NEWS RELEASE

Timely Conference Offers

Unique Glimpse Into North Korea

LOS ANGELES – As tensions mount in the Korean Peninsula, a timely conference in Los Angeles will assemble a rare panel of experts on North Korea, including two of the highest profile defectors from the "Hermit Kingdom." This is a unique opportunity to gain fresh insight into a country that remains stubbornly frozen in the Cold War era, in a region that holds deep cultural, economic and military ties with the U.S.

The T.H.I.N.K. Conference on June 25 and 26 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles will feature among others Cheol-Hwan Kang, a North Korean defector and current journalist in South Korea. Kang is one of the most outspoken critics of North Korea, where he and his family spent a decade in the communist country’s infamous Yodok Concentration Camp as political prisoners.

Another panelist and fellow defector, Dr. Ae-Ran Lee, was sent to a labor camp at the age of 11. She fled to South Korea where she is now one of the country’s most visible experts on North Korean issues. This past March, Dr. Lee was awarded the International Women of Courage Award by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama.

Kang and Dr. Lee will be joined in the conference by other North Korea experts from the United States Institute of Peace, Asia Strategy Initiative, Defense Forum Foundation, and University of Southern California.

The T.H.I.N.K. Conference offers an unprecedented assembly of North Korea experts for a Southern California audience.

North Korea remains one of the most volatile regimes in the world. Despite decades of relative stability in the region, with every high profile incident, like the recent sinking of a South Korean Navy ship (Cheonan incident) or the capture of American journalists, tensions seem to flare ever higher. What happens in the Korean peninsula has deep repercussions for the United States. South Korea is one of our largest trade partners in the world and Southern California is home to the largest Korean community outside Korea.

Welcoming Reception will be held on Friday, June 25 from 6:00 - 8:00 PM. Discussion panels will be held on Saturday, June 26, 8:30AM -5:00 PM, Gala Dinner 6:00 -9:00 PM.

Don’t miss this rare media opportunity. Advance interviews may be arranged upon request.

WHAT: The KAC National T.H.I.N.K. Conference

WHEN: June 25 & 26, 2010

WHERE: Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles  

CONTACT: Minna Kim – minna@kacla.org / (213) 365-5999.

SCHEDULE:

Friday, June 25
Welcoming Reception (6-8pm)

Saturday, June 26

Breakfast/Registration (8:30-9am)

Panel 1 - North Korean Defector: Cheol-Hwan Kang (9:30-10:50am)

Panel 2 - Kim Jong Il's regime: past, transition, and future; hunger issues: John Park, David Kang, and David Karl (11am-12:20pm)

Lunch/Panel 3 - North Korean Orphan Adoption Bill currently in Congress: Sang Man Han-Schneider and Suzanne Scholte (12:30-2pm)

Panel 4 - NGOs in action in North Korea: Eugene Bell and Asia Foundation (2:10-3:30pm)

Panel 5 - North Korean Defector: Dr. Ae-Ran Lee (3:40-5p)

Reception and National Gala Dinner Event (6-9pm)

Partial list of confirmed panelists include:

Cheol-Hwan Kang (North Korean Defector; current Journalist in Seoul, Korea)

Dr. Ae-Ran Lee (North Korean Defector; 2010 International Women of Courage Award recipient)

Sang Man (Sam) Han-Schneider (founder of the Han-Schneider International Children's Foundation)

Professor David Kang (USC Korean Studies Institute Director)

David Karl (President of the Asia Strategy Initiative)

John S. Park (Senior Research Associate at the United States Institute of Peace)

Suzanne Scholte (President of the Defense Forum Foundation)

T.H.I.N.K. (Topple Hunger In North Korea) is a project of the Korean American Coalition in Los Angeles. KAC is a non-profit, non-partisan community advocacy organization established in 1983 to promote the civic concerns, civil rights, and community affairs of the Korean American community. T.H.I.N.K. was started in 2008 to bring awareness about the food and humanitarian crisis in North Korea.