North Korea Freedom Week 2026 Report and Acknowledgements

23rd Annual North Korea Freedom Week
April 26th – May 2nd, 2026, Washington, D.C.

“TRUTH will set them FREE and
NORTH KOREANS are Leading the Way!”

Dear Friends: 

I am pleased to share the report of our 23rd annual North Korea Freedom Week acknowledging the many people who made the week a huge success and highlighting the meetings and events that occurred during the week. This report was prepared for you by Johnny Park of the Defense Forum Foundation and Grayson Jang of Free North Korea Radio who served as translators and assistants to the delegation. This was the first North Korea Freedom Week held since we lost our longtime partner and colleague, Seong Min Kim, who established this event with us in 2004. While Ji Young Kim felt she had huge shoes to fill as the delegation chair, she did an outstanding job. Although the delegation consisted of 11 North Korean escapees of different ages, from different hometowns, from different levels of society, who had escaped over a 30-year time span, they all spoke with one voice. They affirmed that the information campaign to North Korea is the most important work that can be done to peacefully end the horrific Kim family regime. The younger and older generation of North Korean defectors worked together beautifully and supported one another. The only disagreement was with food choices as the older delegates always wanted Korean, while the younger delegates wanted to try different cuisines! We hope you will enjoy this day-by-day report as we express our deep gratitude to the many people mentioned in these pages who made North Korea Freedom Week such a huge success. “TRUTH will set them FREE and NORTH KOREANS are Leading the Way.” Let us continue to partner with and support the work of the North Korean defectors! 

Acta Non Verba,

Suzanne Scholte, Chair
North Korea Freedom Week 2026 

Table of Contents

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2026 North Korean Defector Women Delegation Visit

March 8 – March 12, 2026
New York City/Washington DC

ENVISIONING NORTH KOREA’S FUTURE:
WOMEN LEADING THE WAY
“When love meets the value of freedom, it becomes an unstoppable courage.”


Dear Friends:

We are pleased to share this Acknowledgements Report prepared by Anna Yang, Johnny Park and our North Korea Freedom Coalition Members to recognize the folks who made the visit of the delegation for Envisioning North Korea’s Future: Women Leading the Way such a tremendous success. The delegation did an outstanding job! We had the best turnout that we have ever had at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women panel event with 85 attendees and standing room only. On Capitol Hill, we also had great participation at our Congressional Forum. Included among the participants on Capitol Hill was Marine Corp veteran, Rudy Meekins, a four-time purple heart recipient who was one of the “Chosin Few.” We were able to point out at the Forum that it was because of Meekins and his fellow marines who fought at the battle of the Chosin Reservoir that our North Koreans had a place to flee for freedom. When we were brainstorming the panel’s theme this year, Syndey Kochan of the Jubilee Campaign who helps guide our UNCSW participation, suggested we have a positive theme this year to give a vision for North Korea’s future. To mark the 10th anniversary of our participation at the UNCSW, Jason West suggested inviting women who had published their stories of life in North Korea. Thus, the theme became focused on what North Korean women achieved during the Arduous March and what that could mean for North Korea’s future when North Korea becomes free and featured two women authors.

Our witnesses included Oh Hye Seon, author of “The Pyongyang Lady from London,” and Jung Ah, author of “The Journey to South Korea.” Free North Korea Defector President Kim Ji Young, once again chaired the delegation and released a survey that FNKR had recently conducted of North Koreans who had escaped recently since the COVID pandemic. In addition to the two main public events, many private meetings were held as described in this report. A highlight for me was the Staten Island Ferry which was made possible by JoonKi Hong who came to help us that week. Joonki, a first year law student, found a way to fulfill Jung Ah’s request: “I want to see the Statue of Liberty, the symbol of freedom.” JoonKi came up with a plan to make that possible during our too brief stay in New York City: the Staten Island, which is also free! Sharing their personal stories our brave North Korean escapees revealed the role the marginalized women of North Korea played in saving the population from starvation by creating the Jangmadang (North Korea’s market system). They also eloquently described the power that information had in understanding the values of freedom and human rights and their own worth as women.

Through the FNKR survey, Kim Ji-Young showed that outside information provides hope to the people of North Korea and positively changes the perceptions North Koreans have of the outside world, undermining the Kim regime’s mind control. With the survey, Kim Ji-Young was able to tie in the fact that a lot of North Koreans who are adults today grew up during the Arduous March and as a result personally saw how their mothers saved their families by becoming entrepreneurs and creating the Jangmadang. Through their visit, it became very clear that outside information continues to play a critical role in transforming North Korean society. Finally, it was divine providence that on the morning of their departure, the person behind the counter at the Korean Air ticketing desk was the reporter who had interviewed them right after the Capitol Hill forum. This was so amazing because Jung Ah was traveling on an emergency temporary passport because the day before she had lost hers, and we had to get one turned around within hours from the Korean Consulate. What a blessing that the ticketing agent knew exactly who they were and got them ticketed and on their way home. Thank you to all the folks listed in this report who made this visit such a great success.

Suzanne Scholte
Chair, North Korea Freedom Coalition

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Continue reading “2026 North Korean Defector Women Delegation Visit” →

23rd North Korea Freedom Week

Schedule
Delegation

Dear Friends:

I am pleased to provide this update on plans for our 23rd Annual North Korea Freedom Week which will be held in Washington, D.C. Sunday, April 26-Saturday, May 2. Attached you will find a list of the delegation that will travel here from the Republic of Korea for this annual event whose theme this year will be TRUTH will set them FREE and NORTH KOREANS are leading the way.

This is the most challenging time in the history of the North Korea human rights movement, so this year will be extremely important to uphold the freedom, human rights and dignity of the North Korean people as we have witnessed a dramatic change in South Korea with the current Minister of Unification actually being opposed to unification while the Lee Jae Myung administration policies are aimed at shutting down Operation Truth and other activities to reach the people of North Korea with the truth. As you will see from the attached document, we have many old friends joining us that have led the way on North Korea human rights advocacy but also some new friends including someone who escaped from Pyongyang last year.

Here are details on the confirmed public events – note: we will also be stopping by the Embassy of the PRC to advocate for the North Korean refugees in China and will announce the time once the private meeting schedule is finalized.

We will continue to send updates but please mark your calendars now to join us for North Korea Freedom Week 2026.

Acta Non Verba,


Suzanne

UN Commission on the Status of Women 2025

Join us next week for a series of events featuring an esteemed panel of individuals who have helped rescue thousands of North Koreans will describe the conditions in North Korea that lead people to want to escape their homeland, the “underground railroad” they helped develop, and the current situation facing North Koreans in China today since the borders’ reopening. Among the panelists will be one of the rescuers featured in the award winning documentary Beyond Utopia as well as a mother who risked her own life to personally rescue her two sons.

UN CSW 69 RESCUERS FlyerDownload

About the Speakers

Pastor Seungeum KIM of Caleb Mission, South Korean Pastor, featured in the award-winning documentary BEYOND UTOPIA, has rescued over one thousand North Koreans since 2000 when he first established his network; Jiah PARK, a North Korean escapee, described as the “Harriet Tubman of North Korea” helped set up the first most successful underground railroad of North Korean escapees, Chinese citizens, and South Koreans which over two decades successfully led to the rescue of approximately seven thousand North Korean refugees; LEE Kyung-sun, a North Korean escapee, currently heads Unification Hope Mission which has successfully rescued over fifteen hundred North Korean refugees and is also helping support trafficked North Korean women and their children in China; and Hannah JI, a North Korean escapee, survivor of Chinese and North Korean detention centers and North Korea’s political prison camps personally rescued her two sons just before the border closure despite repeated warnings against her taking the risk.

Topics They Will Address During Their Presentations: 1) the conditions in North Korea that lead people to want to escape their homeland, 2) the conditions in China facing North Koreans, 3) the “underground railroad”, 4) the current situation facing North Koreans in China today since the borders’ reopening, and 5) their recommendations for solving this crisis

Public Events

Tuesday, March 18 – Washington DC

12:30-2:30pmDFF Congressional Defense and Foreign Policy Lunch Forum
2044 Rayburn House Office Building, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. 
RSVP required by COB Monday to rsvp (at) defenseforumfoundation.org
Lunch buffet provided: (acceptances only)
Doors Open at 6:30pm
Meeting at 7:00pm
Dinner at 7:30pm
North Korea Freedom Coalition Welcome Dinner
Online and in-person at Sorak Garden, 4308 Backlick Rd, Annandale, VA
RSVP required by COB Monday by clicking here.
$30.00 Dinner Paid in Advance or at the Door.
No charge for online attendees.

Thursday, March 20 – New York

6:30-8:00pmUN CSW Parallel Event
Church Center of the United Nations (CCUN)
777 UN Plaza, 2nd Floor, New York, NY
RSVP required by clicking here.

Save North Korean Refugees Day Report 2024

Organized by the North Korea Freedom Coalition Activists Representing 20 Countries in 49 Cities Worldwide Call on Xi Jinping: Stop Repatriating North Koreans

Dear Friends:

During North Korea Freedom Week 2024, the North Korean defector delegation chairs Jang Sei-ul and Kim Ji-young warned us repeatedly about the threat of execution for those North Korean refugees who were repatriated last October. Tragically, what they warned about occurred just a month before this year’s Save North Korean Refugees Day. Thus, when we delivered our appeals to Xi Jinping to the Embassies and Consulates of the People’s Republic of China, the opening line was: “Less than a month ago on August 30, 2024, two North Korean women were tried and later executed while nine others were sent to slower deaths in political prison camps to serve life sentences.”

In the face of these ongoing tragic circumstances, this year’s Save North Korean Refugees Day saw action in twenty countries and forty-nine cities with hundreds of participants because so many of YOU took the time to deliver appeals to save the lives of the North Korea refugees. I know many of you faced opposition, private security, disdain and indifference BUT your actions give hope to the North Korean people that they are not forgotten AND remind the Communist regime in China that free people will continue to stand up against their heinous actions. Here in Washington, D.C. the Chinese hired additional private security — three cars! but the D.C. cops and the secret service were sympathetic to our side. When I shared our letter to Xi with the D.C. police officer stationed at the PRC Embassy, she read it, was visibly moved, her eyes widened, and she said, “Do what you need to do!” We tried to deliver the letter but of course no one would let us in, so we taped it at the entrance. Then, the private security tore it down and handed it back to us. We told him: “you are backing the wrong side!” After that, we had a peaceful demonstration and read the stories of the North Koreans that the defectors asked us to share and sang Amazing Grace.

Because we also want to remember those who are strongly advocating for the lives of the North Korean refugees, we also delivered a letter of thanks to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol through the Unification Attache of the Korean Embassy. This letter included the names of everyone around the world who participated this year as city and country coordinators, so he would know how thankful people around the world remain for his efforts to try to save the lives of those simply trying to have a better life.

The following is a report prepared for you by Johnny Park from our coordinators around the world that were a voice for the North Korean refugees.

Acta Non Verba,

Suzanne Scholte

Continue reading “Save North Korean Refugees Day Report 2024” →

Save North Korean Refugees Day

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Action in 18 Countries, 42 Cities Worldwide:
Xi Jinping: Stop Killing North Koreans!

Washington, DC Area Media please note:

  • Prayer Vigil at the Lincoln Memorial: 11 am
  • Demonstration and Appeal Delivery: 1:15-2 pm at the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China 3505 International Place, NW, Washington, DC
  • Congressional-Executive Commission on China Roundtable Briefing 3:30-5 pm visit cecc.gov

WASHINGTON D.C. —Tuesday, September 24, Save North Korean Refugees Day, the North Korea Freedom Coalition will join with activists and non-governmental organizations in 18 countries  to deliver appeals to Chinese embassies and consulates in 42 cities that call for President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China to end his inhumane and illegal repatriation of North Korean refugees back to North Korea where they face certain torture, imprisonment and even execution.

Tuesday is the 42nd anniversary of the People’s Republic of China becoming a signatory to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, the very agreement China is violating when it forces children, women and men against their will back to North Korea. Because of the horrific findings of what the refugees face when repatriated that were well documented in 2014 by the UN Commission of Inquiry’s Report on North Korea, China is also clearly violating another treaty: the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment which it signed in 1988.

The refugees were fleeing persecution in their homeland, trying to reach freedom in South Korea where North Koreans are openly welcomed by President Yoon Suk Yeol. President Yoon has appealed strongly to China to allow the refugees safe passage as they are citizens of South Korea under the Republic of Korea’s constitution. South Korea has already successfully resettled well over 34,000 refugees.

This coordinated action, Save North Korean Refugees Day, is organized by the North Korea Freedom Coalition each year to show China that the international community is aware of their heinous actions and so that these refugees know that the world is aware of their plight.

According to Jang Sei-ul, a North Korean defector who is leading the demonstration in Seoul, “two North Korean women aged 39 and 42 years were tried on August 30, 2024 and then executed, while nine others were sent to slow deaths in a political prison camp with a life sentence.” Among the “crimes” the two women committed were helping 41 North Korean women get to South Korea. Hundreds of others who were repatriated have been sent to political prison camps, while another group is currently in extreme danger of repatriation. 

“This year in addition to these protests worldwide against Xi’s repatriations and his aiding and abetting Kim Jong Un’s crimes against humanity, we are also delivering a letter of heartfelt thanks to President Yoon Suk yeol for his efforts to try to save the lives of these Korean refugees,” said Suzanne Scholte, Chair of the North Korea Freedom Coalition.

Pastor Star Lee of the Esther Prayer Movement, who is leading efforts in Washington, D.C., pledged, “South Korea, the United States, and the world will unite to protect North Korean refugees until the end.”

Letters of Appeal are planned in the following countries and cities which may also include protests, prayer vigils and other activities to raise awareness of this issue:

  • Australia (Canberra, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney) 
  • Canada (Ottawa, Calgary, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver) 
  • Colombia (Bogota)
  • Cuba (Havana) 
  • Timor-Leste (Dili)
  • Fiji (Suva)
  • Finland (Helsinki)
  • France (Paris)
  • India (New Delhi)
  • Japan (Tokyo, Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Nagoya, Niigata, Osaka, and Sapporo)
  • Malawi (Lilongwe)
  • Mexico (Mexico City and Tijuana)
  • Micronesia (Palikir)
  • New Zealand (Wellington, Auckland, and Christchurch)
  • Papua New Guinea (Port Moresby)
  • Republic of Korea (Seoul)
  • Solomon Islands (Honiara)
  • South Africa (Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg)
  • United States (Chicago, Los Angeles, Sacramento, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, DC)
  • United Kingdom (London, Belfast, Edinburgh, and Manchester)

In Washington, D.C., NKFC members will hold a prayer vigil at the Lincoln Memorial at 11 am hosted by the Esther Prayer Movement and then proceed to the Chinese Embassy to deliver an appeal to Xi and host a demonstration from 1:15-2 pm. They will then deliver a letter of thanks to President Yoon Suk Yeol before participating in a Congressional Executive Commission on China briefing on Capitol Hill on the current North Korea refugee crisis from 3:30-5 pm.

For further information contact, Suzanne Scholte (English) or Johnny Park (Korean).

Suzanne Scholte
Seoul Peace Prize Laureate
President, Defense Forum Foundation
Chair, North Korea Freedom Coalition

SNKRD 2024 Letter to Xi JinpingDownload
SNKRD 2024 Letter to President YoonDownload

2024 North Korean Defector Women Delegation Visit

March 16-March 23, 2024
New York City/Washington DC

“The Jangmadang was like a battlefield without gunfire!”
“The Jangmadang was created with the blood and sweat of
North Korean women.”

North Korean Female Entrepreneurs

Dear Friends:

Please enjoy this report prepared for you by Johnny Park and members of our A Team regarding the March 2024 visit of North Korean women who were entrepreneurs in the Jangmadang. We believe we achieved our objective to show it was the women of North Korea who created the effective market system that even today 80% of the population relies on to survive AND South Koreans absolutely do not need to worry about the economic burden of regime collapse. Once the dictator’s boot is lifted off their necks, North Koreans will create the miracle of the Taedong just like South Koreans created the miracle of the Han! This was a unique delegation unlike prior delegations in that the focus was not human rights but markets. One comment I heard after the Capitol Hill forum was that the testimonies were among the most impactful they had ever heard because it was about the real-life situation North Koreans face every day. Please be inspired by this report and note the reactions of our three eyewitnesses. Everyone involved made this a great success!

Acta Non Verba,

Suzanne Scholte
Chair, North Korea Freedom Coalition

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International Day of Prayer and Fasting for North Korea’s Freedom 북한의 자유를 위한 국제기도와 금식의 날

Each year, the International Day of Prayer and Fasting for North Korea’s Freedom falls on April 28, the anniversary of the first-ever North Korea Freedom Day hosted in 2004. We will host the Opening Ceremony and International Prayer Service on the evening on April 28 in the United States, which is the morning of April 29 on the Korean Peninsula. While everyone is invited to pray for North Korea on April 28, wherever they are, this event will feature prayers by North Korean Pastors and other international leaders.

매년 4월 28일은 2004년 제1회 북한자유의 날을 기념하는 북한의 자유를 위한 국제기도와 금식의 날입니다. 미국 시각으로 4월 28일 저녁, 한국 시각으로 4월 29일 아침에 개막식과 전세계에서 함께 드리는 기도와 예배가 진행됩니다. 북한을 위한 기도와 금식이 전세계에서 진행되는 동안, 본 행사에서는 탈북민 목회자들과 국제적 리더들이 기도를 인도할 예정입니다.

Save the Date: Empowering North Korean Women through Markets

Join us for a pivotal UN Commission on the Status of Women event from March 17-21, 2024. Highlighting “North Korean Women: Overcoming Poverty and Discrimination Through the Market System,” this special panel will feature a distinguished delegation of North Korean defectors sharing their inspiring journeys.

Event Details:

  • Date: Monday, March 18, 2024
  • Time: 12:30 pm
  • Location: Church Center UN, 10th Floor, New York City

Volunteer and Support:

We’re seeking dedicated volunteers for event coordination in NYC and Washington, D.C. Additionally, to support our delegation, we aim to raise $18,000 for travel, accommodation, and event costs. Every donation, big or small, helps elevate these critical voices at the UN CSW and beyond.

Your Impact:

By volunteering or donating, you’re not just supporting an event; you’re amplifying voices of change and joining a global movement for justice and equality.

For more information and to meet our courageous speakers, please click here:

Click Here to Donate and for More Information

Thank you for your support and generosity.

Warmest regards,

Suzanne