San Fran Event, 9/17: Everyday Life in NK

This one’s for our supporters in NorCal. An event hosted by the Asia Society in San Francisco on 17 September 2013 featuring our friend Sunghee Jo, who will speak about her life in North Korea and will be joined by Sandra Fahy, Philip Yun, and Blaine Harden. Looks like it’ll be interesting!

Outside Looking In: Everyday Life in North Korea

Featuring outspoken defector Sunghee Jo, this expert panel offers a rare look at what life is really like inside North Korea. Its people face huge challenges, but our understanding of everyday life in North Korea and how it is changing is exceptionally limited. Most of the country is off limits to foreigners, and what coverage there is in Western media is heavily focused on the vagaries of the regime’s ruling Kim dynasty and its nuclear weapons program.

What are work, school, and family life like for its 24.5 million citizens? How have social and human rights conditions changed under Kim Jong-un’s reign? Who are the tens of thousands of North Korean defectors and what is life like for them today in other countries? For those who remain, is international aid reaching those who need it most?

Speakers:
Sunghee Jo, North Korean defector living in the U.S. since 2008; Founder, North Korean Refugees in the United States (NKUS)
Sandra Fahy, Professor of Anthropology and North Korea expert, Sophia University (Tokyo)
Blaine Harden, Author, Escape from Camp 14; Former correspondent, Washington Post
Philip Yun (moderator), Executive Director, Ploughshares Fund

Promotional Co-Sponsors: Human Rights Watch, Korean American Chamber of Commerce of the North Pacific Coast, Liberty in North Korea, Ploughshares Fund, UC Berkeley Center for Korean Studies, UC Berkeley Institute of East Asian Studies