Helping North Koreans by promoting reform from within – Ep. 289

North Koreans are subjected to some of the worst human rights abuses on Earth, living under a state that refuses to cooperate with the U.N. and other watchdogs and does whatever it takes to keep the Kim dynasty in power.

But Joanna Hosaniak of the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights says that regime change is not necessarily the answer. Instead, she argues that the international community must learn to work within the confines of the North Korean state to realize change from within.

This week, Hosaniak joins the NK News podcast to discuss the history of the North Korean human rights movement and how her group leverages its nongovernmental status to push for improvements. She also talks about how DPRK human rights has become politicized in South Korea, the impacts of COVID lockdowns on defectors and whether it’s time for a new U.N. Commission of Inquiry investigation into human rights abuses in the country.

Joanna Hosaniak is the deputy director general of the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (@NKHumanRights), the world’s oldest nongovernmental organization devoted exclusively to North Korean human rights. She has also worked at the South Korean Embassy in Poland and the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights.

About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot (@JaccoZed) exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.