Launch Event: The North Korean Prison Database (Hybrid)

A vast penal system stretches across North Korea. Hidden from the world, industrial-grade violations of international law — from torture and widespread starvation to inhumane, overcrowded, and unsanitary conditions of detention — have led to catastrophic human consequences.

Until now, little evidence from North Korea’s penal system had been gathered for the explicit purpose of holding accountable those implicated in crimes and violations. Rarer still was evidence that identified individual perpetrators and linked them to cases.

In the first phase of the most granular investigation ever conducted into North Korea’s penal system, Korea Future has identified nearly 600 perpetrators linked to 5180 human rights violations committed against 785 detainees in 148 penal facilities. Join us as we share our findings, explore prospects for accountability, and release the North Korean Prison Database — an online archive of international law violations perpetrated across the North Korean penal system.

Networking and drinks to follow after the event.

This event will also be moderated by Professor Remko Breuker, a historian of Korea and Northeast Asia from Leiden University.