North Korea landed in the spotlight this week after Sony halted the release of a comedy film about a fictionalized assassination of the...
North Korea landed in the spotlight this week after Sony halted the release of a comedy film about a fictionalized assassination of the country’s leader. The media have focused on hacked Hollywood emails, the aftermath for celebrities and producers, and the implications for freedom of speech in the United States. The civil liberties concern is real, but the more urgent human rights story is the one playing out in North Korea.
The reality is that 24 million North Koreans live under tyranny. Of those, an estimated 130,000 men, women, and children sit today in political prison camps. They’re starved, beaten, and killed for disagreeing with their government. It’s not a movie script – it’s one of the worst human rights tragedies in the world today.
Learn more about North Korea’s political prison camps, the information barriers that exist inside the country, and the experience of escapees through these infographics and help spread awareness.
And stay tuned. Next month, the Bush Institute will release a call to action and policy recommendations for a new path forward in improving the human condition in North Korea. We can’t afford to turn a blind eye to the reality of human rights violations in North Korea – even after the Hollywood headlines disappear.
