Award Established in Hwang Jang Yop’s Name

The Committee for Democratization of North Korea has announced plans to establish an award  in the name of
Hwang Jang Yop, former International Secretary of the Chosun Workers
Party and the highest-ranking North Korean official ever to defect
to the South.

The Committee plans to establish the “Hwang Jang Yop Unification Award” by the
end of this year. The prize will be awarded to those who have made significant contributions to issues surrounding democracy, human rights, and
reform in North Korea.

Hwang Jang Yop held strong to the values
of improving human rights and democratization in North Korea, and those selected
for the prize will be judged by that standard,
So Jae
Pyong, Secretary General for the Committee for Democratization of North Korea
told Daily NK.
We must strive to maintain the meaning
behind Hwang
s emphasis on liberating the North Korean
people from the oppression of the regime as the road to unification.”

Born in 1923, Hwang was a major player in
much of North Korean history. He served in top positions, including Dean of Kim
Il Sung University, International Secretary of the Chosun Workers
Party and Chairman of the Supreme Peoples
Assembly. Even more significantly, he was a close and trusted advisor to both
Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

He finally defected in 1997, planning to
expose the nature of the Kim dictatorship and the human rights abuses levied
against the North Korean people and became the president of the 
Committee for Democratization of North Korea. He passed
away on October 10th, 2010.