 Good morning everyone. Welcome to CSIS and our conference on North Green Human Rights The Road Ahead. My name is Victor Chah. I'm senior advisor and chair here at CSIS and professor at Georgetown University. I will give our co-hosts the Yonsei Center for Human Liberty, the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, and the George W. Bush Institute a chance to welcome you all in a moment. That's Ambassador Lee Jung-hoon, Greg Scarlati and Amanda Schnitzer. But first let me thank you all for bearing the cold and the snow and the unpaved roads and the delayed metro access to join us here this morning. And for those of you who were unable to make it or will make it later in the day we are live streaming the event so it is available on the CSIS website. I know that we have a number of people here from Korea and I should just say that for our Korean audience here as well as those who might be watching on live stream you should know that it snowed here in DC last night and we are notoriously bad at dealing with a few inches of snow. But the schools are closed today in fact the US government is closed today CSIS is even closed today but that's not going to stop us from having this conference and I should just say I know we usually say this at the end of conferences but I just want to acknowledge the building staff here at CSIS. They came in here yesterday on a holiday to get everything set up they actually stayed overnight to make sure that we would all be ready for this morning and so I just wanted to thank them. So to Alice and Carolyn and their team thank you very much Carolyn thanks for everything really do appreciate it. That's Carolyn back there right there. Having said that we are operating with a skeletal staff today so there are still uncertainties like some like whether the food's gonna get here on time things like that but bear with us. There is one change in the program that I wanted to mention to you and the panel in the afternoon on the policy discussion John Sifton from Human Rights Watch will be joining us on that panel. Barbara Demek from the LA Times was unable to get here because of the because of the snow coming from New York. Oh and I'm supposed to mention that there is a CSIS emergency evacuation exits and floor plans route that I'm required to let you all know about that is on your table. Ladies and gentlemen improving the human condition in North Korea is one of the most important yet understudied problems in international relations today. After a great year for the issue for the human rights issue in 2014 we here our co-organizers did not want to see the focus blur in 2015 with talks of visits to Russia inter-Korean dialogue efforts to restart nuclear diplomacy so we sought to bring together what I think you will agree is an incredible group of experts and stakeholders both to look back at the Commission of Inquiry report as well as to look forward in terms of the road ahead on human rights in North Korea. We will begin this morning with opening remarks from the Honorable Kurt Campbell. Kurt Campbell really needs no introduction as the former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs for the Obama administration. He's the well-known author of the pivot or the rebalance to Asia and rarely has an individual a single individual had such a big impact on US policy US policy to Asia. So Kurt again thanks for braving the snow and joining us this morning and we'll open with some welcoming remarks from you. Thank you Victor and I just want to thank all of you for coming. Victor I think set the scene very well for friends that are watching this from a distance but what you cannot see is that outside there's no one on the street people are tucked in at home but we have a full hall today of people that are committed to this issue and it's a tribute to the work of the Bush Center the work from our institution's sister and brother institutions in Korea and particularly Victor Cha and CSIS I think he was gracious enough to give the group of people that were here last night setting up. I think you also should know that Victor was calling everyone yesterday in the middle of the snow offering to come and shovel do all sorts of things literally and I think this conference would not have taken place without his own personal effort so as we get started rather than waiting to the and let's just thank Victor for the work he and his team have done. Thank you very much. I'm very cognizant of how important this session is and I'd like to talk to you at a personal level if I could about my own personal consciousness raising on this issue now you could say well gee you should know about this already you should be focused on it you should appreciate it but in fact many in the foreign policy community when the issue of North Korea comes up the primary focus is the intricate role it plays within the six-party dynamics what nuance could be applied in terms of nuclear negotiations how can you engage China more effectively to get impact in North Korea what about secret negotiations that take place with the various parties these are the issues that primarily animate the foreign policy and national security community when it comes to North Korea my own personal experience though as I began the Obama administration were a series of interactions that really struck me and it caused me to rethink my own biases my own areas of focus more generally and I will say that the conversations actually began with my friend Bob King who came one day in a very humble way to say look Kurt I'd like to talk to you more about the plight of the people of North Korea as you contemplate the you know the challenges of the diplomatic engagement this is a group of people that do not have a voice they do not have representation on the international stage and unlike almost any place globally in Africa or the Middle East where a whole population is subjected just to unbelievable hardship they do not have the representation or the acknowledgement that they deserve I remember that conversation stuck with me for years when you're in government and you focus on North Korea you invariably look at what might be described as overhead maps right because you're always looking to find a secret facility or some disputed area that we have to discuss and I remember having one of our teams coming over from the intelligence agencies to describe certain facilities in North Korea and I remember stopping at one point and saying what are these large areas what are these areas that scattered around North Korea and I remember our excellent interlocutor said well those are those are prison camps I said well what do you mean by that he said well no there are many of them they're very intricate system very large groups of numbers of people and at that time we were still speculating on the numbers but it was just absolutely striking to me that we had spent so much time focusing on one or two areas that might have been disputed site but not enough time focusing on these vast areas where huge swaths of North Korean humanity were subjected to live. Third conversation if I may say just quickly I were joined here today by a former very senior friend in the South Korean government Kim Tae-ho very close advisor of the president and I remember I was a lowly State Department official he was at the Blue House he preferred to deal with the White House but occasionally he would find a few minutes to deal with someone visiting from another agency. We had a wonderful session in which we talked at a very strategic level about North Korea but then at some point he said you know in both of our countries this issue of the tragedy of the North Korean people has not received enough attention it has not received the focus that it deserves and that as we go forward and we seek to raise the consciousness of our people we need to focus on this issue more and I was very struck by it it was a very powerful a very emotional plea but it was a correct plea and one that is sort of stood with me over a period sense so I just want to give you my own perspective about how to take this issue forward I agree with Victor that I think 2014 was a very powerful year achievements and accomplishments that I think even people that were deeply involved in this matter didn't believe was possible and the key here is now how to build on it going forward now I will say sometimes our best area of support comes from North Korean interlocutors and I think their response yesterday suggests that this is an issue that concerns them it's an issue that they are worried about and I think we need to make clear to the key interlocutors that we deal with in New York or in South Korea or elsewhere that this is an issue that is being watched and that in many places precedents have been set for accountability subsequently and a recognition that people bear responsibility going forward so as you think about this issue today going forward I want you to recognize what I think are several key features of what a successful campaign going forward looks like the first is an issue that I think has already been accomplished and it's extremely important there is no reason that this issue cannot be a bipartisan issue there are many people of conscience that are both Republicans and Democrats in the United States that are animated by this issue and I would be doing everything possible to try to build responsibly that coalition of people who care and understand the significance of this issue going forward second although that's important it's not it's not it's not enough much more needs to be done I think the most important issue is not a bipartisan issue but a tendency sometimes to relegate this issue to a group of people that are not as directly involved in foreign policy national security and I want to make sure that when discussions of the strategic dimensions of Northeast Asia are discussed that this matter is discussed with it that it is not relegated as a human rights issue it is intrinsic to a discussion about Northeast Asian futures that would be the second issue third is a recognition that at its core we on the outside have to be thinking about making every opportunity to make demonstrations of this issue as an important matter in North Korea and so that means when they're meetings that are taking place about strategic matters in North Korea we have a moment of silence or we make sure that people recognize this matter as they sort of discuss the intricacies of the next turn of the screw with respect to North Korean nuclear diplomacy and then I think we also have to recognize ladies and gentlemen ultimately this is about resources now I think South Korean friends have done an admirable job with respect to applying the kinds of resources necessary with respect to education and the like with regard to people who have fled North Korea the United States could do much more in this way we have stepped up very slightly the amount of support that we have given for defectors and those that are seeking educational opportunities in the United States but more could be done there we also have done some minor things with regard to making sure certain information gets into North Korea I think we can be more creative and more innovative about that matter going forward and then I will also say that I am struck there is a lot of discussion about what's going on in China right now with regard to North Korea but my sense is that there is a greater degree of reflection on this matter than ever before now clearly the issue that concerns Chinese friends the most is that North Korea continues to take steps that are antithetical to their national security and foreign policy interests and I think one of the great successes of Asia in recent period is the improving relationship between South Korea and China which I believe most in Asia and clearly the United States believe this is a positive development and I think there is a dawning recognition in China that they have the wrong Korea as a friend and they're rethinking those issues so clearly what is animating China right now are the strategic dimensions but I believe that if presented correctly that there is a human dimension to this that frankly is both inescapable and potentially quite powerful for Chinese friends as we go forward so I just wanted to come today to offer my support to this effort I had the good opportunity working with the Bush and CSIS teams as they got this started last year and what they've accomplished in a very short time with the passion and commitment of President Bush is remarkable and if you see the crowd here today in a city that is basically vacated because of snow it is a recognition that this is an issue whose time has come and it must be part of the foreign policy national security political discourse of Asia going forward and I'm confident with such an able team that that can be accomplished so let's build on our successes of 2014 and let's have a powerful passionate committed discourse on this matter going forward in 2015. Thank you Victor. Thanks so much Kurt now we'll go to a welcoming remarks before we do let me just recognize Ambassador Ahn Ho-young who's joined us this morning Ambassador Ahn so we'll go to opening remarks and we'll start with the Republic of Korea Ambassador for Human Rights Lee Jong-un. Thank you Victor I woke up at 3 o'clock 3 30 this morning jet leg kept looking out the window to see how bad the snow was and also looking for the snow, snow plowers got worried because I didn't see any it just kept that way but and I just heard that the that the government is actually closed the schools are closed even this building CSIS is closed and yet we have a really great turnout kudos to all of us in this business it seems that nothing can hold us back not the snow and not even the North Korean press conferences I don't know if you heard about that yesterday I just want to use this time to very quickly express my deep appreciation to my partners Victor of CSIS Greg HRNK Amanda the Bush Institute and others including Ambassador Ahn Ho-young who will be the host of the dinner banquet very gracious of you who've all come together to make this conference possible I am particularly indebted to Sonia B. Serco who came all the way from Serbia Michael Kirby Australia Marzuki Darusman from Indonesia these are far away and they've come a long way to be a part of this of this event I might also add that the Korean participants and quite a number here have actually given up their Lunar New Year's holiday it's a major Korean national holiday to be here as well so I thank you all so very much a year ago today a UN finding known as the COI report took the world by storm ushering in sea change in how the world views and deals was the unrelenting deprivation of human rights in North Korea today we're here not only to celebrate the one year anniversary of this momentous UN report but also to send a clear message to the Pyongyang regime if you don't relent we won't either our concerted effort represent a beacon of hope for those North Koreans desperately yearning for freedom ladies and gentlemen let's just keep doing what we're doing thank you thank you gentlemen next we'll go to Amanda Schnetzer from the George W. Bush Institute good morning thank you all for being here I won't unless press tell you what the temperatures were in Dallas yesterday but if you need some relief from the winter please come and visit us I for four years have had the privilege of leading the human freedom initiative at the still relatively new George W. Bush Institute in Dallas when President Mrs. Bush left the White House and returned to Texas they dedicated a portion of the Institute's work to helping advance individual freedom and democracy in the world we do that in a variety of ways including in the focus and the attention that we've been giving to the North Korea issue and the human condition in North Korea over the last year our approach is fairly simple to use the unique assets of a former president of the United States and First Lady to try and add value to the important work that all of you in this room are already doing I think it's that human dimension that inspired President Bush to invite the first North Korean escapees to the White House and now we continue to do that in Dallas and I think it's the human dimension that that drives all of us here today I want to quote briefly from the words of one still relatively recent North Korean escapee who put it this way North Korean exiles our living testament that there does exist a difference between freedom and tyranny their stories are not merely a vehicle to evoke pity they cry for justice on behalf of all of those who have died without a voice their insistent voices are the triumph of humanity having survived a brutal struggle with a desperate on this anniversary of the groundbreaking Commission of inquiry report we remember the brave men and women who have escaped and now give witness to the truth we also remember those North Koreans who remain trapped behind the iron curtain in Pyongyang in the name in their name we gather today to begin to map that road ahead and on behalf of the Bush Institute let me just extend my thanks to our our friends and partners here at CSIS at the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and at the Yonsei Center for Human Liberty it's really been a privilege and to be a part of the opportunity to present this today and we thank you and thank you for your time today and then we have Greg Scarlatti from the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. Distinguished participants it is a great honor to be joining this morning former Governor Kim Moon-Soo Ambassador Ahn Ho-Yong Ambassador Lee Jong-Hun Ambassador Kurt Campbell Ambassador Robert King Special Rapporteur Marzuki Darusman and former Commissioner Sonia Bezerko and Michael Kirby. I would like to thank all of you for braving the elements and joining us today with the federal government closed due to the snowstorm CSIS may be the only organization that is open for business in DC today. It is also an honor to recognize two of our board members for here this morning. Mr. Robert Cohen is co-chair of the board and Mr. Jack David is a member of the board of directors at HRNK. Later today Carl Gershman President of the National Endowment for Democracy and HRNK board member will be giving keynote remarks. It is a great pleasure to see good and trusted friends and partners such as Feliz Gehr and Kristen Broker of the Jacob Blauchstein Institute and so many others who have joined us this morning. It will be a great pleasure to be seeing John Sifton and his colleagues from Human Rights Watch later today. On behalf of HRNK's board members and staff I wish to thank Victor Cha at CSIS and the South Korean Human Rights Ambassador Ambassador Lee Jong-Hun and the Human Liberties Center at the University's Graduate School of International Studies and also Amanda Schnetzer at the George W. Bush Institute for their efforts and dedication. Partnering with all of them has been a true honor and a privilege. I am also grateful for the good and hard work that HRNK staff and interns have invested for the past few months to prepare today's conference. As the only U.S. based bipartisan human rights organization tasked exclusively to research and publish on the North Korean human rights situation, HRNK has faced numerous challenges since its establishment 13 years ago. Perhaps the greatest of these challenges has been human rights being the perennial underdog, always outcompeted by North Korea's nuclear weapons, long-range ballistic missiles, asymmetric military provocations and somehow misguided former athletes in search of a long lost sense of purpose. Perhaps one of the greatest challenges we faced was the perception that North Korea was a remnant, a relic of the Cold War, a bizarre regime that had somehow managed to survive former allied despotic regimes in Eastern Europe by a quarter century, accomplishing two hereditary transmissions of power in the process from grandfather Kim Il-sung to son Kim Jong-il and to grandson Kim Jong-un. The 400-page UNCOI report has changed that perception dramatically based on its thorough investigation and based on interviews with over 300 North Korean witnesses. Due to the work of the UNCOI and the commissioners we now know that the systematic widespread and grave violations of human rights in North Korea have entailed in many instances crimes against humanity based on state policies. Building on the work of the UNCOI and the reports report published exactly a year ago the UN Human Rights Council in the spring of last year and the UN General Assembly in the fall came up with past strong resolutions on North Korean human rights including strong language on crimes against humanity and accountability and as we all know in December human rights was finally included in the agenda of the UN Security Council. It is a true honor to be part of this historic conference today we're here to commemorate the UNCOI report and also to map the road ahead as representatives of human rights NGOs UN agencies authors and witnesses gather here today we will remember that the findings and recommendations of the UNCOI in addition to seeking ways to protect countless victims and call their tormentors to account these findings and recommendations also provide a roadmap to positive change and reform in North Korea to bringing that country into the 21st century community of nations thank you very much thank you ever if I'm I don't mean to be rude but can I have that have had us clear the stage so that we can have our keynote speech by a commissioner deruseman ladies and gentlemen as ambassador Lee said people have come from very far to join us and marsuki deruseman is one of those people coming all the way from Indonesia as many of you know he is the united nation's special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the dprk it's been in this role since 2010 of august he's also a member of the independent group of eminent persons for Sri Lanka he was appointed as a member of the UN Commission of Inquiry and Human Rights in North Korea in 2013 he has been a member of the indonesia house of representatives for 20 years he's a law graduate from catholic university of pariyangan bandung indonesia and received an honorary doctorate in law from the same university he is our keynote speaker for today we want to thank you commissioner deruseman for joining us coming a long way the floor is yours thank you thank you uh professor char and uh may i start by seeing how great it is to be back in moshington after a while uh i'm not quite referring to the weather of course uh but uh it's really encouraging that uh we are now moving from the broad way forward to the more focused road ahead professor char ambassador uh good Campbell ambassador lee director ambassador schnitzer and executive director gregg's scullity ambassador an ambassador king honorable kimon su and uh last but the least uh justice kerby my colleagues and uh with sonia beserco i'm now tasked to read out a a u n document which is goes by word of a keynote speech it is uh a standard format uh but much less than a ten thousand nine hundred seventy two words that is uh required for a for a report uh excellencies distinguished participants ladies and gentlemen let me begin by thanking the center for strategic and international studies the george w bush institute the committee for human rights in north korea and the yonsei center for human rights human liberty sorry for hosting today's international conference on north korean human rights the road ahead it is a genuine pleasure for me to take part in this important event which marks the one year anniversary of the launch of the report of this commission of inquiry on the situation in the democratic people's republic of korea dpr k this conference represents a great opportunity to take stock of what has since been achieved by the international community on addressing the human rights situation in the dpr k and what lies ahead of us in the coming months and years in the period of our common cause on 17th of february 2014 the commission of inquiry on human rights in the dpr k of which i was a member launched its report and submitted it to the human rights council in geneva the commission mandated by the highest intergovernmental body within the united nation system responsible for human rights documented and concluded that a number of long-standing and ongoing patterns of systematic and widespread violations in the dpr k met the high threshold required for crimes crimes against humanity in international law in march the human rights council adopted resolution 25 through 25 on the situation of human rights in the dpr k calling upon all parties concerned including united nation's bodies to consider the implementation of the recommendations made by the made by the commission of inquiry in its report no member state speaking at the human rights council with the exception of the dpr k denied that the dire human rights situation had to be addressed in may the dpr k participated in its second cycle of the universal periodic review upr accepting few months later 113 recommendations out of 268 made and also updating its position on a number of recommendations from the previous review most of the recommendations accepted pertain to the fulfillment of economic and social rights rights to food water and sanitation health and education and the rights of vulnerable groups women children and people with disabilities in october of last year for the first time since the establishment of my mandate in 2004 and at my request i met a delegation of senior dpr k officials in the margins of the 69th session of the general assembly in new york they had invited me to undertake a full-fledged country visit in the near future and under some conditions which was subsequently not met indeed in december the general assembly adopted with an overwhelming majority a landmark resolution on the situation of human rights in the dpr k paving the way for consideration of the situation in the dpr k by the security council including a possible referral of the situation to the international criminal court this is indeed the single most important way the international community could signal its determination and resolve to pursue this issue at the level it belongs in international criminal law and thereby sustain further pressure for accountability and change later in december the security council met to discuss such the situation with considerable focus on the issue of abductions while no specific outcome was intended at this stage the situation in the dpr k is now firmly placed on the council's agenda 2014 has therefore been a critically important year for the international community's collective engagement on human rights in the dpr k and our efforts to bring relief and justice to its long suffering people no doubt these promising developments were triggered by the intensive focus that has been brought to bear by the commission of inquiry fundamentally these were made possible thanks to the sustained efforts over the years by the republic of korea japan the united states and other member states but also the civil society as a whole to make the international community aware of the grave human rights violations committed by the government of the dpr k hence we presently stand at a key juncture where we have reasons to be optimistic however we need to remain cautious as the situation requires a long-term perspective with continuous efforts from all of us in march 2015 the human rights council will consider the adoption of a new resolution on the human rights situation in the dpr k this will be another opportunity for the international community to express its dismay about the situation and reiterate its resolve to put an end to the ongoing violations in the dpr k and bring the perpetrators to justice in the context of this forthcoming council session as recommended by the commission of inquiry i will present the main elements of a multi-track strategy aimed at solving the issue of international abductions and enforced disappearances committed by the government of the dpr k i hope to be able to count on the support of all stakeholders in the region and beyond in the implementation of this strategy more generally i want to take this opportunity to stress the key role civil society actors should continue playing in seeking truth and justice for the human rights violations committed by the dpr k they should actively join forces in a common effort both domestically and internationally to decisively bring closure to the ongoing tragedy in this regard governments should seek to empower such actors and amplify their voice in all fora in fact civil society organizations are always critical players that governments should consistently endeavor to involve in confronting human rights challenges excellencies ladies and gentlemen let me point out that the united nation system as a whole also has a key role to play in the elevating the plight of the people of the dpr k i wish to reiterate my hope that all parts of the united nation system will rise to the challenge to work and deliver in a coordinated and unified manner a rights up front approach in this context i look forward to collaborating with the future oh ch r field-based structure in so republican courier tasked by the human rights council with following up with the work of the commission of inquiry this office will start operating as of next month and during my recent visits to republic of korea and japan i was pleased that all interlocutors with whom i met expressed their readiness to collaborate with this office it is crucial that all stakeholders support its future important work in this anniversary year there will be a renewed focus on the prospects for reunification of the two koreas into one single nation i welcome the recent announcements made by the leaders of the republic of korea and dpr k to hold into korean dialogue to discuss issues of mutual interest this is an encouraging development as dialogue between between both countries of utmost importance to allow people of both koreas to relate to each other in a positive manner in particular i hope meaningful talks will resume on the issue of separated families in the interest of those families in this connection one important recommendation of the commission of inquiry which merits greater attention in my opinion relates to the possible organization of a high-level political conference involving the united nations and the states there were parties to the korean war with a view to reaching a final peaceful settlement of the war that commits all parties to the principles of the charter of the united nations including respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms the experience of the international community in this context has been that an eventual resolution of a protracted conflict that leads to reconciliation can diminish the importance of accountability in the interest of peace and stability as we seek to move forward on the accountability track let us be alert to this and endeavor to continue to ensure that the issue of accountability is appropriately addressed and the groundwork is laid for the transitional justice process that will be needed in this context it is imperative to involve a broad based constituency of stakeholders including civil society organizations in this endeavor to conclude it is more than ever essential at this key juncture that we redouble our efforts to affect meaningful changes in the DPRK in addressing the grave human rights situation in that country we owe it to all the victims and the relatives who have endured enough suffering and for the people of both careers in their hopes for a peaceful future i thank you for your attention and wish you a fruitful discussion today thank you thank you commissioner derusement so uh we will actually move right to our first substantive panel we want to thank um commissioner derusement for a fantastic set of opening remarks really has sort of laid the groundwork for our discussion today so if i could ask our panelists for the first panel to join us on the stage