Sandra Suh is an American aid worker deported from North Korea in 2015 on charges of "using her humanitarian status as a cover to gather and produce anti-Pyongyang propaganda." [1]
In 1989, Suh founded a California-based organization, Wheat Mission Ministries. [1] In 2005, Wheat Mission Ministries formally established itself as a non-profit organization. [2] The organization provides food aid and medical technology to North Korea. [1] The Korean Central News Agency said that Suh had frequently visited North Korea over the past 20 years. [1]
On 8 April 2015, [3] Suh was deported "on charges of using her humanitarian status as a cover to gather and produce anti-Pyongyang propaganda", visiting "under the pretense of humanitarianism", [1] and "secretly taken photos and produced videos that had then been used as "propaganda abroad". [4] KCNA said "the decision to deport rather than detain her had been made "taking into full consideration her old age"". [1] [5]
As of 9 April 2015 [update] , US Department of State spokeswoman Marie Harf could not tell why Suh was deported. [6]
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) is the state news agency of North Korea. The agency portrays the views of the North Korean government for both domestic and foreign consumption. It was established on December 5, 1946, and now features online coverage.
The Chondoist Chongu Party (Korean: 천도교청우당) is a popular front party in North Korea. The party was founded on 8 February 1946 by a group of followers of the Ch'ŏndogyo. The party increasingly came under the influence of the government over time and is a part of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea, a nominal alliance of parties dominated by the ruling Workers' Party of Korea. The founding-leader of the party was Kim Tarhyon.
The human rights record of North Korea has been globally condemned, with the United Nations, and groups such as Human Rights Watch all critical of it. Some international human rights organizations consider North Korea to have no contemporary parallel with respect to violations of liberty.
The Pyongyang Declaration, officially titled Let Us Defend and Advance the Cause of Socialism, was a statement signed by a number of political parties on 20 April 1992 that calls for the unity of the socialist camp and a vow to safeguard socialism. Representatives of 70 communist and socialist parties from 51 countries arrived in Pyongyang, North Korea, to celebrate Kim Il Sung's 80th birthday. While there, the delegates had many bilateral and multilateral contacts with each other and decided to issue a declaration reiterating their commitment to socialism in spite of the collapse of the USSR and a number of other communist regimes in recent years. On 20 April the declaration was signed by delegates of 69 parties, including 48 party leaders.
Kim Jong Suk was a Korean anti-Japanese guerrilla, a Communist activist, North Korean leader Kim Il Sung's first wife, former leader Kim Jong Il's mother, and current leader Kim Jong Un's grandmother.
The General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea is the sole legal trade union federation in North Korea. GFTUK was formed on November 30, 1945 as the General Federation of Trade Unions of North Korea. In January 1951, it was reorganized and adopted its current name. The chairman of the central committee of GFTUK is Pak In-chol.
Anna Wallis Suh (1900–1969), the woman generally associated with the nickname "Seoul City Sue," was an American Methodist missionary, educator, and North Korean propaganda radio announcer to United States forces during the Korean War.
The Socialist Patriotic Youth League is a North Korean youth organization. It is the main youth organization in North Korea. Directly under the party Central Committee, it is the only mass organization expressly mentioned in the charter of the Workers' Party of Korea. Youth under 15 may join the Young Pioneer Corps, itself a part of the larger Korean Children's Union. The organization, modeled after the Komsomol in the former Soviet Union, includes all North Koreans without party membership between the ages of 15 and 30, although married women who opt to become housewives are transferred to the Socialist Women's Union. Officially, the guiding ideology of the organization is Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism.
On March 17, 2009, North Korean soldiers detained two American journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who were working for the U.S.-based independent television station Current TV, after they crossed into North Korea from China without a visa. They were found guilty of illegal entry and sentenced to twelve years' hard labor in June 2009. The North Korean leader Kim Jong Il pardoned the two on August 5, 2009, the day after the former U.S. president Bill Clinton arrived in the country on a publicly unannounced visit.
The North Korean cult of personality surrounding the Kim family, has existed in North Korea for decades and can be found in many examples of North Korean culture. Although not acknowledged by the North Korean government, many defectors and Western visitors state there are often stiff penalties for those who criticize or do not show "proper" respect for the former leaders of the country, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, officially referred to as "eternal leaders of Korea". The personality cult began soon after Kim Il Sung took power in 1948, and was greatly expanded after his death in 1994.
NK News is an American subscription-based news website that provides stories and analysis about North Korea. Established in 2011, it is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea with reporters in Washington, D.C., and London. Reporting is based on information collected from in-country sources, recently returned western visitors to North Korea, stories filed by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), interviews with defectors, and reports published by NGOs and western governments. The site's founder and Managing Director is Chad O'Carroll, a former employee of the German Marshall Fund, who has written on North Korea and North Korea issues for The Daily Telegraph.
Hyeon Soo Lim is a Canadian pastor of the Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Mississauga. He is a South Korean-born Canadian citizen. He was operating humanitarian efforts in North Korea providing tens of millions of dollars' worth of aid before disappearing in February 2015. The DPRK had arrested him and in December 2015, Lim was sentenced to life with hard labour for crimes against the North Korean regime.
The 7th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea was elected by the 7th Congress on 9 May 2016, and remained in session until the election of the 8th Central Committee on 10 January 2021. In between party congresses and specially convened conferences the Central Committee is the highest decision-making institution in the WPK and North Korea. The Central Committee is not a permanent institution and delegates day-to-day work to elected bodies, such as the Presidium, the Politburo, the Executive Policy Bureau, the Central Military Commission and the Control Commission in the case of the 7th Central Committee. It convenes meetings, known as "Plenary Session of the [term] Central Committee", to discuss major policies. Only full members have the right to vote, but if a full member cannot attend a plenary session, the person's spot is taken over by an alternate. Plenary session can also be attended by non-members, such meetings are known as "Enlarged Plenary Session", to participate in the committee's discussions.
Kim Jong Un has been the supreme leader of North Korea since the death of Kim Jong Il in 2011.
Revolutionary Sites are designated historical sites in North Korea. The sites were designated by Kim Jong Il when he began working at the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers' Party of Korea in 1966. He would send troops all over the country to unearth sites that "were supposedly once forgotten and undiscovered". By converting North Korea into a "huge open museum", Kim's goal in designating the sites was to solidify the North Korean cult of personality centered around him and his father Kim Il Sung.
Choe Hwi is a North Korean politician. He is a Vice Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and the chairman of the State Physical Culture and Sports Guidance Commission. Choe's portfolio as the Vice Chairman of the party covers workers' and social organizations affairs. Choe is also an alternate member of the Politburo of the WPK, member of the Central Committee of the WPK, and a deputy to the Supreme People's Assembly.
The Workers' Party of Korea Publishing House is the principal publishing house of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and one of the two main publishers in the country. It publishes magazines and books on politics, such as the works of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, posters and works of fiction. The current director-general and editor-in-chief is Ri Yong-chol.
The COVID-19 pandemic in North Korea is part of an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). North Korea confirmed its first case on 8 May 2022.
The 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea was elected at the party's 8th Congress on 10 January 2021, and will sit until the convocation of the next party congress. In between party congresses and specially convened conferences the Central Committee is the highest decision-making institution in the WPK and North Korea. The Central Committee is not a permanent institution and delegates day-to-day work to the Presidium, the Politburo, the Secretariat, the Central Military Commission and the Central Auditing Commission. It convenes meetings, known as "Plenary Session of the [term] Central Committee", to discuss major policies. Only full members have the right to vote, but if a full member cannot attend a plenary session, the person's spot is taken over by an alternate. Plenary session can also be attended by non-members, such meetings are known as "Enlarged Plenary Session", to participate in the committee's discussions.
