Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  For the North Korean people, the farther you go up, they realize that something is wrong; those in the higher classes realize that something is wrong. But why isn't a revolution happening? It's probably because if you do something wrong, the three generations of your family are g

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'm not sure if there is anything like this in English, but in Korean we have an honorific system built into the language. You show very high respect, respect, and just.... People with equal status have a different language system, let's say. The honorific system can only be us

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think getting outside information in would be the most effective thing. Why? Because North Korean residents are actually living in a total control zone. They're living in a society that is totally controlled. They can't move freely, and they can't go abroad. They are in a clo

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I missed some of the question, but I would like to mention one thing, which is that in the political prison camps, as some argue, you cannot get out alive. When people hear about political camps, they always talk about the Yodok camp, but Yodok is a sort of re-education camp. Tha

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The North Korean regime gave their reaction to the COI report. The reason is not that they have changed their attitude to human rights, it's that they wanted to refer the supreme leader to the international tribunal. That's why. As I said before, the North Korean regime is based

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  As I said to you before, as long as North Korea focuses on this cultification, this deification, of the Kims, then opening up the society is just out the question. They need their leader to be a god, and everyone else in the country is held hostage to this cause. Right now, tho

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  North Korea is trying to move away from just relying on the popularity of its government among its people, because if you look, basically, at North Korean markets, everything is dependent on China. They're trying to move away from China and this situation. At this point, China is

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  When I worked in the UFD in North Korea, I was treated very specially compared to the regular residents of North Korea. That is shown in the supplies that I received, the rationing. In North Korea, people are divided into classes according to the type of rations that you get th

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  There are two classes in North Korea. There are people who hand out, people who are on top, and then there are people who are in the market. There are people who rely on rations and who get a lot of rations compared to people who are relying on the markets. People with sufficient

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The department I worked for thought we needed to learn as much as we could about South Korea. To provide counter-intelligence, we needed to know the enemy to actually be able to fight against the enemy. So we went in and we read and we experienced everything, but when I actually

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Right from the time I defected, when I escaped, North Korean authorities put out a search warrant for me. Since I defected I have received open physical threats through the North Korean official media outlets. I really can't count the threats, because there have been so many agai

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I always try to speak about the atrocities of North Korea, the situation in North Korea, and I always argue that we need to prepare for that eventual collapse. If that happens, there will be total chaos that we cannot deal with. North Korea is different because its punishment sys

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  In the UFD, we would write novels, songs, videos, and magazines. These are produced by the people in that department. It's not just poetry that comes out from that department. All kinds of different media come out of that department. The UFD that I was in is like a cultural liais

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Bonjour. First of all, in 2004 I escaped from North Korea. Before I escaped from North Korea, I was in the United Front Department of the central party of North Korea. The UFD is basically a counter-intelligence operation of the North Korean government. We look at what we're