North Korean Defectors and Rights Activists gather in DC

From April 26th to May 2nd, thirty defectors from North Korea -- joined by U.S., South Korean and Japanese activists, politicians, policy experts, veterans and relatives of prisoners -- will hold events across the Washington, DC-area spotlighting the massive human rights abuses in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and exposing China's complicity in the mistreatment of North Korean refugees.

Former North Korean officials and other speakers at "North Korea Freedom Week" events will also explore links between North Korean human rights abuses and that nation's missile and nuclear weapons programs, along with issues surrounding the succession of aging leader Kim Jong Il and the imprisonment of U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee.

"This year is a turning point for North Korean human rights. With a new U.S. President and Congress, and a South Korean government more focused on human rights in the North, the opportunity exists to make human rights a central part of our policies toward North Korea," said Suzanne Scholte, chairman of the North Korea Freedom Coalition.

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