US State Dept. issues statement on North Korea Freedom Week

The United States Department of State has released a press statement on the occasion of the 18th annual North Korea Freedom Week.

The North Korea Freedom Week 2021 is taking place April 25-May 1 in the US, South Korea and online. The week-long event started as a day in 2004 and expanded to a week the next year.

“On this occasion of North Korea Freedom Week, we stand with the millions of North Koreans who continue to have their dignity and human rights violated by one of the most repressive and totalitarian states in the world, including the more than 100,000 individuals who suffer unspeakable abuses in the regime’s political prison camps,” said the US State Department spokesperson Ned Price in the statement. “We are appalled by the increasingly draconian measures the regime has taken, including shoot-to-kill orders at the North Korea-China border, to tighten control of its people under the guise of fighting COVID-19.”

“The civilized world has no place for such brutality, and the international community must continue to speak out,” he added.

The event is hosted by the North Korea Freedom Coalition, a bipartisan alliance of over 70 public member organizations representing millions of American, South Korean, North Korean and Japanese citizens, as well as other countries, and individuals, all supporting human rights and freedom for the people of North Korea. The alliance also has private members that offer humanitarian assistance inside North Korea and members in China and other countries that shelter, feed and rescue refugees from North Korea.

Wednesday was also the International Day of Prayer and Fasting for North Korea.

“The United States will continue to raise awareness of North Korea’s egregious human rights situation, investigate abuses and violations, support access to independent information for the North Korean people, and work with the United Nations and likeminded allies to promote accountability for the Kim regime,” said Price further. “We also honor the courage of the North Korean defector and human rights community and will always support their efforts to shine a spotlight on these grave injustices.”

The week-long event is co-organized by NGOs in South Korea and the international community. The 18th annual event is being organized by the Honorary Chairman Suzanne Scholte of the Coalition, with the representatives of civil society leaders and North Korean defector NGOs cooperating to form the Organizing Committee.

“Our NKFW theme is Open North Korea that the land once known as the Oriental Jerusalem would be freed from the demonic oppression under which its people suffer and be restored to God, so that North Koreans can live with freedom, human rights and dignity,” says the event’s website.

Featured image is licensed under Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)