North Korean Memoirs: a discussion on forced labour

We are happy to announce the next North Korean Memoirs event in London on 24th November 2014, ‘North Korean Memoirs, a discussion on forced labour’. As North Korean people escape the regime, first-hand reports of human rights violations including trafficking, torture, rape, execution, forced labour, and arbitrary detention are reaching the international community. Contrary to media sensationalist reporting, it is essential to tackling human rights abuses by first hearing from the North Korean people themselves and gaining a true understanding of what is happening within the country. The speakers will be Aidan McQuade from Anti-Slavery International, Sarah Kerrigan from Maplecroft, and testimonies from Jiyoung Kang and So Young Ko. There will be a chance of questions and answers for each speaker.

Speakers:

Aidan McQuade is the Director of Anti-Slavery International, the only UK charity to work exclusively against slavery and aims to eliminate all forms of slavery around the world. Anti-Slavery International has delivered real change to victims of slavery, their recent activities include successfully campaigning to force the UK government to sign up to a new EU anti-trafficking law, and convincing MEPs to reject a proposal to extend trade deals with countries using child labour.

Sarah Kerrigan is the Senior Human Rights Analyst at Maplecroft, a leading risk analytics, research and strategic forecasting company. She will give a discussion on business association to the forced labour of North Korean labourers in global supply chains, in reference to Russia and Qatar.

Jiyoung Kang will give her testimony of forced labour in North Korea. She was born in Soo Sung, North Hamgung, and first escaped North Korea in 2001, but was discovered by Chinese border guards and repatriated only a month later. A second escape into China found her repatriated only 15 days later. Jiyoung refused to give up and escaped a third and final time, but sadly her daughter was discovered and repatriated during this attempt. After living and working in China for a number of years, she finally arrived in the UK and gained refugee status in January 2009.

So Young Ko was born in Pyongyang in 1983, daughter of a military serviceman, she moved to the countryside when her father was discharged for having relatives in China. She was shocked by the difference in living conditions and social environment, and after witnessing ‘gotjebi’ (street urchins) starve to death, decided to leave for China. Her family were discovered, repatriated, and left for dead. They escaped once more to China where they lived for a decade before gaining refugee status in the UK 3 years ago.