Please click here to sign our petition supporting the renaming of East 44th Street and 2nd Avenue Otto Warmbier Way.

Otto Warmbier was a 22-year-old American student who was arrested in North Korea in January 2016 and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster from his hotel. He was released from North Korean custody in June 2017 in a comatose state and died just days after his return to the United States.

Warmbier was a student at the University of Virginia, where he was studying economics and had a bright future ahead of him. He was in China as part of a study abroad program when he decided to take a brief trip to North Korea. After his arrest, Warmbier was forced to make a public confession to the crime of stealing the propaganda poster, which many believe was coerced. He was subsequently sentenced to 15 years of hard labor, which he spent in captivity until his release.

Warmbier’s release came after months of diplomatic efforts by the US government. However, Warmbier’s tragic condition upon his return to the US quickly revealed the horrors he suffered at the hands of the Kim family regime. Warmbier’s family revealed that he had been in a coma for over a year and had suffered severe brain damage, likely as a result of physical torture and abuse during his captivity. The North Korean government denied any mistreatment, claiming that Warmbier had fallen into a coma after contracting botulism and taking a sleeping pill.

The death of Otto Warmbier is a tragic reminder of the dangers posed by the North Korean regime and the human rights violations committed against both foreign nationals, like Otto Warmbier, and against the citizens of North Korea.

Dear Donors and Supporters,

On behalf of the North Korea Freedom Coalition, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you for your support of our spring 2023 North Korean women speaking tour. You have enabled us to bring the stories and experiences of North Korean women to the U.S. Congress, State Department, and the United Nations, shining a light on the dire human rights situation in the country and inspiring action towards change. We look forward to sharing our report on this week’s events with you soon.

Through our speaking tour, we have been able to give a voice to those who have been silenced for far too long. North Korean women have faced unimaginable hardships, including forced labor, sexual violence, and political oppression, yet they remain strong and resilient in the face of adversity. Your support has allowed us to amplify their voices and share their stories with the world.

However, our work is far from over. The human rights situation in North Korea remains dire, and the women we have brought to speak are just a few of the many who continue to suffer under the oppressive regime. We need your help to continue our mission of promoting human rights and freedom for the people of North Korea.

If you are able, we kindly request your additional support towards our ongoing efforts. Your contributions will help us continue to bring the stories of North Koreans to new audiences, advocate for policy changes to improve the human rights situation in the country, and support refugees who have escaped the regime.

Thank you once again for your generosity and support. Together, we can make a difference in the lives of the North Korean people.

You are cordially invited to join the Defense Forum Foundation’s Congressional Defense and Foreign Policy Forum online as we host three brave and inspiring women who escaped from North Korea.  Two of the witnesses are recent escapees who will be visiting the United States to share their stories for the first time.

Speakers:

LEE Haeun: survivor of 50 days of torture and detention for making phone calls to South Korea. After her husband was sent to a political prison camp for listening to South Korea broadcasts, she and her daughter escaped from North Korea in 2019 in one of the last groups to escape before the border shut down. 

JI Hannah: survivor of North Korea’s political prison camps and China’s detention centers, Ji was an entrepreneur who lost everything during the infamous currency devaluation.  She successfully defected in 2015 and then saved up enough money to risk her own life to go back to China to save her two sons in 2019.

HAN Song-Mi: escaped from North Korea in 2011 when her mother raised enough money to pay brokers to get her out of South Korea.  The trauma of her life led her to remain silent for a decade but now she is speaking out and has published her memoir co-written with Casey Lartigue of Freedom Speakers International: Greenlight to Freedom: A North Korean Daughter’s Search for Her Mother and Herself.

 *DFF’s Defense and Foreign Policy Forums were established in 1983 to provide Congressional staff the opportunity to hear from expert speakers in a nonpartisan, collegial atmosphere on important issues facing the United States and her allies.

Thursday, March 16, 2023 10:30 AM EDT
Salvation Army Auditorium
221 E 52nd St, New York, NY 10022

Organized by the North Korea Freedom Coalition

Activists Worldwide Call on Xi Jinping:
Stop Repatriating North Koreans

Dear Friends:

You cannot imagine the looks of sheer joy on the faces of the hundreds of North Korean escapees and South Korean human rights activists gathered near the Chinese embassy in Seoul in late September when we announced:  activists all over the world are sending appeals to Chinese embassies and consulates representing 18 countries and 55 cities! It meant so much for them to know that so many people care — and are willing to act — for the North Korean refugees in China. This Save North Korean Refugees Day 2022 was especially critical because we are running out of time as at least 600 children, men and women face the grave danger of repatriation once the border opens between China and North Korea – it is expected to happen soon. The following is a report prepared by Johnny Park to recognize these heroes and heroines all over the world that joined in solidarity for Save North Korean Refugees Day this year! We also thank Johnny and Teresa Ost for serving as our International Coordinators and helping prepare letters for our city and country coordinators.

For the refugees, we must continue to do all we can to advocate for their safe passage to the Republic of Korea but want to take the time to recognize these wonderful folks by name and countries below!

We also want to recognize these 22 former U.S. government officials who represent every U.S. presidency since Richard Nixon who have faithfully joined our advocacy appeals to the Republic of Korea for the past several years to show the United States’ solidarity and bipartisan support for action to save these refugees:  Richard V. Allen (Reagan and Nixon), Thomas Barker (Bush), Roberta Cohen, (Carter), John Despres (Carter, Reagan, Clinton), Chuck Downs (Bush), Felice Gaer (Obama and Bush), Chadwick R. Gore (Trump and Bush), Ambassador Robert G. Joseph (Bush), Ambassador Robert R. King (Obama), Jay P. Lefkowitz, (Bush), Ambassador Winston Lord, (Ford, Nixon, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton), Barton W. Marcois (Bush), Honorable Tidal W. McCoy (Reagan), Ambassador J. William Middendorf (Nixon, Ford, Reagan), Thomas C. Montgomery (Bush), Andrew Natsios (Bush), Daniel Pipes (Reagan), Eric Schwartz (Obama and Clinton), Gare Smith (Clinton), Ambassador Katrina Lantos Swett (Obama), Ambassador Morse Tan (Trump), and Christian Whiton (Bush, Trump).

Acta Non Verba,

Suzanne

Suzanne Scholte

Dear North Korea Freedom Coalition Members and Friends:

Where in the world will you be on Friday, September 30th? 

Please consider taking part in Save North Korean Refugees Day by Mailing or Emailing a letter to Xi Jinping:  In Solidarity with the North Korean defector NGOs and South Korean human rights leaders who are organizing the 19th annual North Korea Freedom Week, Friday, September 30^th has been designated as the date for our annual Save North Korea Refugees Day.  We are inviting everyone to participate that day by mailing or emailing a letter to Xi Jinping requesting that the PRC allow safe passage to the North Korean children, women and men currently being detained in Chinese detention centers for entering China illegally.  All we are asking is for China to honor its international treaty obligations and allow these refugees safe passage out of China. That is all.

Here is all you need to do to participate:

1) Find the PRC embassy or consulate that is in your jurisdiction at this link:

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/wjb_663304/zwjg_665342/

2) Send a letter of appeal by mail or email to Xi Jinping at that address on or before Friday, September 30th  We have several sample templates you can use at nkfreedom.org.

And, if you are willing to share…

3) snap a picture or you and your letter and send via email to johnnypark (at) defenseforumfoundation.org.

Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on “South Korea’s Refugee Policy and the Yoon Administration: A New Openness to International Standards?” 

Hosted by:

Witnesses

• Jong-Chul Kim, Esq. Senior Researcher, Advocates for Public Interest Law
• Ethan Hee-Seok Shin, Ph.D., Legal Analyst, Transitional Justice Working Group
• Moon Jun Sohn, M.D., Ph.D., Director, We All Friends (NGO), Professor, Neurological Surgery, Ilsan Paik Hospital, Inje University, Korea
• Suzanne Scholte, Ph.D., Seoul Peace Prize Laureate and Chair, North Korea Freedom Coalition
• Kennji Kizuka, Associate Director, Research & Analysis, Refugee Protection, Human Rights First

Bios

Dear Friends: 

Some action items for your consideration and some great news to report!  First up, please consider joining the following events.

Acta Non Verba,

Suzanne

Join the Team Organizing the International Day of Prayer and Fasting for North Korea to be held April 27/28th

The anniversary of the very first North Korea Freedom Day is coming up next month on April 28th to mark the largest gathering for North Korea human rights that had ever occurred outside the Korean peninsula.  That day approximately a thousand people from all over the USA rallied on Capitol Hill on April 28, 2004, with North Korean defectors and South Korean, Japanese, and Canadian human rights activists.  That day was cited as the pivotal moment that led to the passage of the North Korea Human Rights Act that Fall.  We are once again marking that day as an International Day of Prayer and Fasting for North Korea’s freedom.  We expect this to be the most important day of the year as we will also hold an interactive prayer session on April 27th 7-8:30 pm(EST)/April 28th 8-9:30 AM (Seoul) to pray with North Korean defector pastors.  Thank you to the team forming so far: Anna Yang on global website, Alana Johnson on preparing prayers for the day, Johnny Park on translations.  Helping prepare for the interactive prayer service are Pastors Chang Ho Lim and Kang Chul Ho and Kim Seong Min is helping confirm North Korea defectors who are now pastors representing every province of the DPRK. Jason West is helping with the platform, and I am working on overall service and hope to get Dr. Thomas Belke to join us as he believes this is the most important thing we can do for North Korea.  Everyone will be invited to participate, but anyone wishing to help on planning, please let me know. This would include help reviewing prayers, plans, translations, etc.

It is Time to go to Seoul!! North Korea Freedom Week May 22-28, 2022

It was confirmed by the North Korean defector leaders that the 19^th annual North Korea Freedom Week will be held May 22-28^th in Seoul.  You may recall we decided to have NKFW 2022 in May because of the critical South Korean election this month.  So. please consider joining the delegation from the USA — or from wherever you are — to travel to Seoul to support the people of North Korea and everyone working for their freedom and human rights.  More details will be forthcoming, but please mark those dates on your calendar.

DPRK exhibit and posters to foster hate for Americans.

Reporting on a Very Special Broadcast to North Korea

Finally, some great news to report: we had wonderful participation by Members of the U.S. Congress in our special messages that we broadcast to North Korea for Seollal on Free North Korea Radio.  This program has become very popular among our FNKR listeners in the DPRK as a powerful way to show the people of North Korea how much we care about them.  Despite the steady anti American propaganda they are fed starting from childhood and throughout their lives that we are their enemy, through this program they learn the truth of how much Americans are concerned about them.

We want to acknowledge and profusely thank Senators John Barasso of Wyoming, Chris Coons of Delaware, Ted Cruz of Texas,  Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Jim Risch of Idaho, Marco Rubio of Florida, and Representatives Steve Chabot of Ohio, Young Kim of California,  Doug Lamborn of Colorado, Alan Lowenthal of California, Michael McCaul of Texas, Gregory Meeks of New York, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Maria Salazar of Florida, Chris Smith of New Jersey, and Rob Wittman of Virginia for their powerful messages that were broadcast to the people of North Korea for the year of the Tiger.