Donate

Human rights in North Korea

A North Korean soldier keeps watch toward the south through a binocular telescope

South Korea just repatriated two North Korean fishermen. Why?

Conflict & Justice

The two are suspected of murdering 16 of their fellow crew members and allegedly dumping their bodies overboard. North Korean defectors and human rights activists are blasting the government for sending them back to “certain death” without a proper trial.

A woman with her back turned to the camera cooks while lookers-on watch from behind a raised counter.

In UK, North Korean defectors raise awareness with Lunar New Year Feast

A man throws a plastic water bottle into a dark gray sea

This group uses the tide to send bottles of rice and contraband to North Korea

Commentary
Takuya Yokota in Tokyo in November 2017. He continues to speak out about North Korea's abduction of his sister in 1977.

Japan could ease tensions with North Korea — if North Korea comes clean on its abduction of Japanese citizens

Conflict & Justice
Park Sang-hak, a North Korean defector and leader of an anti-North Korea civic group, prepares to release balloons containing leaflets

South Korea faces a decision over leaflets as ties warm with the North

Global Politics
North Korean defector Shin Dong-hyuk accepted that changing parts of his story had tarnished the credibility of other defectors from the country.

If North Korea is a land of lies, where does the truth begin?

Justice

Blaine Harden wrote a best-selling book about North Korean defector Shin Dong-hyuk. Years later, Shin revealed that parts of his story were not true. So, how did Harden know that another defector whose story he told in a second book was telling the truth?

Kevin and Julia Garratt shown with two of their three children, Peter and Hannah.

China is cracking down on the missionary lifeline that helps North Korean refugees

Belief

Missionaries have been spreading the Gospel and doing humanitarian work with North Korean refugees in northeast China for a long time. But detentions of foreign missionaries are rising as Beijing clamps down on Christian activity, trying to help stabilize its North Korean allies.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un visits a pharmaceutical factory, in an undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on November 8, 2014.

Is Kim Jong-un going to be charged with crimes against humanity?

Justice

The United Nations is expected to hold a vote on North Korea’s human rights record next week. And it could bring Kim Jong-un one step closer to being indicted for human rights atrocities under international law.

Defector Son Jeong-hun wants to return to North Korea.

After escaping to South Korea, some defectors now want to return north

Global Politics

Many North Koreans risk their lives to escape to South Korea. But now some of those who made the trip want to go back to North Korea because they are struggling in Seoul.

Laotian Officials Send North Korean Teenage Defectors Home

Conflict & Justice

Laotian authorities sent back a group of teenage North Korean defectors en route to South Korea. Many of the teenagers were orphans known in Korea as ‘wandering swallows.’