Welcome to the North Korea Strategy Center (NKSC)’s website!

We are a defector-led organization that utilizes its expertise to empower defectors, promote open information, and advocate for democracy and human rights in North Korea. We envision a free, open, and unified Korea where everyone can enjoy living in a healthy democracy.

For over the past 60 years, the North Korean people have lived under a repressive dictatorship led by three generations of the same ruling family. No place on earth can be compared to the conditions in North Korea, the world’s most isolated country. The North Korean people continue to be starved, arbitrarily imprisoned, and prevented from freely leaving or moving about their own country. The government censors and controls all forms of the press, and feeds the people with heavy propaganda replete with lies about the outside world and the country’s leadership.

Thousands of North Koreans risk their lives by escaping the country through China to avoid starving or to search for personal freedom. Unfortunately, many North Koreans caught on the Chinese border are repatriated to North Korea and face brutal torture and imprisonment in political prison camps. The ones who survive and make it to freedom in South Korea and other countries have become important conduits of insight about conditions inside North Korea. Their first-hand knowledge and experiences allow us to obtain accurate information about conditions in the country and document human rights violations occurring there. This information can be used to increase awareness about North Korea’s dire human rights conditions and develop effective strategies to bring democracy and an improvement in human rights in the country.

Defectors thus have a very important role in bringing democracy into North Korea. They can provide the most accurate information about North Korea by providing their first-hand experiences and insights into the country. If given the right support, defectors can also become paramount leaders who can instill and spread values of democracy to the North Korean people in a future unified Korea. Ultimately, democracy and human rights can only be achieved in North Korea when North Korean people become aware of their country’s problems and take action to push for change. NKSC in 2013 successfully sent over 2,000 USBs, 10,000 DVDs, and 200 radios into North Korea with foreign movies, documentaries, and offline versions of Wikipedia informing the North Koreans of the outside world through subtle forms of entertainment. A paramount target for NKSC therefore is to inform the North Korean people of the endless possibilities and freedoms they are entitled to enjoy.

Nevertheless, these objectives and goals cannot be achieved without the support of each and every one of you. NKSC continues to share and spread information of North Korea in South Korea and the international community through a diverse range of events, lectures, and seminars. NKSC is extremely thankful to have the support of defectors, students, experts, academics, human rights activists, and institutions that allow us to get closer to our goal. Please continue to take interest in our work and support us to make our dream of a free and open North Korea come true.

Sincerely,

Kang Cheol Hwan
President
North Korea Strategy Center