Reinvigorating Global Engagement on Human Rights in North Korea: The 2025 NK Insider Forum
[metaslider id="10401"] Seoul, Korea (Oct. 29, 2025) - Last week on October 22, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) and the NGO Council for North Korean Human...
The anti-Americanism and pro-North Korea tendencies of South Korea’s Candlelight Action protest movement
After President Yoon Seok-yeol took office in May 2022, there was immediately a rebirth of the so-called candlelight protests which had targeted and led to...
Profile of the Pro-North Korea movement in the United States
Editorial Note: The following article gives an overview of the character of the pro-North Korea movement in the U.S. It provides a portrait of the...
Exclusive: Documents and personal items found on the body of a North Korean soldier in Kursk Oblast region (1)
HRF’s Korea Desk has been in regular communication with members of the Ukrainian special forces operating in the Kursk Oblast region since December 20. We...
Exclusive: Documents found on the body of a North Korean soldier in Kursk Oblast region (2)
HRF’s Korea Desk has been in regular communication with members of the Ukrainian special forces operating in the Kursk Oblast region since December 20. We...
HRF hosts inaugural NK Insider Forum in Seoul, South Korea
Seoul, Korea — On Dec. 19, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) hosted the inaugural NK Insider Forum, a unique conference addressing critical issues related to North Korean human rights. The theme of this year’s forum, “Cracks in the Regime: The Exodus of North Korea’s Elite and Global Responses,” highlighted the defection of North Korea’s elite and the international community’s role in responding to the ongoing crisis.
One party vs. multiple parties
The most cited difference between countries that are socialist or capitalist is the extent to which individual citizens are able to own the means of...
North Korea’s Internal War Against South Korean Culture and Market Ideas May Be Unwinnable
As the generation of North Koreans who grew up familiar with the jangmadang market system enters adulthood, the state is cracking down harshly to prevent their “impure” attitudes and tastes – which include a preference for South Korean music and movies – from going mainstream.
Students forcibly mobilized for corn harvest after school
With North Korea facing more chronic food shortages, the regime is doing what it does best and looking to boost productivity by enlisting students for...
Inside the prison state
Feature: What’s it like to live in North Korea? Yumi Kim on heavy repression, secret phone calls, and virtual private networks. The Korean Central News...
Feature: The way of Kim Jong Un
How is political upheaval in South Korea affecting North Korea? Soo Kim on what’s driving Pyongyang’s increasing hostility toward Seoul. Published with The Signal. Sign...
북한인권에 대한 국제적 참여의 재도약: 2025 NK 인사이더 포럼
서울, 한국 (2025년 10월 29일) – 지난 주 10월 22일, 휴먼라이츠 재단 (HRF)와 (사) 북한인권민간단체협의회가 함께 ‘2025 NK 인사이더 포럼’을 주최하여 서울 북한 인권 세계대회의 개막을 알리는 일일 행사를 진행하였습니다. 300명 이상의 참가자들이 두 명의 탈북민이 전하는 김씨 정권 하에서의 생생한 경험과 국제 전문가가 조명하는 북한의 비인간적인 처벌, 만연한 검열, 그리고 제도적인 억압에 대한 현실을 듣기 위해 한자리에 모였습니다. 이를 기반으로 북한 인권 문제에 대한 국제사회의 참여를 다시금 활성화할 수 있는 방안을 토론하는 시간을 가졌습니다.
Feature: Obscured by clouds
Why does North Korea keep threatening South Korea and its allies without ever going to war? Michael Breen on theater and reality in one of...
Pro-North Korean speakers in South Korea oppose capitalism and the US alliance
The greatest speeches of the world's foremost political orators have often been collected in books, and many are also featured online, in some cases in...
Memorial for fallen troops in Russia war erected in Pyongyang
One year after dispatching troops to support Russia in the war with Ukraine, North Korea is constructing a memorial in Pyongyang to honor the dead. ...
Kim Ju-ae: successor or beloved daughter?
Questions have resurfaced over whether Kim Ju-ae, the daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, is being groomed as his successor or not. When they...
Economic development is just another burden for the people
The North Korean regime is currently pushing economic development under the banner of a “20×10 Local Development Strategy.” This plan aims to build industrial factories...
Man killed in accident in Sariwon during rice harvesting
A man who had been mobilized for rice harvesting in Sariwon, North Hwanghae Province, reportedly died after falling from a moving vehicle. The accident happened...
Why are mothers the first to go hungry?
Who is the first to go hungry in a North Korean household? It is always the mother. Women are both victims of the regime and...
All powerful Ministry of State Security expands remit to include foreign currency and border control
North Korea’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) is an extrajudicial intelligence agency responsible for national security and regime preservation that answers directly to the Supreme...
In North Hamgyong, farm households receive 5kg of newly harvested rice for Chuseok
Some farms in North Hamgyong Province have reportedly distributed newly harvested rice to farm households for the annual Chuseok harvest festival. This measure appears to...
The new generation, a quiet awakening amid control
North Korea’s young generation is changing. Though still under strict surveillance, questions about the regime and a yearning for a different world are quietly growing...
Reunification has disappeared, leaving only hostility
When I lived in North Korea, our rivals in the South were depicted as “the same people, a counterpart we must one day reunite with.” ...
Venezuela’s “Foreign Legion” in South Korea
North Korea has had ties with Venezuela since 1965, but in the last two decades since the coming to power of dictator Hugo Chavez and...
Ministry of Social Security mobilizes nationwide to crack down on illegal grain distribution
North Korea’s Ministry of Social Security, the main policing agency responsible for maintaining public order, has mobilized across cities and counties to crack down on...