korean Scholarship. Her dedication is reflected in her desire to continue her undergraduate passion, focusing on the human rights crisis faced by North Korean women in the prison systems as the central theme for her master's thesis. As a Research Intern at HRNK, she aims to further expand her knowledge and contribute to the strengthening of U.S.-ROK relations.

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.

Ryan Rohrbach is a third-year student at the University at Buffalo, pursuing degrees in Political Science and International Studies with an East Asia concentration. Ryan’s interest in studying East Asian politics comes from the lack of exposure he had to international politics, specifically in Asia, as a kid growing up in a small farm town. Along with intensive Korean-language study through the Department of State Critical Language Scholarship program, he took classes on foreign policy analysis, international relations in East Asia, and authoritarian regimes at Korea University in Seoul.

While studying abroad in Seoul, he spent three days with North Korean escapees during a program organized by South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense. Reflecting on this program showed him the importance of addressing the North Korean state, the North Korean people, and North Korean escapees institutionally and societally in a productive manner. He believes that organizations such as the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea are invaluable in achieving this goal. Ryan is looking forward to pursuing his interests in security studies, East Asian international relations, U.S.-Korea relations, and development and human rights in North Korea at HRNK and in a future graduate school program.

Annie Heitmeier is an honor student and senior at Michigan State University, majoring in international relations with a double minor in Korean language and Asian studies. After graduation, she plans to attend graduate school to pursue a master's degree in security studies.

Annie studied abroad at Yonsei University in her junior year, taking graduate-level courses in humanitarian law and human rights. While abroad, she also worked as an advocacy intern at Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights. As an advocacy intern, she did extensive research on enforced disappearances committed by the DPRK and worked directly with families of the forcibly disappeared to raise awareness about their cases. This internship made her passionate about a career in North Korea policy and made her decide to apply as a research intern at HRNK.

Her main interests are in the realms of human security, nuclear proliferation, and regional conflict and cooperation on the Korean Peninsula. In her role as a research intern at HRNK, she hopes to gain a deeper understanding of the complexities surrounding U.S. foreign policy toward North Korea while honing and enhancing her analytical research skills.

Jiwoo (Katie) Choi is a junior at Jericho Senior High School. As a Korean citizen who is deeply invested in North Korean human rights, she wants to support North Korean escapees and help raise awareness of the seriousness of the human rights situation through her internship at HRNK.

She first came across North Korean issues through YouTube videos that discussed the everyday life of the North Korean people. Her interest in North Korea deepened after she attended a seminar at Columbia Law School, hosted by the Permanent Mission of the ROK to the UN, on the topic of North Korea’s nuclear program and human rights abuses. Inspired by this seminar, she wrote an essay that compared the corruption levels of North and South Korea and argued that the abject poverty that North Koreans face gives rise to a vicious cycle of deprivation, corruption, and repression.

She hopes to learn more about various aspects of the situation in North Korea, including poverty, corruption, humanitarian aid, and the freedom of expression. This will inform her personal efforts in her community to help improve the human rights situation in North Korea.

Gloria Guo is a senior studying International Relations and Law & Public Policy at the University of Southern California (USC). She is passionate about human rights, U.S.-Asia relations, and international law. Gloria first learned about North Korea when she traveled to Yanji at the age of 13, where she met a perceivable number of North Koreans working at local restaurants. She grew more passionate about North Korean human rights issues when she joined Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) at USC. During her undergraduate studies, Gloria has taken several classes on international security, U.S.-Korea relations, and human rights law. As a Research Intern, Gloria hopes to further her understanding of North Korean human rights issues and bring her unique insight and skills to HRNK.

Rachel Baek is a junior at Leigh High School. During a 2018 trip to the Odusan Unification Tower, she caught a glimpse of North Korea for the first time through a telescope and became curious about the conditions there. Since then, she has researched inter-Korean relations and the North Korean diaspora with the goal of understanding human rights issues. She is excited to build on her interests through this internship.

Haeun Moon is an undergraduate student at Harvard College concentrating in Social Studies and Philosophy. She is a Korean-born immigrant, and the issue of human rights is a deeply personal one. From a young age, she questioned why people who share the same language, history, and culture were separated by an arbitrary line. Her family’s experience with the human rights violations of the North Korean government sparked an interest in the ongoing humanitarian crisis in North Korea. This has led to a broader interest in human rights, ranging from the immigrants detained at the southern border of the United States to Afghan refugees.

In the summer of 2022, Haeun was an Oslo Scholar with the Human Rights Foundation, working with NAUH, a Seoul-based non-profit that advocates to defend human rights in North Korea and help those who escape. She spearheaded an international social media campaign in this capacity to raise awareness of the North Korean human rights crisis. Furthermore, she conducted research on UN, EU, and U.S. policies since 2016 related to North Korean human rights, carrying out a comparative analysis on the impact of these policies. These experiences further substantiated her passion for North Korean human rights. She plans to write her senior thesis on inter-Korean relations, with an emphasis on approaching reunification with a focus on North Korean defectors.

Haeun hopes to attend law school after graduation to study international and immigration law, directly serving the disadvantaged members of our communities while pushing for fundamental changes to the system. She is continually reminded of the fact that we all share a common future, and wants to help shape a hopeful future that includes and embraces more people.

Through her internship with HRNK, she hopes to deepen her understanding of the North Korean situation by being embedded in the daily geopolitical happenings, as well as the latest intellectual advancements regarding the North Korean human rights crisis.

Tessa Aguilar is a fourth-year student at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she is majoring in Political Science with minors in Global Studies and East Asian Studies.

Since high school, Tessa has been passionate about East Asian Studies, particularly Korean culture and diplomacy. This past summer, she studied abroad at Yonsei University in South Korea, which left an unforgettable impact on her studies. Her driving factor in becoming further involved with HRNK was hearing a North Korean defector speak during a class session. Tessa is also writing her senior thesis on various levels of cooperation within international relations theory and governance, using South Korea and Japan as a case study.

Learning more about the humanitarian dilemma in North Korea will help Tessa further explore the intersection between Korean politics and methodological theory. As a Research Intern at HRNK, Tessa hopes to gain direct exposure to human rights issues in North Korea as well as how the North Korean government influences the international environment. She aims to return to South Korea in the future to continue her postgraduate studies and pursue international law.

Kate Refolo is a recent graduate from Villanova University with a Bachelor of Arts in Global Interdisciplinary Studies: Cultural Studies and a minor in Philosophy. She graduated Summa Cum Laude and received the Cultural Studies Medallion of Academic Excellence during her senior year. She became interested in North Korean Human Rights and North-South Korea relations many years ago after watching a documentary about North Korean defectors’ escape experiences.

During her junior year at Villanova University, Kate studied abroad at Korea University in Seoul, South Korea. At her study abroad orientation, she had the opportunity to listen to a North Korean defector’s escape story. This experience sparked her interest in the integration of North Korean refugees into South Korean society, and she decided to pursue this topic as her senior capstone thesis project. This project has inspired her to continue researching and advocating for North Korean human rights.

In January 2023, Kate will be returning to South Korea to teach English through the Fulbright program. While in South Korea, she hopes to have the opportunity to volunteer with and tutor North Korean defectors.

Valerie Xu is a rising second-year graduate student at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) pursuing a Master’s degree in International Relations with a concentration in States, Markets, and Institutions in Asia. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University in 2021, with a double major in International Studies and East Asian Studies, both with honors, as well as a minor in Psychology. She became interested in the Korean Peninsula after taking courses such as “History and Culture of North Korea,” “Korea in the World,” “Korean War,” and “North Korea, Identity, and International Politics.” Through her undergraduate senior honor thesis, “Finding Space for Xingshaoshu (LGB) College Students in China,” she gained a deeper understanding of how advocacy and activism could be strategically conducted in a hostile environment under an authoritarian regime. Her research project was recognized as the co-winner of the 2021 Robert Tucker Prize for Best Thesis in International Studies. As a research intern at HRNK, she hopes to further her knowledge of the Korean Peninsula and broaden her perspectives on human rights issues. She aims to pursue a dual degree program in South Korea and aspires to apply her skills and experience in the fields of diplomacy and public affairs.

Bryan Clark completed his master's in International and Security Politics at the European School of Political and Social Sciences (ESPOL) at Lille Catholic University. He previously earned a Bachelor’s degree in Government – International Relations at California State University, Sacramento.

He first became interested in Korean Peninsula issues during his undergraduate program, where he studied about the governments of South and North Korea. He worked for two years as an English teacher in South Korea. From this experience, he developed a deeper interest in Korean Peninsula issues. He is interested in security, refugee, and human rights issues, particularly in relation to North Korea.

His goal is to work in human rights and diplomacy. He looks forward to being able to further improve his knowledge of human rights and refugee issues regarding North Korea. He is excited about being able to participate in HRNK’s efforts to bring further attention to the human rights violations committed by the North Korean government.

Jiwoo Hwang is a rising sophomore in Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. She was born in Seoul, South Korea, and moved to different countries, including due to her father’s job as a diplomat. After meeting a teenage defector at a seminar hosted by her family friends, her interest in North Korea grew. As an intern of HRNK, Jiwoo hopes that she can learn more about the current situation in North Korea and more about the detailed history of the Kim’s reign. She also looks forward to reaching out to the ones suffering in North Korea.