North Korea: The Human Rights and Security Nexus

Please join us for a special gathering of policymakers, opinion leaders, and stakeholders on the topic of North Korean human rights and the nexus with security issues. This full-day gathering commemorates the two-year anniversary of the publication of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry report and subsequent UN action to address North Korea's human rights violations. Featured speakers and panelists will discuss accountability for North Korean human rights abuses, feature new data and research, examine the link between human and national security, and investigate policy prospects for 2016 as we seek to deepen understanding of the human condition in North Korea and formulate practical solutions.

A distinguished assembly of speakers and panel discussants will gather at CSIS, including:
Michael Kirby
Chair, United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea
Former Justice of the Australian High Court

Sonja Biserko
President, Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia
Member, United Nations Committee of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea

Signe Poulsen
Head, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Seoul

Robert King
Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues, U.S. Department of State

PROGRAM AGENDA
08:30 - 09:00 AM      Registration and Check-In

9:00 – 9:30 AM         Opening Ceremony

Greetings
Victor Cha, Senior Adviser and Korea Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies and Professor, Georgetown University

Welcoming Remarks
Carl Gershman, President, National Endowment for Democracy
Amanda Schnetzer, Director, Human Freedom, George W. Bush Institute
Greg Scarlatoiu, Executive Director, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea
Joseph Phillips, Research Fellow, Yonsei Center for Human Liberty, Associate Professor, Pusan University

9:30 - 10:50 AM          Accountability for Human Rights Abuses

Chair:
Victor Cha, Senior Adviser and Korea Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies and Professor, Georgetown University

Panelists:
Michael Kirby, Chair, United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea; former Justice of the Australian High Court
Sonja Biserko, Member, United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea
Signe Poulsen, Head, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Seoul

10:50 - 11:00 AM          Coffee Break
         
11:00 - 11:45 AM          Special Address

Tom Malinowski, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State

11:45 - 12:15 PM          Luncheon Break

12:15 - 01:30 PM          Policy Prospects in 2016

Chair
Lindsay Lloyd, Deputy Director, Human Freedom, George W. Bush Institute

Panelists:
Robert King, Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues, U.S. Department of State
Sydney A Seiler, Senior Adviser, Office of the Director of National Intelligence; former Special Envoy for the Six-Party Talks, U.S. Department of State
Kurt Campbell, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Asia Group, LLC; former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Michael Green, Senior Vice President for Asia and Japan Chair, CSIS; Chair in Modern and Contemporary Japanese Politics and Foreign Policy, Georgetown University
Choi Seok-young, former ROK Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva

01:30 - 01:45 PM  Coffee Break

01:45 - 03:00 PM  New Research on North Korean Human Rights Documentation

Chair
Suzanne Scholte, President, Defense Forum Foundation and Vice Co-chair of Committee for Human Rights in North Korea

Penalists:
Ken E. Gause, author of North Korean House of Cards: Leadership Dynamics under Kim Jong-un
David Hawk, Author of “The Hidden Gulag IV: Gender Repression and Prisoner Disappearances”
Joseph Bermudez Jr., Co-founder and Chief Analytics Officer, AllSource Analysis and Senior Advisor, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea
Go Myong-Hyun, Research Fellow, Risk, Information and Social Policy Program, Center for Public Opinion and Quantitative Research, Asan Institute for Policy Studies
Greg Scarlatoiu, Executive Director, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea

03:00 - 03:10 PM          Break

03:10 - 04:25 PM          Witness to Tyranny: Survival and Escape from the DPRK

Chair
Amanda Schnetzer, Director, Human Freedom, George W. Bush Institute

Panelists:
Grace Jo, Vice-President of NKinUSA
Lee Sungju, Member of Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights
Oh Sehyek, Researcher, Transitional Justice Working Group
Baek Buhm-Suk, Assistant Professor of Public International Law, Kyung Hee University
Hannah Song, President and CEO, Liberty in North Korea

04:25 - 04:30 PM          Adjournment

Victor Cha, Senior Adviser and Korea Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies and Professor, Georgetown University