North Korea Freedom Week & Protest Rallies

(Above) Park Sang Hak, a North Korean defector & President of Fighters for a Free North Korea (FFNK), launching giant balloons carrying leaflets & money to North Korea.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

April 26-May 2, Washington, D.C.

SCHEDULE IN PDF (Updated April 23. Final Update.)

MAPS OF APR 28 & MAY 2 EVENTS

Sunday, April 26

3:00 pm Wreath Laying Ceremony at the Korean War Memorial. The North Korean Defector Delegation will lay a wreath to honor the American soldiers who gave their lives to ensure South Korea's Freedom and read a proclamation. A Special Tour of the Memorial will follow hosted by Ed Borcherdt of the Korean War Memorial Foundation

Host: Korean War Memorial Foundation

Open to the Public. No RSVP needed.

6:00 pm Candlelight Vigil & Silent Prayers to remember all repatriated North Koreans who have been beaten to death and publicly executed in North Korea because of China's repatriation policy

Location: International Calvary Church, 5700 Hanover Avenue, Springfield, Virginia

Open to the Public. No RSVP needed.

7:00 pm Prayer Service for North Korea and for the visiting North Korea defector delegation

Hosts: Pastor Sharon Lee, Pastor Heemoon Lee, and Pastor Eom Myung Heui (NK Defector)

Location: International Calvary Church, 5700 Hanover Avenue, Springfield, Virginia

Open to the Public. No RSVP needed.

Monday, April 27

All Day: North Korea Genocide Exhibit will be on display at Columbus Circle across from Union Station

Hosts: Nancy Purcell, Linda Dye, North Korea Freedom Coalition

Display by Sin U Nam, Moon Gook Han, and the International Coalition to Free the North Korean Slaves

Open to the Public. No RSVP needed.

Anniversary of the International Day of Prayer for North Korea -- once again April 27th is being set aside as a global day of prayer for North Korea. For more info, see www.globaljusticeprayernetwork.com

3:00-4:30 pm: Special Capitol Hill Screening of Crossing

Location: 1539 Longworth House Office Building, Capitol Hill

Hosts: Congresswoman Diane Watson, Congressman Ed Royce, Congressman Dan Burton, Congressional Caucus on Korea.

Organizing Contact: Hunter Strupp

Especially for Congressional staff, but open to the public

2:00-4:00 pm Department of State: DRL North Korea Funding Information Session. As the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor continues to dedicate more resources to the promotion of human rights and democracy in North Korea, DRL will host this special informational session to introduce potential partner organizations to the DRL solicitation process, including how grant proposals are evaluated and monitored.

Host: Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) Bureau

To Participate, RSVP REQUIRED. Email turnerje@state.gov with full name, date of birth, country of citizenship, and passport or driver's license number.

Tuesday, April 28 Rally Date and Anniversary of the First North Korea Freedom Day

All Day: North Korea Genocide Exhibit will be on display at the West Front of the U.S. Capitol

10:00 am Demonstration Calling for the Closure of North Korea's Political Prison Camps

Hosts and Speakers: Yoduk political prison camp #15 survivors Kim Tae Jin, Kim Young Soon, and Jung Gwang-il of the Democracy Network Against the North Korean Gulag.

Location: The Raoul Wallenberg Place on 15th Street and across from the Holocaust Memorial Museum

Open to the Public. No RSVP required.

Capitol Hill Rally for North Korea Freedom & Human Rights, West Front of U.S. Capitol

11:00 am Music Starts with the Pyongyang Musical Mission Troupe and our own Jeff Park and the Seoul Presbyterian Church Praise Band

12:00 noon Program Starts: Confirmed speakers: Senator Sam Brownback; Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen; Congressman Ed Royce; NED President Carl Gershman; Freedom House Executive Director Jennifer Windsor; Amnesty International Asia Advocacy Director T. Kumar and North Korea Advocacy Director Jack Rendler; Reporters Without Borders Washington Representative Lucie Morillon; Ed Borcherdt of the Korean War Memorial Foundation; Lindsay Vessey of Open Doors; Michelle Kim of PSALT, and our special honored guests, the North Korea Freedom Week Defector Delegation

Special guests from South Korea: Human Rights Ambassador Jhe Seong Ho; Dr. Hyunuk Kim, President of the International Forum for Foreign Policy and National Security;

Special guests from Japan: Diet Member Congressman Jin Matsubara; NGO Leaders Teruaki Masumoto, Secretary General of AFVKN; Professor Yoishi Shimada, Vice Chairman of NARKN

Host: North Korea Freedom Coalition

Open to the Public; No RSVP needed but bring everyone you know!!

After the Rally: Visits to Members of Congress. Rally participants will visit their Senators and Congressmen. If you would like to participate, please RSVP here so that our host can organize groups and make appointments with the Congressional offices: nkfreedom.org/index.php

Host: Lindsay Vessey and Open Doors USA

Note: If you RSVP-ed during April 4 through April 9, please RSVP again. Due to technical difficulties, we may not have received your RSVP during those dates.

3:00-5:00 pm Forum on Human Security in North Korea

Sponsor: Ambassador Jack Pritchard and the Korea Economic Institute

Special Guest: Dr. Vitit Muntabhorn, Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the DPRK, United Nations

Location: KEI Conference Facility, 1800 K Street, N.W., Suite 1010, Washington DC, 20006

Contact: Greg Scarlatoiu at gs@keia.org or Nicole Finnemann at nmf@keia.org

RSVP Required. Click here to RSVP & for more info.

Wednesday, April 29

10:00 am Panel Session Focusing on Survey of North Korean Refugees

Speakers include Marcus Noland, Ambassador Jhe Seong So, and former DPRK Colonel Choi Joo Hwal

Host: Marcus Noland and the Peterson Institute

Location: C. Fred Bergsten Conference Center, 1750 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036

RSVP REQUIRED: meetings@petersoninstitute.org

3:00 pm: Special Event: Press Conference for Release of New Report on the Trafficking of North Korean Women hosted by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea

Speakers: Ambassador Mark Lagon, Roberta Cohen, Debra Liang-Fenton, Bang Mi-Sun, and Kim Young-Ae.

Host: Chuck Downs and Committee for Human Rights in North Korea

Location: National Press Club, Lisigor Room, 529 14th Street, Northwest, Washington, DC 20045

NO RSVP required. For more info, contact Christopher Kim at 202-349-3826.

6:00 pm Special Screening of KIMJONGILIA which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival with the film's director and producer N.C. Heikin. KIMJONGILIA is the first film documentary to expose the horrible human rights abuses by Kim Jong-il through defector's stories, North Korea's propaganda, and original performance.

Host and Sponsor: Congressman Trent Franks and Tina Ramirez.

Special Guest: N.C. Heikin

Location: Capitol Visitors Center - North Theatre

RSVP REQUIRED (limited seating): RSVP at http://www.nkfreedom.org/index.php?id=30

Thursday, April 30

10:00 AM Congressional briefing on the Humanitarian Situation and What Can Be Done to Help the North Korean People

Speakers: Choi Joo Hwal, Kim Tae Jin, Kim Seung Min, Park Sang Haak, Michael Magan, and Ken Isaacs.

Hosts: Congressman James McGovern, Congressman Frank Wolf, Tom Lantos and Congressional Human Rights Commission

Contacts: Han Hogrefe and Elizabeth Hoffman at 202-225-3680

Location: 2200 Rayburn House Office Building, Capitol Hill

1:00-4:00 pm Panel Session hosted by the Heritage Foundation on North Korean Human Rights: Recommendations for President Obama and the U.S. Congress

Confirmed Speakers: Congressman Ed Royce, National Endowment for Democracy President Carl Gershman, Joel Charney of Refugees International, Roberta Cohen of Brookings Institution, Jared Genser of Freedom Now, and Bruce Klingner of Heritage Foundation

Host: Bruce Klingner and the Heritage Foundation

Location: Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20002

Open to the Public. RSVP REQUIRED: www.heritage.org/press/events/ev043009a.cfm

6:30-8:30 pm CROSSING OVER: A Dialogue with North Korean Refugees

Speakers: Kim Young-il, Refugee & Executive Director of PSCORE (People for Successful Corean Reunification);

Han Young-jin: Refugee & Reporter at Radio Free Asia; and

Laura Elizabeth Pohl: Freelance photojournalist and former foreign correspondent in Seoul.

Host: Ana Jang and the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, GPPI IPD Track, GU Korean Student Society, PSCORE

Location: Georgetown University, Carbarn Building, 4th floor student lounge, 3520 Prospect Street, N.W.

Especially for Georgetown community, but open to the public.

Contact: hj57@georgetown.edu

Friday, May 1

10:30 am - 12:00 noon Roundtable on China Refugee Issues

Confirmed Speakers: Shawn Roberts, Joel Charney, and Suzanne Scholte accompanied by North Korean defectors and survivors of trafficking.

Host: Charlotte Oldham-Moore and Congressional-Executive Commission on China

Contact: Troy Reid

Location: 628 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington DC

Open to the Public. No RSVP required.

12:30 pm Reporting from the Front Lines on Our Flight to Save Our Homeland

Capitol Hill Forum in honor of North Korean Defectors hosted by the Defense Forum Foundation

Participants will have an opportunity to talk with the visiting defector delegation during lunch followed by a program with a question & answer session.

Location: B-339 Rayburn House Office Building, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.

Host: Defense Forum Foundation

Especially for Congressional Staff but open to the public. RSVP required and $30 to cover seated lunch (limited seating). RSVP to henry@defenseforum.org

Saturday, May 2

12:00 noon Protest at the new People's Republic of China's Embassy office against their violent treatment of North Korean refugees

Location: 3505 International Place, NW, Washington, DC (note this is the new embassy address!!)

Program: Music Starts with the Pyongyang Musical Mission Troupe and our own Jeff Park and the Seoul Presbyterian Church Praise Band

We will read aloud the list of those we know who were repatriated by China to face detention, torture, and execution in North Korea for fleeing their homeland.

Confirmed Speakers: American hero and refugee rescuer Steve Kim; the first American to spearhead efforts to document North Korean human rights abuses: Jack Rendler of Amnesty International, Free North Korea Radio director Kim Seung Min; Fighters for a Free North Korea Park Sang Hak;Yoduk survivors Kim Tae Jin and Kim Young Soon, Refugee survivors Bang Mi Sun and KIM Young Ae; and The Grim Reaper: Kim Jong-il/Hu Jintao: Side by Side in Genocide

Host: North Korea Freedom Coalition

This is the last public event of North Korea Freedom Week -- so Everyone please attend! as we call for China to end its cruel treatment of refugees which is in defiance of its international treaty obligations.

Flyers for Download (PDF)

Silence is Death (color 1)      Silence is Death (color 2)    Silence is Death (b&w)

Raise Our Voices (Korean)    Raise Our Voices (color)     Raise Our Voices (for b&w print)

Rally for NK People (color)

Our Silence is Death

PAST NKFC EVENTS

2008 December Protest Rally to Help Save North Korean Refugees & Protest against China's Violent Treatment and Unlawful Repatriation of North Korean refugees

Friday, December 5 , 2008, Chinese Embassy, Washington, D.C., 12pm-2pm

Saturday, December 6, 2008, Union Station, Washington, D.C., 12pm-2pm

Statements from the Speakers

Flier for color print in English & Korean (PDF).

Flier for black & white print in English & Korean (PDF).

Maps for December protest rallies (MSWord).

Press Release: Americans Asked to "Offset" Purchases of Chinese-Made Christmas Presents: Remember North Korean Refugees Oppressed by Beijing (PDF).

2008 NORTH KOREA FREEDOM WEEK (April 26-May 3)

Short Bios of the Delegation of Visiting North Koreans & VIP Guests

Press Release 04.25.08 with Schedule of Events in detail. Also available in PDF here.

NKFW FLYERS (PDF) (English & Korean)

Poster (PDF):"China's Cruelty Kills the Olympic Spirit"

2007 NORTH KOREA FREEDOM WEEK (April 22-29)

Schedule of Events and List of Eyewitnesses to the Atrocities in North Korea

NKFC Press Release, April 12, 2007 (MS Word)

Flyer: International Protest Rally on North Korea Freedom Day, April 28 (English & Korean)(PDF)

Flyer (Korean): NK Genocide Exhibit, April 23-26 (PDF)

Flyer (English): NK Genocide Exhibit, April 23-26 (PDF)

2006 December International Protest Against the Violent Repatriation of North Korean Refugees

Report & Photos of Protests held in 15 different countries

2006 NORTH KOREA FREEDOM WEEK

Schedule of Events with links to Statements given at the events, hearings, and April 28 North Korea Freedom Day Rally (April 22-30, 2006).

Photographs from North Korea Freedom Week 2006

North Korea Freedom Day, U.S. Capitol

Wreath laying ceremony at the Korean War Memorial

Suzanne Scholte, President of NKFC, giving opening statement

Participants at the U.S. Capitol

Participant at the U.S. Capitol

Photographs from North Korea Freedom Day 2004

Our first North Korea Human Rights Day, U.S. Capitol, April 28, 2004.

North Korean refugees in chains make their voices heard near

the Holocaust Museum, April 28, 2004

Students protesting at the U.S. Capitol, April 28, 2004.

North Korean refugees testifying to Congressmen about atrocious