A new coalition of international and domestic South Korean NGOs aiming to focus renewed international attention on human rights abuses in North Korea will be launched in Tokyo tomorrow, following a conference in the city today.
The conference at Meiji University Academy is set to feature speeches by international figures including GNP floor leader in the National Assembly Hwang Woo Yea and former President Kim Young Sam, alongside testimony from sufferers of human rights abuses inside North Korea, with organizers hoping to use the combined power of international NGOs including Christian Solidarity Worldwide and Human Rights Watch and the knowledge and experience of groups such as Open Radio for North Korea to force North Korean human rights further up the international agenda.
In addition to today’s conference, the participating groups are set to host a press conference tomorrow to officially launch the coalition, ICNK, and are planning to hold a demonstration in front of the headquarters of Chongryon tomorrow evening.
“The ICNK is going to urge the Kim Jong Il regime to immediately stop public executions, torture and all kinds of Crimes against Humanity and dismantle political prison camps, whilst urging the UN to establish a Commission of Inquiry to investigate Crimes against Humanity in North Korea,” the coalition stated in a press release revealing the conference agenda.
