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

September 2012

Past Event

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

Past Event

Hudson Institute, Washington, D.C. Headquarters

September 19, 2012

September 2012

Past Event

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

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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.

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