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ON HUMAN RIGHTS DAY, ALLSOURCE ANALYSIS (ASA) AND HRNK PARTNER TO MONITOR NORTH KOREAN POLITICAL PRISONS
December 10, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT:
HRNK: Greg Scarlatoiu
[email protected]
202-499-7973
ASA: Bri Rios
720-833-5912
ON HUMAN RIGHTS DAY, ALLSOURCE ANALYSIS (ASA) AND THE COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN NORTH KOREA (HRNK) PARTNER TO MONITOR NORTH KOREAN POLITICAL PRISONS
Use of Satellite Imagery Analysis
In Mission to Shed Light, Save Lives
WASHINGTON, D.C. and LONGMONT, Colo. — Dec. 10, 2014 — The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) and commercial imagery intelligence company AllSource Analysis (ASA) announced a strategic partnership to use satellite imaging and analysis to monitor and report on North Korea’s notorious political prison system.
“Up to 120,000 citizens are being held without due process in horrific, inhumane conditions for political reasons, and an estimated half-million people have died in these camps,” said Executive Director Greg Scarlatoiu from HRNK’s Washington, D.C., headquarters. “The collaboration with ASA will allow us to monitor and report on North Korea’s vast system of unlawful imprisonment. Our collaboration will employ technology used for the first time to address such an enormous human tragedy.”
The collaboration will focus on data collection using time-lapse tracking of current and historical images, combined with on-the-ground surveillance and testimonials from former prisoners, guards and other human sources to track developments and bring as much transparency as possible to the situation.
“What we are facing is a slow-motion Holocaust. Crimes against humanity are being committed at North Korea’s political prison camps. The situation at these facilities is so egregious that comparisons have been made to World War II Nazi extermination camps where millions died,” said Scarlatoiu. “Our goals include exposing this human rights disaster to the world and urging the North Korean regime to acknowledge its existence. Visual proof provided by ASA will enhance our ability to persuade the global community to pressure North Korea to allow United Nations agencies and the International Committee of the Red Cross access to the camps. Our ultimate goal is the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of North Korea’s political prison camp system.”
This joint project has the potential to revolutionize the use of remote sensing data in complex humanitarian emergency situations. Having this application of satellite imagery, collection and analysis represents a game-changing approach to international humanitarian efforts in North Korea and other hot spots around the world.
“Most satellite imaging analysis of North Korea has focused on weapons and military infrastructure,” said ASA Chief Analytics Officer Joe Bermudez, an internationally recognized author and expert on North Korea. “We’re honored to provide the technology to take humanitarian monitoring and analysis to a new level, from providing proof and political pressure to directly rescuing and saving prisoners’ lives in the event of unforeseeable circumstances such as a coup or government collapse where the worst-case scenario would be elimination of the prisoners by the North Korean regime.”
About HRNK
HRNK is the leading U.S.-based bipartisan, non-government organization in the field of North Korean human rights research and advocacy, tasked to focus international attention on human rights abuses, and to seek solutions to improve human rights in that country. For the past decade, HRNK has published 20 major reports which have significantly contributed to bringing world attention to human rights abuses in North Korea. “Hidden Gulag,” by David Hawk (2003 and 2012), constituted a turning point in international efforts to expose the egregious human rights violations perpetrated inside North Korea’s prison camps. See: www.hrnk.org.
About AllSource Analysis
Based in Longmont, AllSource Analysis leads the commercial imagery intelligence market with a suite of multi-source information and analytic products. In partnership with the world’s leading data resources and an international network of analysts, ASA’s expert team fuses unique content into actionable intelligence for critical decision-makers in energy, financial, government, humanitarian and insurance industries. The company’s vision, insight and experience combine to dramatically reduce the historic high costs and complexity of geographic technology. ASA delivers affordable, easy-to-use business intelligence to a new generation of users across a broad range of applications. For more information, please visit www.AllSourceAnalysis.com.
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- 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.
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