North Korea News Podcast by NK News - The existential crisis facing the North Korean human rights movement

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

A White House order suspending funding for U.S. foreign assistance programs has precipitated an existential crisis for North Korean human rights organizations, likely forcing some to shutter entirely and raising concerns about other DPRK-related initiatives that rely on U.S. government support. This week, three women working in the field — Yoonhee Kim, Joanna Hosaniak and […]

You're listening to an exclusive episode of the NK News podcast available only to subscribers. You can listen to this and other episodes from your preferred podcast player by accessing the Private Podcast feed. For more detailed instructions, please see the step-by-step guide on the NK News podcast. I'm your host, Jaco Zwetsloot. And today we're doing something a bit different. Oh, today it is the Tuesday, the 18th of March 2025. And we're doing a roundtable discussion with three people who are working in the North

Korean human rights space. We have Yoonhee Kim, program director at the National Democratic Institute in Seoul. And I should point out that Yoonhee is speaking for herself, not on behalf of her organization. Joanna Hosaniak, Deputy Director General of the Citizens Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, who is able to speak on behalf of her organization. And Hannah Song, Executive Director of the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, or NKDB, who is also able to speak on behalf of our organization. We did also invite Liberty in North Korea or LINK, but they were unable to be with us

today. So thank you all for joining me on the show. Thank you for having us. What a choir. We're all in sync. Yes, we're all in sync. Exactly. So we're here to talk about our big topic today

is the drastic cuts in funding by the US government in all sorts of foreign aid, including, but not limited to that, which is helping North Korean people and North Korean defectors and refugees. So first, I'd like to just get your initial reaction. What was your first reaction from each of you when you heard that the US government was cutting funding to organizations working on human rights issues? Did it come as a shock or had there been signs that something like this was coming? Who would like to start?

Hanna, you want to kick off? Sure. So just maybe in terms of context, we received the first notice for the suspension of funding and that there was going to be this foreign assistance review under the executive order on January 24th and this was the day that Lunar New Year started in Korea. So not a great start to our holiday period and on a personal level, Jackal, you and I were speaking recently because January 22nd was one year of me becoming executive director of NKDB. And my one year goal was to keep NKDB afloat. And it felt like I had done that for one year.

And then two days later, it was a huge shock to the system. I had no idea. I don't think anybody had any idea it was coming. I had been speaking to our colleagues at the US State Department on other related issues, specifically related to our program that week and talking about how things were due the following week. We were talking about, oh, well, it's Lunar New Year in Korea, so I'll have to work through the holidays. But it was clear that it was also a shock to our colleagues in the State Department.

And I think that's what's been so difficult during this situation is that it's all happening so quickly. And by the time we receive any form of information, it's already old news. And just trying to keep up has been, I think, difficult on our part. Wow, yeah, okay. Euni, do you wanna talk about your experience?

Yes, my experience was that I got this news, I've got to know this from the President, NDI's President's message sent to all staff just right after the EO was announced. But it was not back then was clear what it would mean for us, our programs, because it seems to us it was more targeting the foreign development assistance, not exactly. It was USAID, the USAID. Gosh, I've already forgotten what it stands for now.

It's ancient history. Anyway, USAID. But it was not directly related to the democracy and human rights, so we thought that it's still not clear, but still the message from the president, it was full of fighting spirit. So we've been this through before, for our, the last 42 years history, so we can get through this together. So back then, it was not that pessimistic, but just to Hannah said,

just every day we got the news that was mind-boggling. And then just a month and a half later, then yes, now at the end, we are now where we are. We finally got the news. I finally got the decision from NDI headquarters that NDI sole office will be completely closed. Gosh. Okay. And when? Mid-April, officially. Okay. So it's really, really soon. Okay. And when? Mid-April, officially. Okay, so it's really, really soon. Okay, and Jaina, what was your reaction when you heard? Yeah, we somehow, you know,

I will not repeat what Hannah and Juni said before me, but I would just say that it was so abrupt that nobody managed to prepare. I think it would be great if, for example, let's say there is a review or there is a kind of suspension of funds, but there is a notice and you have some time to reorganize. In our case, as Hanna mentioned, you know, it was post Lunar New Year that we applied for our

quarterly funding. Normally we receive funds in quarterly and National Endowment for Democracy provides 60% of our budget. So we were supposed to submit this application and receive funding for February, March, April and we got notice from NED that they are unable to access their funds from the Treasury Department. And then we've realized that it's really serious. While we knew that when the review was announced that it's already getting serious, the moment when NED said that we are unable to send these funds and use the remaining cash, this was a following letter that came a few days later in February, use the remaining cash, this was a following letter that came few days later in February, use the remaining cash and then if you run out of cash,

consider your grant suspended, that it's really serious. And it's been only a month since that happened and within that month there have been a lot of changes to the office, including cuts in to our staff and we are moving our office next week because we are unable to keep our office going. However, we need a space, at least for North Koreans coming to our office for the programs. Wow. Wow. Okay. So now you've already helped to answer part of my next question,

which is what are the channels through which the funding comes? So in your case, it was something called the NED, the National Endowment for Democracy. Was that also the channel through which you received your money at NDI, Yunhee? It's the total budget of NDI. I've just heard that 70% of this funding comes from USAID and State Department, and the rest comes from NED.

Okay, so it's a combination of USAID, which I've remembered now it's the United States Agency for International Development. So 70% from them and the rest from NED. Okay, and Hannah, in your case? So we have two channels and I think they're the two major sources of funding is the NED and DRL, which is the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor under the State Department. In the case for, as far as I'm aware, USAID doesn't give direct support to North Korean human rights organizations.

The way that they support NDI is through their HQ, and then that is dispersed to different country context. Yes, to make a correction, the USAID funds comes to NDIA, but that's not about the North Korean human rights programs. The North Korean human rights programs here in Seoul office, it comes from State Department. Ah, I see. Okay, all right. And all of these channels have been affected.

So the UN Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights, Elizabeth Salomon, has warned that these funding cuts will have long-term consequences. What do you think the biggest consequences will be? Not just for your organization, but in the whole ecosystem, the overall North Korean human rights movement. Curious to hear the rest? Become an NK News subscriber today for access to the full episode. Head to nknews.org slash join for more information.

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