North Korea is often viewed with curiosity; a mysterious country that few get to visit. Even fewer get to really see what goes on behind the Kim Dynasty curtain.
This creates genuine interest in the unknown, but with this fascination comes a danger of dehumanising the people that live there under constant fear and tyranny.
In 2024, we launched a new report on North Korea (‘We Cannot Look Away’) highlighting the human cost of the crimes committed in the most closed, isolated and repressive country in the world. Real faces, real people, living behind the ‘curtain’.
‘We Cannot Look Away’ was commissioned to mark ten years since the landmark United Nations Commission of Inquiry (COI) report. The COI report found evidence of ‘unspeakable atrocities’ against the North Korean people, and played a crucial role in bringing human rights violations into conversations about North Korea – broadening the narrow focus of previous conversations on nuclear proliferation.
Ten years since this landmark report – 25 years since our research began – the human rights situation in North Korea remains one of the worst in the world.
It is a challenging and complicated context to work in. Political will, public attention and resources are understandably drawn to other crises, like those in Myanmar, Palestine, Sudan, Syria and Ukraine. But we remain committed to pursuing justice for the people of North Korea.
We have seen and confirmed without doubt that crimes against humanity are occurring in North Korea. The threats are particularly real for religious groups, especially Christians who have to operate in total secrecy and would face imprisonment, torture, re-education if they are caught practising their faith.
We cannot look away.
Advocacy in action
In September, high level members of the Korean government attended our launch event in Seoul, as did a number of influential civil society organisations. We met with North Korean refugees, and also held meetings with the Ministry of Unification, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the British embassy. Our advocacy did not stop there. The CSW team continued to bring our research, analysis and recommendations in the report into corridors of power around the world, including the United Nations and European Union.
Meanwhile, CSW supporters rallied in prayer that God would break the chains of injustice and set the oppressed free. Over 900 people tuned in to the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church on 3 November, and the recording has now been viewed over 2,700 times.
145 people pledged to pray on Wednesday 4 December, and we know many others used our prayer guide with their church communities. Together we marked the tenth anniversary of the arrest of Pastor Choi Chun-gil – one of three South Korean missionaries held incommunicado (without contact) in North Korea, serving life sentences. At midday Scot led us in a burst of prayer, live on Instagram, with friends from 24-7 Prayer. Thank you for raising your voices!
As we wait for our prayers to be answered, we are still calling for action; still in hope that North Korea’s leaders will one day be brought before the International Criminal Court. We remain committed to exploring all avenues to hold the regime to account, however long it takes. We will not look away.
What does advocacy look like? Here is a handful of key moments from 2024.
UK Government: There was a strong turnout for Members of Parliament at the UK launch of the report in October. Thank you if you emailed your MP!
MPs Press and media: At least 17 different media outlets covered our report. Our CEO Scot Bower had an article published by Christian Today, while our lead advocate for North Korea was interviewed on UK and US radio and TV, including CBN News, Premier and UCB.
United Nations: In November, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention adopted an opinion on the case of Kim Cheol-ok. She is a North Korean refugee who was sent back to North Korea from China in 2023. We submitted her case to the group in January 2024 and have been advocating consistently ever since.
European Parliament: Following three days of advocacy, the two largest groups in the European Parliament accepted our findings from the report, and included four of our individual cases in a European Parliament resolution on North Korea.