A North Korean Political Prisoner's Journey to Refuge

Join us next week as special guest Shin Dong Hyuk shares his powerful and unique story of being born and raised in a concentration camp IN NORTH KOREA. Having witnessed his own mother sentenced to death by hanging, and experiencing re-education of what's happening in the world, Shin Dong Hyuk gives us a window to see into the deathly mysterious happenings in North Korea. There will also be a Q&A session where you can actually ask any questions you might have for him, at the end of his presentation.
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About the speaker Mr. Shin

Until his escape in 2005 Shin Dong Hyuk had been a prisoner all his life: innocent of any crime, but born behind bars. Bearing the thick scars of his ordeal, Shin Dong Hyuk’s account of Total Control Camp No 14 reveals perhaps the darkest side of Kim Jong Il’s communist dictatorship – a labour camp where tens of thousands of political prisoners are subjected to torture, beatings and execution.

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Hosted by Students Promoting Awareness About North Korea (SPAANK), LiNK (Liberty in North Korea), and the UCLA International Human Rights Law Program.

SPAANK is a student run group at UCLA seeking to, above all, promote awareness about the human rights violations occurring everyday in North Korea. We hope to incite and mobilize students to take action against the injustices, on behalf of the voiceless and oppressed.

The International Human Rights Law Program at UCLA School of Law, the first program of its kind in southern California, brings together cutting-edge human rights education, scholarship, advocacy and policy-oriented research. As one of the finest research universities in the world, situated at a major global crossroads and in one of the most diverse regions in the country, UCLA is emerging as a vital center for international human rights work.

LiNK's work focuses on awareness through mobilizing the grassroots and telling these stories of hope and survival. We meet with governments, NGOs and institutions to advocate for the North Korean people, while working directly with refugees through a network of shelters in China and Southeast Asia - protecting, educating and assisting them to eventually find freedom and empower them to live new lives.