The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s Human Rights Violations Seen Through a Gender Lens – What is the State of Women’s Human Rights?

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is known for being a country that obtains obedience from its citizens through arbitrary punishments, torture, executions, and forced labour, all of which violate human rights as defined by the UN human rights conventions.  Ultimately, since the DPRK was established in 1948, prior to the Korean War (1950–1953), the country’s leadership has disrespected the human rights of its people for almost 80 years. 

Furthermore, surviving Confucian gender roles and concepts in society have resulted in systemic discrimination against DPRK women, leading to additional gendered human rights violations against women and girls in the country. Sexual and domestic violence against women is pervasive and institutionalized, and when paired with the belief that women have a lower social status than men, discrimination against women and girls is considered an unavoidable part of daily life. Consequently, rape and human trafficking to China to participate in its sex industry are among the many other human rights violations that DPRK women and girls face.

The Stockholm Korea Center of the Institute for Security and Development Policy and the Korea Young Leaders Forum cordially invite you to a one-hour webinar, during which we will further examine violations of women’s human rights in the DPRK. With the objective to approach the human rights crisis from a gender perspective, we strive to delve thoroughly into the evolving roles and status of women in the DPRK, the types of human rights abuses that women are forced to endure, the underlying ideologies that allow for them to continue, and potential ways for the international community to address these violations to women’s rights.  

The webinar is scheduled for September 25th, 2025, at 10.00 a.m. Swedish time and 05.00 p.m. Korean time. The webinar will be live and online, recorded for later use, and will be followed by a report in both English and Korean.   

Speakers:

Ms. Jihyun Park was born in North Korea. She escaped the regime twice before settling in the UK in 2008. She is a Senior Fellow on Human Security at the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy and a Non-Resident Fellow at Universidad Francisco de Vitoria Madrid, focusing on policy solutions for North Korea and the wider region. Author of The Hard Road Out and a TEDx speaker, she has testified before the UN COI and addressed the UK House of Commons. Her advocacy for North Korean women’s rights has earned honors including the NatWest Chairman’s Award (2018), Amnesty Brave Award (2020), and The Times Hero Award (2021). Her work has been featured by BBC, Sky News, ITV, CNN, Financial Times, and in international documentaries. 

Ms. Hyanga An holds a Master’s degree in Korean Unification Studies from Yonsei University, where she completed a thesis titled “Analysis of the Factors Behind North Korea’s Strengthened Control Over External Information.” Prior to that, she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political and Social Studies from the University of Würzburg in Germany.

Professionally, she serves as a member of the Advisory Committee on Unification Exchange Policy (2024–2025) at the South-North Korea Exchanges and Cooperation Support Association (SONOSA). She is also a co-founder and steering committee member of the Korea Young Leaders Forum, where she manages the International Division with a focus on Germany.