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
Default Event Image
19
September 2012
Past Event

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

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
16
October 2025
Past Event
Can the US and Brazil Find Common Ground?
Featured Speakers:
Márcio Coimbra
Mark Langevin
Anya Prusa
Moderator:
Daniel Batlle
President Lula da Silva speaks at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, on September 17, 2025. (Getty Images)
16
October 2025
Past Event
Can the US and Brazil Find Common Ground?

Join Adjunct Fellow Daniel Batlle and an expert panel as they assess whether current political dynamics could allow the Western Hemisphere’s two largest powers to forge a more constructive partnership, and what it would take to bridge their considerable differences.

President Lula da Silva speaks at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, on September 17, 2025. (Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Márcio Coimbra
Mark Langevin
Anya Prusa
Moderator:
Daniel Batlle
17
October 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
What Is North Korea’s Strategy?
Featured Speakers:
Dr. Glenn Chafetz
In-bum Chun
Bruce Klingner
Dr. Taerim Lee
Markus Garlauskas
Moderator:
Patrick M. Cronin
Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un after a meeting in Beijing on September 3, 2025. (Getty Images)
17
October 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
What Is North Korea’s Strategy?

What is driving North Korea’s closer cooperation with Russia and China, and how does Kim view cooperation among the CRINK states? What are Kim’s ultimate aims with his nuclear program? How has North Korea developed such vast cyber capabilities? Is North Korea preparing for war? And how should the US and its allies respond?

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un after a meeting in Beijing on September 3, 2025. (Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Dr. Glenn Chafetz
In-bum Chun
Bruce Klingner
Dr. Taerim Lee
Markus Garlauskas
Moderator:
Patrick M. Cronin
23
October 2025
In-Person Event | Invite Only
The US in the Caucasus: Mapping New Strategic Opportunities 
Featured Speakers:
Ilan Berman
Luke Coffey
Steve Daines
Michael Doran
Ambassador Khazar Ibrahim
Efgan Nifti
Joel Scanlon
John P. Walters
: President Donald Trump, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sign a joint declaration at the White House in Washington DC, on August 8, 2025. (Getty Images)
23
October 2025
In-Person Event | Invite Only
The US in the Caucasus: Mapping New Strategic Opportunities 

A keynote address by Senator Steve Daines (R-MT), to examine the implications of the recent Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement. 

: President Donald Trump, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sign a joint declaration at the White House in Washington DC, on August 8, 2025. (Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Ilan Berman
Luke Coffey
Steve Daines
Michael Doran
Ambassador Khazar Ibrahim
Efgan Nifti
Joel Scanlon
John P. Walters
16
October 2025
Past Event
CCP Committee Chairman John Moolenaar on the State of US-China Relations
Featured Speakers:
Congressman John Moolenaar
David Feith
Getty Images
16
October 2025
Past Event
CCP Committee Chairman John Moolenaar on the State of US-China Relations

Congressman John Moolenaar (R-MI), chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP, will join Hudson Senior Fellow David Feith to discuss how Washington should approach the US-China relationship in an era of rising geopolitical competition.

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Congressman John Moolenaar
David Feith