Join us for a special virtual event exploring how access to information is creating change inside the world’s most repressive state, and reshaping what’s possible for ordinary North Koreans
Gumhyok Kim is one of the most prominent young North Korean voices working on this issue today. Born and raised in Pyongyang among North Korea’s elite, GumHyok’s worldview changed dramatically after studying abroad in Beijing. After secretly organizing discussions on human rights and democracy with other North Korean students, he was forced to flee the country in 2012. He is a leading public voice on North Korean human rights, speaking at the United Nations Security Council, serving as an advisor in the South Korean government, and advocating internationally for the freedom of the North Korean people.
Nat Kretchun is the Vice President for Programs at the Open Technology Fund (OTF), a Congressionally funded non-profit organization that supports the development and deployment of anti-censorship, privacy and security technologies for populations living under repressive information censorship regimes. Since 2009, he has done extensive research with North Korean refugees, defectors and travelers, running annual surveys and conducting qualitative studies focused on information access in North Korea. He is the primary author of A Quiet Opening: North Koreans in a Changing Media Environment and its follow-up, Compromising Connectivity: Information Dynamics Between the State and Society in a Digitizing North Korea.
