Tuesday,
April 10: Hidden Gulag: Exposing North Korea's Political Prisoner Camp System
& Calling for its Complete, Verifiable, and Irreversible Dismantlement
(Washington, DC)
|
What
|
Conference
|
|
When
|
Apr
10, 2012
from 08:00 am to 07:30 pm |
|
Where
|
Peterson
Institute for International Economics, C. Fred Bergsten Conference Center,
1750 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20036
|
Presented
by the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and the Jacob Blaustein
Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights
RSVP
to nkgulag@hrnk.org
Program
Agenda
8:00
a.m. Breakfast and registration
8:45
a.m. Welcoming remarks:
Roberta
Cohen
Chair,
HRNK
Non-resident
Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
Greg
Scarlatoiu
Executive
Director, HRNK
9:00
a.m. Introductory remarks: Christopher Smith, Congressman, U.S. House of
Representatives (invited)
9:30
a.m. Panel 1:“Hidden Gulag”
U.S.
presenter:
David
Hawk
Author,
“Hidden Gulag First & Second Edition”
Korean
presenter:
Yeosang
Yoon
President,
North Korean Human Rights Archives, NKDB
U.S.
discussant:
Gordon
Flake
Executive
Committee Member, HRNK
Executive
Director, The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation/HRNK
Korean
discussant:
Chanil
An
President,
World Federation of North Korean Refugees (WINK)
Moderator:
Nicholas Eberstadt
Board
Member, HRNK
Henry
Wendt Chair in Political Economy, American Enterprise Institute
H
R
N
K
The
U.S. Committee for
Human
Rights in North Korea10:45 a.m. Coffee break
10:55
a.m. Panel 2: “Born in the Hidden Gulag”
Presenters:
Blaine
Harden
Author
Washington
Post
Shin
Dong-hyuk
Author
Former
political prisoner
Korean
discussant:
Kang
Chol-hwan
Author,
“The Aquariums of Pyongyang”
President,
North Korea Strategy Center
U.S.
discussant:
Gordon
Chang
Author,
“Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes On the World”
Moderator:
Marcus Noland
Board
Member, HRNK
Deputy
Director and Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute of International Economics
12:15
p.m. Book signing by Blaine Harden and Shin Dong-hyuk: “Escape from Camp 14”
12:30
p.m.
Luncheon
keynote addresses:
Ambassador
Robert King
U.S.
Special Envoy for North Human Rights
2:00
p.m. Panel 3: “Women and the Hidden Gulag”
Korean
Witnesses:
Ms.
Kim Hye-sook and Ms. Kim Young-soon
Former
camp inmates
Korean
presenter:
Hyeonja
Ku
Database
Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB)
U.S.
discussant:
Melanie
Kirkpatrick
Senior
Fellow, The Hudson Institute
Korean
discussant:
Hanna
Suh
The
Hans Seidel Foundation
Moderator:
Suzanne Scholte
Executive
Committee Member, HRNK
President,
The Defense Forum Foundation
3:15
p.m. Coffee break3:30 p.m. Session 4: “Lessons Learned from the Dismantlement
of Nazi Concentration Camps
and
the Soviet Gulag”
U.S.
Presenter:
Professor
Anna Holian
Arizona
State University
U.S.
Presenter:
Professor
Steven Barnes
George
Mason University
U.S.
discussant:
Robert
Williams
U.S.
Holocaust Memorial Museum
Korean
discussant:
Dr.
Hyun-Jin Son
Korea
Legislation Research Institute
Moderator:
Carl Gershman
Board
Member, HRNK
President,
National Endowment for Democracy
4:30
p.m. Coffee break
4:45
p.m. Session 5: “Seeking Legal and International Human Rights Remedies and
Dealing
with
Prisoners’ Claims”
Korean
presenter:
Kim
Tae-hoon
ROK
National Human Rights Commission/North Korea Committee of the Korean Bar
Association
U.S.
presenter:
Jared
Genser
President,
Freedom Now
Korean
discussant:
Roh
Jeong-ho
Columbia
University Law School/Center for Korean Legal Studies, Columbia University
U.S.
discussant:
T.
Kumar
Director,
International Advocacy, Amnesty International USA
Moderator:
Felice Gaer
Director,
Jacob Blaustein Institute
6:00
p.m. Wrap-up
6:15
p.m. Reception for all participants
Hosted
by:
Lisa
Colarcucio
Board
Member, HRNK
Advisor,
Impact Investments
Andrew
Natsios
Board
Member, HRNK
Professor,
Georgetown University
Former
Administrator, USAID
7:30
p.m. Program concludes
===================
Arrived
there after 5:00 when the last session seemed to have just begun.
Prof.
Roh Jeong-ho offered us insight into how law plays out in understanding N.
Korea – no clear answer, which looked better than common attempt to give
clear-cut answers.
Had
chat with one of N. Korea defectors who escaped political prison. What is your
favorite food? Hot soup, chicken soup .. Asked about re-unification. Understandably he
was not ready to weigh in on the grandiose issue. Food, shelter, and clothing
is the most imperative.
The
author of the memoir – the defector’s story – I asked him: do you have any idea
of how your efforts to raise awareness of human rights crisis in N. Korea have
impact on reunification of two Koreas? I did not expect anything, because he is
not Korean.
N
Korea human rights campaign, the well-intended efforts could lead to unexpected
consequence – instability in Korea Peninsula. We do need to forge international
cooperation to pressure N. Korea and, particularly China. The campaign should
be incorporated into the strategy for post-Kim regime.
