[imText1]Kang Chul Hwan who had a talk with President Bush for forty minutes, the author of “The Aquariums of Pyongyang” is a North Korean defector who is a human rights activist working for North Korean democratization.
Kang is the third generation of Japanese Korean, born in Pyongyang in 1968. When he was nine years old, his grandfather who used to be a member of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (a pro-Pyongyang body, known as Cho-Chongryon) was branded with infamy and his entire family were sent to the political concentration camp (Kwan-li-so).
In the process his parents were forced to divorce and the rest of his family except his mother were imprisoned in the camp for ten years and survivied through an “unlivable life.”
Kwang and his family were released from the camp in 1987 and he resided around Yoduk and Hamheung of Hamkyung province. He defected with Ahn Hyuk who he acquainted with in the camp in 1992 after he heard South Korean radio broadcasting.
In 2000, he started working at Chosun Ilbo North Korean issue research institute and in 2003 started to work as a North Korean democratization activist impressed by the UN North Korean Human Rights Resolution.
In June 2003, he organized a NGO called “Organization for Dismantlement of Political Concentration Camps for North Korean Democratization” with other North Korean defectors in South Korea and currently holds the position of co-director with his partner Ahn Hyuk.
This organization changed its name to “Democracy Network Against North Korean Gulag” and has been actively working for making a list of names imprisoned in the gulags in North Korea and publication of White Paper. The list of 600 assured names was submitted to the 61th UN Commission on Human Rights as a source of evidence.
Furthermore, some of the Kang’s activities to increase awareness on the seriousness of the North Korean human rights situation include holding the 2003 Korea-Japan Aligning Conference with a North Korean human rights NGO of Japanese entity called “Committee to Protect Human Rights and Life of the Returnees to North Korea”; participated in the “North Korean Freedom Day” held in the US, April, 2004; and testifying in the UN Commission on Human Rights held in March 2005.
Furthermore, Kwang is actively involved in security of human rights for the North Korean defectors currently residing in China and third countries as well as resettlement of the North Korean defectors in South Korea.
The Democracy Network Against North Korean Gulag predicts there are about 150,000 people imprisoned in the gulags in North Korea.
