The award ceremony will be held at 7 PM on the 26th at the Truthdaily editorial office in Gwangjin-gu.
The singular path of two human rights activists who informed the international community about the reality of North Korean human rights.
Their practical efforts in testimony, diplomacy, and solidarity, which overcame the ‘wall of silence,’ are recognized.
Casey Lartigue, Co-Representative and Founder of Freedom Speakers International (FSI), and Ma Young-ae, President of the International North Korea Human Rights Alliance and a human rights activist from North Korea, have been selected as the recipients of the 6th Han Won-chae Human Rights Award, presented by the Han Won-chae Human Rights Foundation (Chairman Han Bong-hee). The Foundation explained the reason for their selection, stating, “The two awardees have dedicated themselves to informing the international community about the reality of North Korean human rights, each from a different position, but working towards the same goal.”
The award ceremony will be held at 7 PM on the 26th at the editorial office of Truthdaily, which is organizing the event (2nd floor, Jeil Building, Achasan-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul).
The Han Won-chae Human Rights Award is presented by Han Bong-hee, a North Korean defector and director of 100-Year Oriental Medicine Clinic (Ilsan), to individuals who have dedicated themselves to the advancement of North Korean human rights and the unification movement, in commemoration of Mr. Han Won-chae (韓元彩, 1943-2000), who defected with his wife and three children, was arrested in China, forcibly repatriated for the third time, and died under torture three days later.
Mr. Han Won-chae, the ‘defector who could not defect,’ bluntly exposed the inhumane human rights situation in North Korea through his memoir ‘Escape from North Korea, the Slave Republic,’ published in Korean, Japanese, and English.
An official from the Han Won-chae Human Rights Foundation explained the reason for the selection, stating, “Both awardees have been recognized for their long-standing noble dedication, including continuous interest and special practical efforts in the advancement of North Korean human rights and the unification movement.”
“Let North Korean defectors speak for themselves”… The choice of Lartigue, a Harvard alumnus.
Casey Lartigue, an American human rights activist and co-representative, co-founded the ‘Global Education Center for North Korean Defectors (Freedom Speakers International·FSI),’ a free English education institution for North Korean defectors, with Korean co-representative Lee Eun-gu in 2013. Having graduated from Harvard Extension School and Harvard Graduate School of Education, and having worked as an education policy researcher for the economically disadvantaged and Black communities’ right to education at the American think tank Cato Institute, his awareness of the issue was clear: “The right to speak about North Korean human rights belongs to those who have lived through it.”
He first visited Korea in 1992 as a tourist, and while staying in Korea in 2010 as a visiting fellow at the Center for Free Enterprise (CFE), his first connection was establishing ‘FSI’ in response to a North Korean defector he met by chance asking for English lessons.
FSI has focused on educating North Korean defectors to directly testify about their experiences in English and supporting them to appear on international stages. This approach empowers defectors to become their own speakers, rather than merely being represented or interpreted. To date, dozens of North Korean defector English speakers, with FSI’s support, have testified about the reality of North Korean human rights at the UN, international human rights forums, and various universities and parliaments worldwide.
These contributions have also been recognized by the international community. On Human Rights Day, Co-Representative Casey Lartigue received the International Human Rights Award at the 15th International Human Rights Summit held in India, earning recognition as a symbolic figure in defector testimony activities. In May, he received the ‘Michael Shinagel Service Award’ from Harvard Extension School for his contributions to the advancement of North Korean defector human rights, and previously, in 2022, he was awarded the Honorary Citizen of Seoul Award. Currently, he also serves as an adjunct professor at Seoul University of Foreign Studies Graduate School and a columnist for The Korea Times.
The Han Won-chae Human Rights Foundation highly praised FSI, stating, “FSI is an organization that has established North Korean defectors not as ‘objects of protection’ but as ‘subjects of rights’.”
From North Korean Defector to International Human Rights Activist… Relief for North Korean Refugees and Pioneer in Resettlement Support in the Americas
Ma Young-ae, President of the International North Korea Human Rights Alliance, after defecting, settled in the United States and operated a national chain of ‘Ma Young-ae’s Pyongyang Sundae’ restaurants, serving as a practical focal point for the North Korean defector community in the Americas for decades. Initially, she focused on individual testimony activities, but later expanded to community-based human rights work, providing support for housing, legal aid, education, and employment connections to help North Korean refugees settle stably in American society. In particular, she has consistently raised issues of human trafficking, forced repatriation, and women’s human rights violations occurring during the defection process via China and Southeast Asia to the international community.
President Ma, who became the first North Korean defector to serve as a standing committee member of the National Unification Advisory Council, elevated the issue of North Korean human rights beyond individual testimony to a structural agenda linked with international non-governmental organization (NGO) networks. Participating in the UN Human Rights Council, US Congressional briefings, and international human rights forums, she consistently testified about △the reality of political prison camps, △public executions and forced labor, △the deprivation of freedom of religion, thought, and movement, and △the punishment of forcibly repatriated defectors, thereby clearly positioning North Korean human rights as an issue of international norms.
Since 2023, she has been appointed as the Korean Outreach and Human Rights Representative for State Representative Robert’s office, and has been carrying out various activities connecting the mainstream American political sphere with the Korean-American community, alongside supporting North Korean defectors.
A key characteristic of President Ma’s activities is her practicality in connecting on-the-ground testimonies with policy demands. She has contacted US Congressional aides, State Department officials, and both conservative and progressive think tanks without discrimination, consistently advocating that North Korean human rights should be treated not as a secondary issue in diplomatic negotiations with North Korea, but as a core human rights condition for security and diplomacy.
The request she recently conveyed to former President Donald Trump’s side at the Israel Alliance Foundation (IAF) Gala Awards Dinner in Washington D.C. is also in line with this approach. At the event, she officially demanded △the cessation of forced repatriation of North Korean defectors and △the repatriation of Korean War POWs and the remains of US and UN forces, thereby reminding the US of its moral and diplomatic responsibility regarding North Korean human rights and war accountability.
President Ma has visually expressed her identity as a North Korean defector, a citizen of the Republic of Korea, and a witness for the free world by wearing a Hanbok adorned with the Taegukgi (South Korean flag) pattern at international events. This is not merely an attire choice but is regarded as a strategic decision that symbolically conveys that North Korean human rights is not an internal issue of the Korean people but a matter of freedom and universal human rights.
In 2018, she received the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ from President Donald Trump, officially recognizing her in American society. This is regarded as an instance where American political and civil society institutionally approved not only an award received by an individual defector but also △the credibility of North Korean human rights testimonies and △the moral legitimacy of the defector movement.
President Ma has consistently emphasized, “North Korean human rights is not an issue of ideology or regime, but a matter of life and conscience.” Her activities have not remained at the level of emotional accusation, but have established a structure leading from testimony to international public discourse to policy demands, which is significant in that it has expanded the North Korean defector human rights movement into a diplomatic act.
“Testimony is Justice”… Solidarity continued in the name of Han Won-chae, the ‘defector who could not defect’.
The Han Won-chae Human Rights Foundation stated, “Casey Lartigue created a channel to deliver the ‘voices’ of North Korean defectors to the world, and President Ma Young-ae has translated the ‘demands’ of North Korean defectors into the language of international politics.” They added, “The activities of these two individuals are complementary and show the direction for today’s North Korean human rights movement.”
The 6th Han Won-chae Human Rights Award is not merely a commendation for merit. It is both a call to continue testifying and a declaration to stand in solidarity against silence. Like the records left by Mr. Han Won-chae, and like the stories he ultimately could not tell, the truth of North Korean human rights continues to knock on the international community’s door. This award proves that the efforts of those who have been knocking on that door have not been in vain.
Meanwhile, the recipients of the 1st Han Won-chae Human Rights Award in 2020 were Kim Tae-hee, representative of the North Korean Defectors’ Solidarity, who donated her organ (liver) to a fellow North Korean defector, advocated for North Korean human rights, and undertook a life-threatening 12-day hunger strike, and Cho Jeong-jin, chief reporter of Truthdaily (Ph.D. in North Korean Studies), who has dedicated nearly 40 years to unification activities and a singular path as a journalist for North Korean human rights.
The recipients of the 2nd Han Won-chae Human Rights Award in 2021 were Jeong Chang-ok, head of the ‘Power of Positivity’ at Gilwi School, who was arrested after shouting “Fake human rights, fake peace, hypocrite” at then-President Moon Jae-in, and Park Ji-hyun, co-representative of Stepping Stones, a North Korean defector who campaigns for North Korean human rights in the UK, who received the main award. Ji Seong-ho, 21st National Assembly member of the United Future Party (Governor of Hamgyongbuk-do, Committee for the Five Northern Korean Provinces), received the special award.
Past recipients include Park Geun-hye, Park Sun-young, Kim Moon-soo, Kim Tae-hoon, and Yoon Yeo-sang.
The 3rd Han Won-chae Human Rights Award in 2022 was presented to Shin Mi-nyeo, Standing Representative of the Association for a New and Unified Fatherland (SAEJOUI), who has led efforts in defector resettlement and medical support through education for over 30 years, and Sung Hyun-mo, Secretary-General of the National Alliance for North and South Korea Together (Pastor), who has consistently engaged in North Korean human rights activities, including a 14-day hunger strike in protest of the forced repatriation of young North Korean defectors in the East Sea, who received the main award. Former President Park Geun-hye, the 18th President of the Republic of Korea, who advocated for the ‘unification jackpot’ theory and gave hope to North Koreans with the message, “Come to Korea anytime you wish,” and Park Sun-young, Chairperson of the Forget-Me-Not Foundation (18th National Assembly member), known as the godmother of North Korean defectors and POWs, received the special award.
The 4th Han Won-chae Human Rights Award in 2023 was presented to Kim Sang-hun, a veteran North Korean human rights activist and representative of North Korean Human Rights 3rd Way, who served as the first chairman of the North Korean Human Rights Database Center (NKDB), and Moon Guk-han, an active North Korean human rights activist and representative of North Korean Human Rights International Solidarity, who led efforts such as the rescue of the family of North Korean defector Jang Gil-su, the boy author of the picture diary ‘Rainbow Drawn with Tears,’ and the family of young North Korean defector Kim Han-mi.
For the 5th Han Won-chae Human Rights Award in 2024, Yoon Yeo-sang, founder of the North Korean Human Rights Database Center (NKDB) (Director of North Korean Human Rights Archives, Ph.D. in Political Science), and Lee Young-hwan, representative of the Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG), who is practically preparing for North Korea’s upcoming transition by learning from the lessons and trials and errors of various transitional cases worldwide, were selected. The Special Award category was presented to Kim Moon-soo, former Minister of Employment and Labor, who spearheaded the enactment of the North Korean Human Rights Act during his time as a National Assembly member, and Kim Tae-hoon, Chairman of the North Korean Human Rights Association (Attorney), who founded Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification in Korea (Hanbyun) and now serves as its honorary chairman.
