23rd North Korea Freedom Week Defector Delegation

23rd

orth Korea Freedom Week Defector Delegation

April 26-May 2, 2026, Washington, D.C.

1. Kim Ji Young:

President of Free

orth Korea Radio; Lecturer at the Institute for Unification

Education;

Defected 2012; arrived South Korea in 2013

Profile:

Kim Ji Young graduated from Kim Il Sung University and

worked as an official with the People’s Committee in Yanggang Province.
She later served as the manager of the Youth Street Restaurant in
Pyongyang. Since arriving in South Korea in 2013, she has been active as a
security lecturer, unification lecturer, and broadcaster, appearing on a wide
range of media outlets including KBS Korean National Radio, TV Chosun,
Korea Defense TV, Channel A, and SBS. She currently serves as President
of Free North Korea Radio, where she continues to deliver outside
information to North Korean listeners and raise awareness about the
importance of human rights and information access in North Korea.

At the 23rd North Korea Freedom Week, she will speak about the impact that nearly two decades of radio
broadcasting into North Korea has had on both the regime and North Korean society, particularly in
relation to the people’s right to know. She will also address concerns over restrictions on press freedom
under the current administration and discuss the direction of “Operation Truth” and ways to carry it out
more effectively. In addition, she will present survey findings and recent analysis on how North Korean
youth view the Kim Jong Un regime and North Korean society today, and how access to outside
information is shaping changes in their awareness and attitudes.

2. Hu Kang Il:

Chairman of the

orth Korea Democratization Committee;

Defected 1995; arrived

South Korea 1995

Profile:

Hu Kang Il is from Ssangam-dong, Kimchaek City, North

Hamgyong Province. In North Korea, he served in the 9th Division’s civil
defense unit and later worked at a shipyard and at a North Korean forestry
mission in Russia. After arriving in South Korea, he worked for Korea
Electric Power Corporation. In June 2015, he began serving as Chief
Director of the North Korea Democratization Committee, an organization
founded by the late Hwang Jang Yop. Since 2016, he has led the
organization as Chairman, continuing his work in North Korean human
rights advocacy and in defending the rights of North Korean defectors.

At the 23rd North Korea Freedom Week, he will speak about how South

Korea’s policy approach toward North Korea has affected both North Korean defectors and the broader
issue of human rights in North Korea. In particular, he will argue that one-sided conciliatory policies and
distorted perceptions of the North Korean regime can lead to the neglect of the freedom and human rights
of the North Korean people. He also plans to highlight the pressure and marginalization experienced by
the North Korean defector community and to stress that the failure to fully address the human rights
situation of North Koreans in South Korean society should be more clearly recognized by the
international community, as well as by the U.S. Congress and the U.S. government.

3. Park Sang Hak:

Head of Fighters for a Free

orth Korea;

Defected 1999; arrived South Korea

2000

Profile:

Park Sang Hak is from Hyesan, Yanggang Province, and was

born to parents who had been repatriated from abroad to North Korea. He
graduated from Kim Chaek University of Technology. Shocked by the
1997 defection of former Workers’ Party Secretary Hwang Jang Yop, he
fled North Korea with his father in 1999 and arrived in South Korea in
August 2000. After arriving, he worked at Seoul National University’s
Mobile Research Institute and at a media outlet focused on Korean
unification. He later experienced the tragedy of family members who
remained in North Korea being taken away by the security authorities,
tortured, and either killed or disappeared. This became a turning point in
his human rights activism. In 2003, he took part in establishing the

Headquarters for the Movement to Dismantle North Korean Political Prison Camps and later served as
Secretary General of the North Korea Democratization Movement Headquarters. Since 2004, he has
continued his balloon leaflet campaigns into North Korea and has been one of the key organizational
leaders involved in North Korea Freedom Week since its first year.

At the 23rd North Korea Freedom Week, he will testify that leaflet campaigns are an important channel
through which North Koreans can learn about the outside world and the value of freedom. He will also
explain why the North Korean regime reacts so strongly to these efforts and seeks to suppress them so
aggressively, underscoring the significant impact outside information can have inside North Korean
society. In addition, he will address the current restrictions on leaflet activities in South Korea and stress
that efforts to defend North Koreans’ right to know and their access to information must continue under
any government.

4. Choi Jeong Hun:

Commander of the

orth Korean People’s Liberation Front; Head of the

Free Guardians Union;

Defected 2006; arrived South Korea 2008

Profile:

Choi Jeong Hun is from Hyesan, Yanggang Province. After

completing his military service in North Korea, he graduated from Kim
Il Sung University of Politics and Military and served as a military
officer. He later worked as a party cadre in Yanggang Province and also
served as a junior Party secretary at a water and sewer construction
workplace. In December 2006, he fled North Korea with his family after
facing possible arrest for helping a Korean War prisoner escape. After
arriving in South Korea, he served as Director of Free North Korea
Radio in 2012 and has led the Free Guardians Union since 2013,
working to improve human rights for the North Korean people and
support the resettlement of North Korean defectors. On March 31, 2026,
he was also elected Chairman of the Central Association of North
Korean Defectors, an organization established to promote unity within
the defector community and strengthen awareness of unification.

At the 23rd North Korea Freedom Week, he will testify about the issue of North Korean prisoners of war
in connection with the war in Ukraine and the need for greater international attention and cooperation. He
also plans to describe the actual living conditions and service environment of North Korean soldiers, and
how troops under the Kim Jong Un regime are used as expendable tools for regime survival. In addition,

he will address what North Korea’s deployment of troops to Russia reveals about the regime’s military
exploitation and the realities behind it, with the aim of giving the international community a clearer
understanding of both the true nature of the North Korean military and the regime itself.

5. Ji Hannah:

Head of the Association of Repatriation Victims;

First defected 2010; arrived South

Korea in 2016

Profile:

JI Hannah is from Sinpa County, Yanggang Province. After

graduating from senior middle school, she served for five years in an anti-
aircraft artillery unit. During the “Arduous March” in 1996, she lost her
husband to illness and was left to raise two young sons on her own. In
order to survive, she turned to illegal cross-border trade with China, which
led to repeated detentions and forced labor in North Korean labor training
camps. In 2010, she fled North Korea after promising her children that she
would return for them. She was arrested by Chinese police in 2011 and
forcibly repatriated to North Korea. She later tried to escape again, only to
be repatriated once more. After enduring extreme hunger, violence, and
torture in North Korean detention and prison facilities, she finally

succeeded in escaping for a third time and arrived in South Korea in 2016. At great risk to her own life,
she personally returned to China to rescue her two sons in 2019. She now lives with her two sons, who
also safely escaped. She continues her advocacy on behalf of victims of forced repatriation.

At the 23rd North Korea Freedom Week, she will testify about the violence and inhumane treatment faced
by forcibly repatriated North Koreans, especially women, in North Korean detention centers and prison
camps. Drawing on her own experience, she will describe the torture, starvation, and systematic abuse she
endured during repeated repatriations, as well as the brutal reality of North Korean prisons where human
dignity is completely stripped away. She will also emphasize that forced repatriation is not merely a
personal tragedy for defectors, but a grave international human rights issue that sends people fleeing for
survival back into conditions of severe abuse and possible death. She plans to call for sustained
international attention and action to protect those still at risk.

6. Lee Sun Sil:

Broadcaster, Businesswoman, and Human Rights Activist;

First defected in 1997;

arrived South Korea 2006

Profile:

Lee Sun Sil is from Pyeongsan County, North Hwanghae

Province. After graduating from Wahyeon Senior Middle School in
Pyeongsan, she served for approximately 11 years in the 15th Division of
the North Korean Army’s Second Corps. When she was discharged during
the “Arduous March,” worsening economic conditions made it impossible
to survive, and she moved to Hyesan in Yanggang Province in search of a
better life. However, in a society where freedom of movement did not exist,
she was unable to settle there legally and spent many years wandering and
living as a homeless drifter around local markets. Beginning in 1997, she
made repeated attempts to escape to China, only to be forcibly repatriated
multiple times. She was later trafficked in China, where she directly

experienced the severe human rights abuses faced by North Korean women. After arriving in South Korea
on December 28, 2006, she has worked as a broadcaster, businesswoman, and human rights activist,
speaking out about the lives and rights of North Korean women.

At the 23rd North Korea Freedom Week, she will testify about the reality of human trafficking and the
severe human rights abuses North Korean women face during escape and while living in China, drawing
from her own personal experience. In particular, she will explain how women were driven into extreme
circumstances simply to survive during the “Arduous March,” and how vulnerable they remained even
after escaping North Korea. She will also speak about how North Korean women continue to seek
freedom despite repression and violence, and why international protection and attention are so critical in
that process.

7. Bae Gwang Min:

Reporter, Free

orth Korea Radio;

defected 2008; arrived in South Korea

around 2008

Profile:

Bae Gwang Min is from Pochon County, Yanggang Province. In

North Korea, he worked as a train broadcaster and also held positions as a
supervisor at a foreign currency-earning company and as a worker at a
ship parts company. From an early age, his family suffered expulsion and
discrimination because of their social classification background, and he
had to take on the role of head of household while still very young. His
family endured deep suffering from a mine accident, illness, hunger, and
political persecution, and his younger brother was also made a scapegoat
and taken to a political prison camp. After arriving in South Korea, he
continued working on North Korean human rights issues. He later met the
late Kim Seong Min, which led him to join Free North Korea Radio. He
now oversees “Operation Truth,” helping deliver outside information to
people inside North Korea.

At the 23rd North Korea Freedom Week, he will testify about the structural discrimination and oppression
faced by North Korean people and the inhumane realities of life under the Kim family dictatorship,
drawing from his own experience. He also plans to address current restrictions on freedom of expression
and explain the surveillance, control, and citizen reporting systems used to obstruct “Operation Truth” and
block outside information from reaching North Korean residents. In addition, he will urge the
international community not to remain silent on North Korean human rights, but to act in stronger
solidarity to defend the freedom and dignity of the North Korean people.

8. Yang Il Chul:

Former Driver, Public Facilities Office, Son-gyo District, Pyongyang;

Defected

July 2025; arrived South Korea August 2025

Profile:

Yang Il Chul is from Son-gyo District in Pyongyang. After

graduating from high school, he worked as a driver for a local public
facilities office. He endured a difficult life amid severe economic
hardship, including his parents’ divorce and the death of his mother. Over
time, he also faced repeated demands for bribes from his workplace
manager and from the local security authorities, which ultimately led him
to decide to escape. In July 2025, he crossed out of North Korea through
the Military Demarcation Line and arrived in South Korea the following
month. He is currently attending a computer training academy in
Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, as he prepares to build a new life.

At the 23rd North Korea Freedom Week, he will testify about how daily

life for ordinary North Koreans changed before and after the COVID period, drawing on his own recent
experience. In particular, he will explain how local markets had long sustained people’s survival, but how

border closures and internal travel restrictions after COVID severely disrupted market activity and
undermined the livelihoods of ordinary citizens. He will also speak about how, even as the Kim Jong Un
regime has intensified anti-“non-socialist” crackdowns and coercive social controls, many young North
Koreans are gradually changing the way they view the regime through access to outside information. In
addition, he will describe the violence and repression people face in everyday life, including public
executions, surveillance, travel restrictions, and neglect in medical care, and will urge the international
community to pay closer attention to the freedom and human rights of the North Korean people.

9. Choi Chun Hyok:

Former Fisherman; Currently Self-Employed;

defected 2018; arrived South

Korea 2022

Profile:

Choi Chun Hyok is from Kyongsong County, North Hamgyong

Province. After his father passed away, he had to become the head of his
household in his late teens and take responsibility for supporting his
family. He left school and worked in coal mines, gold mines, and other
physically demanding labor sites, and also spent a brief period in a youth
shock brigade. He later turned to fishing to make a living, but as catches
declined in North Korean waters, he ventured into Russian waters, where
he was arrested by maritime police and imprisoned for approximately two
years and one month. After completing his sentence, he was supposed to
be repatriated to North Korea, but the process was delayed because of the
COVID period. While facing the risk of forced repatriation, he was able to

come to South Korea with the help of international human rights organizations. He now lives in Gyeonggi
Province and is building a new life through self-employment.

At the 23rd North Korea Freedom Week, he will testify about the reality that North Korean fishermen and
laborers are forced into dangerous work, often risking their lives simply to survive. In particular, he will
explain that labor in North Korea is not a legitimate means of earning a living with fair compensation, but
part of an exploitative system governed by surveillance and control. He also plans to describe how every
stage of fishing work—from departure to movement to daily operations—is tightly controlled by the state.
In addition, he will emphasize that outside information is not just news to North Koreans, but a source of
hope that allows them to imagine a life of dignity and freedom, and he will call for continued international
attention and action to protect the survival and human dignity of the North Korean people.

10. Lee Jae Hee:

Employee at Hanmaek Heavy Industries,

assigned to Samsung Semiconductor;

defected 2015; arrived South

Korea 2018

Profile:

Lee Jae Hee is from Rakwon County, South Hamgyong

Province. She lost both of her parents to illness at a young age, and
during the “Arduous March” she also lost her siblings to hunger. After
that, she moved from one relative’s home to another, helping with
housework and farm labor from an early age in order to survive. After
graduating from high school, she served for eight years in the 622 Youth
Shock Brigade in Daehongdan County, Yanggang Province. During that
time, she received little to no proper wages or food rations and was
mobilized for extremely harsh labor, including road paving and power

plant construction under severe conditions. Even after completing her service, she had to make a living

through market trading before eventually fleeing North Korea and arriving in South Korea in 2018. She
now works in South Korea and continues to build a stable new life.

At the 23rd North Korea Freedom Week, she will testify about the reality of labor exploitation inside
North Korea’s youth shock brigades and how young people are mobilized in the name of loyalty to the
regime, drawing on her own experience. In particular, she plans to describe how young workers are
subjected to prolonged forced labor in conditions lacking even basic equipment and protective gear, and
how hunger, accidents, desertion, and arrest are constant features of that system. She will also speak about
the particular hardships and vulnerability faced by female brigade members, as well as how North Korean
youth today view the regime and its succession plans.

11. Kim Ga Young:

Broadcaster and Security Lecturer;

defected 2012; arrived South Korea 2013

Profile:

Kim Ga Young is from Hyesan, Yanggang Province. In North

Korea, she graduated from a teachers’ college and worked as a
kindergarten teacher. She grew up in a relatively stable family
environment and was raised to believe that loyalty to the regime was a
natural goal in life. However, the death of her father, who had been a
government official, and the tragic death of her mother, who had served as
an administrative cadre, led her to witness the reality of the North Korean
system firsthand. Her mother was subjected to prolonged detention and
investigation during an inspection by the Security Command over issues
related to state distribution and trade. Although the allegations were
eventually cleared, her health deteriorated severely under the stress and

surveillance, and she later passed away. After arriving in South Korea, she came to understand the values
of freedom and equality in a new way, and she now works as a broadcaster and security lecturer.

At the 23rd North Korea Freedom Week, she will testify about how the North Korean regime
systematically indoctrinates children, drawing on what she personally witnessed while working as a
kindergarten teacher. She also plans to address the implications of the regime’s apparent attempt to pave
the way for a fourth-generation hereditary succession through Kim Ju Ae, and to explain how North
Korean society is sustained through loyalty, surveillance, and discrimination. In addition, she will speak
about why the flow of outside information is so important in changing the way North Korean residents
and young people think, and what that means for the next generation in particular.

Hosted by Suzanne Scholte, Chair,

orth Korea Freedom Week, and Delegation Assistants: Johnny

Park of the Defense Forum Foundation and Grayson Jang of Free

orth Korea Radio.