19
September 2012
Past Event
Escape from North Korea: The Untold Story of Asia's Underground Railroad

Escape from North Korea: The Untold Story of Asia's Underground Railroad

Past Event
Hudson Institute, Washington, D.C. Headquarters
September 19, 2012
Share:
Default Event Image
19
September 2012
Past Event

1015 15th Street, N.W., 6th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Read Transcript Read Transcript
Speakers:
Greg Scarlatoiu,

Executive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea

Melanie Kirkpatrick,

Hudson Senior Fellow and author

Jae Ku,

Director of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)

Suzanne Scholte,

Chair of the North Korea Freedom Coalition

Kim Seong-min,

North Korean defector and founder of Free North Korea Radio

Escape from North Korea (Encounter Books) is a rare good-news story from the world's most repressive state—a compelling account of the people who dare to escape and the Good Samaritans who help them.

In her new book, Hudson Senior Fellow and former Wall Street Journal editorial board member Melanie Kirkpatrick describes the secret network of safe houses and transit routes that carry North Koreans hiding in China to safety in neighboring countries. The conductors are brokers motivated by money, as well as Christians motivated by faith. In violation of its obligations under international treaties, China's policy is to repatriate the North Koreans and arrest their rescuers.

Just as escaped slaves from the American South educated Americans about the evils of slavery, the North Korean fugitives are informing the world about the secretive country they fled. They are also sowing the seeds for change within North Korea itself by channeling news back to their information-starved homeland. They are a bridge to a free and unified Korea.

Related Events
See More
03
June 2026
Virtual Event | Hudson Institute
Authoritarian Persistence in Latin America: What Should the US Do?
Featured Speakers:
Elliott Abrams
Daniel Batlle
Getty Images
03
June 2026
Virtual Event | Hudson Institute
Authoritarian Persistence in Latin America: What Should the US Do?

Please join Adjunct Fellow Daniel Batlle for a conversation with Elliott Abrams, whose leadership on Latin America policy stretches from his service as assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs under President Ronald Reagan to his role as special representative for Venezuela in the first Trump administration.

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Elliott Abrams
Daniel Batlle
Learn More
04
June 2026
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Spain’s Latin American Reckoning
Featured Speakers:
Julio Crespo MacLennan
Daniel Batlle
Getty Images
04
June 2026
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Spain’s Latin American Reckoning

Join Hudson as Adjunct Fellow Daniel Batlle sits down with Julio Crespo MacLennan, a historian and one of the leading scholars on Spain’s democratic transition and on Europe’s relationship with the wider world. 

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Julio Crespo MacLennan
Daniel Batlle
Learn More
11
June 2026
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Growing the DIB: A Conversation with Deputy Assistant Secretary of War James Mismash
Featured Speakers:
Nadia Schadlow
James Mismash
Getty Images
11
June 2026
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Growing the DIB: A Conversation with Deputy Assistant Secretary of War James Mismash

Please join Hudson Institute for a fireside chat between Hudson Senior Fellow Nadia Schadlow and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Industrial Base Growth and Director of the Office of Small Business Programs James Mismash. 

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Nadia Schadlow
James Mismash
Learn More
12
June 2026
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Winning the Innovation Competition
Featured Speakers:
Bryan Clark
Dan Patt
Emil Michael
DVIDS
12
June 2026
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Winning the Innovation Competition

Please join Hudson Institute Senior Fellows Bryan Clark and Dan Patt for a conversation with Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael about the Department of War’s efforts to bring AI to the battlefield and implement an innovation strategy that makes the most of America’s commercial and government research sectors. 

DVIDS
Featured Speakers:
Bryan Clark
Dan Patt
Emil Michael
Learn More
See More
Related Research
See More
See More