The Foreign Correspondents' Club Hong Kong

The 21st Human Rights Press Awards announces its winners

The Human Rights Press Awards winners are announced at the FCC. Photo: (c) 2017 carstenschael.com

The 21^st Human Rights Press Awards announced its full list of winners and merit prizes at a ceremony on Saturday. The presentation was held at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong.

The 21^st Human Rights Press Awards had received received 324 submissions in total. There were 144 submissions from Chinese-language print and broadcast media, 122 submissions from English-language print and broadcast media and 58 photojournalism entries.

All submissions covered human rights-related issues in the Asian region. They were published or broadcast in professional media outlets in 2016.

The full list of winners is below.

The awards are jointly organised by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong, Amnesty International Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Journalists Association. They were the first such honours created in Asia and are the region’s top awards for human rights-related reporting.

English Spot News
英文突發新聞

Winner: “A woman’s gruesome hanging shocked Tibet — but police have silenced all questions”
Simon Denyer – The Washington Post
大獎﹕《藏女上吊自盡震驚西藏》
Simon Denyer – 華盛頓郵報

Merit: “Wukan series: Wukan riots”
Mimi Lau and Jun Mai – South China Morning Post
優異﹕《烏坎村系列: 烏坎騷亂》
Mimi Lau and Jun Mai – 南華早報

English Feature News
英文特寫新聞

Winner: “Bacha bazi: child sex slavery in Afghanistan”
Anuj Chopra – Agence France-Presse
大獎﹕《童戲 : 阿富汗兒童性奴》
Anuj Chopra – 法新社

Merit: “Stateless Rohingya flee Myanmar crackdown”
Sam Jahan and Shafiqul Alam – Agence France-Presse
優異﹕《緬甸鎮壓羅興亞人逃亡》
Sam Jahan and Shafiqul Alam – 法新社

English Broadcast
英文廣播傳媒

Winner: “Malaysia: Babies for Sale”
Chan Tau Chou – Al Jazeera English
大獎﹕《馬來西亞: 販嬰》
Chan Tau Chou – 半島電視台英語頻道

Merit: “Maid in Singapore”
Lynn Lee and James Leong – Al Jazeera English
優異﹕《新加坡傭工》
Lynn Lee and James Leong – 半島電視台英語頻道

English Multimedia
英文多媒體新聞

Winner: “The Impunity Series”
Patricia Evangelista and Carlo Gabuco – Rappler.com
大獎﹕《有罪不罰系列》
Patricia Evangelista and Carlo Gabuco – Rappler.com

Merit: “Duterte’s War”
Andrew R.C. Marshall, Clare Baldwin, Damir Sagolj, John Chalmers, Manny Mogato, Karen Lema, David Lague, Jerome Morales, Ezra Acayan and Erik De Castro – Reuters News
優異﹕《杜特爾特的反毒戰》
Andrew R.C. Marshall, Clare Baldwin, Damir Sagolj, John Chalmers, Manny Mogato, Karen Lema, David Lague, Jerome Morales, Ezra Acayan and Erik De Castro – 路透社

English University Text
英文學界報導(大學組別)

Winner: “Hong Kong’s working homeless”
Chloe Kwan, Stanley Lam/ The Chinese University of Hong Kong – Varsity
大獎﹕《香港有工開的露宿者》
Chloe Kwan, Stanley Lam/香港中文大學 -Varsity

Merit: “The Exploited”
Lee Ching Yee / The Chinese University of Hong Kong – Varsity
優異﹕《被剝削的清潔工人》
Lee Ching Yee / 香港中文大學 – Varsity

English University Broadcast
英文學界廣播報導(大學組別)

Winner: “Seeking refuge in Lesvos”
Choi Wun Ting Martin, Christoph Donauer/ The University of Hong Kong
– Mediajungle.dk
大獎：《在萊斯沃斯島尋找難民》
Choi Wun Ting Martin, Christoph Donauer/ 香港大學 – Mediajungle.dk

English Secondary Text
英文學界報導(中學組別)

Winner: “I stand with Ahmed”
Victoria Li and Kate Ellen Lowe/ Marymount Secondary School – MSS Messenger
大獎: 《撐Ahmed》
Victoria Li and Kate Ellen Lowe /瑪利曼中學 – MSS Messenger

中文突發新聞
Chinese Spot News

優異獎: 《手機應用程式洩私隱系列報導》
調查組記者 – 傳真社
Merit: “Mobile apps leaking personal data”
Investigative Team – FactWire News Agency

優異獎: 《IT選民大增之謎》 – 岑詠欣、林浚源、李穎欣、賴偉家、蔡瑤、張煒明 – 明報
Merit: “Mysterious ballot growth in the information and technology legislature constituency”
岑詠欣、林浚源、李穎欣、賴偉家、蔡瑤、張煒明- Ming Pao

中文特寫新聞
Chinese Feature News

大獎: 《殘疾院舍黑幕系列報道》
龍婉琪 , 趙振龍, 陳凱敏, 勞顯亮, 羅嘉凝 – 香港01
Winner﹕”Abuse at care centre for the disabled”
龍婉琪, 趙振龍, 陳凱敏, 勞顯亮, 羅嘉凝 – HK01

優異獎: 《我看到「菲版杜林普」以外的真實》
周澄 – 端傳媒
Merit: “The truth behind ‘Trump of the Philippines’”
周澄 – Initium Media

優異獎:《「7.09」家屬：從受難者到行動者的一年跋涉》
趙思樂 – 端傳媒
Merit: “709 family members: the year-long journey from victims to activists”
趙思樂 – Initium Media

中文評論文章
Chinese Commentary

優異獎: 《書寫抗爭系列評論》
趙思樂 – 端傳媒
Merit: “Reporting on activism”
趙思樂- Initium Media

中文廣播傳媒
Chinese Broadcast

大獎: 《刀鋒上的公義》
陳偉利 – Now News, Now TV
Winner: “Blades of Justice: Story of Jiang Tianyong”
陳偉利 – Now News, Now TV

優異獎: 《立法會選舉大埔票站三百票之謎》
楊量傑 – 有線新聞
Merit: “Mystery of 300 Ballots at the Taipo polling station for the Legislative Council Election”
楊量傑 – i-Cable News

優異獎: 《香港有個尼泊爾記者》
莫志樑 – 有線電視
Merit: “The story of a Nepalese journalist in Hong Kong”
莫志樑 – i-Cable News

中文多媒體新聞
Chinese Multimedia

大獎: 《離岸之前》
林佑恩, 蔣宜婷, 吳政達, 王珣沛 – 報導者
Winner: “Leaving the shore: story of Indonesian fishermen in Taiwan”
林佑恩, 蔣宜婷, 吳政達,王珣沛 – The Reporter

優異獎: 《菲律賓掃毒戰爭直撃》
魯嘉裕 – 香港01
Merit: “Anti-Narcotics Campaign in the Philippines”
魯嘉裕 – HK01

中文廣播新聞
Chinese Radio

大獎: 《追蹤烏坎事件五周年》
陳妙玲 – 香港電台
Winner: “Fifth anniversary of the Wukan crackdown”
陳妙玲 – RTHK

優異獎: 《丈夫無罪：709維權律師家屬》
陳妙玲 – 香港電台
Merit: “My husband is innocent: 709 family members”
陳妙玲 – RTHK

中文學界報導(大學組)
Chinese University Text

大獎: 《跨性別難得一廁》
張美萍, 陳穎思, 林家儀/香港中文大學 – 大學線月刊
Winner: “Transgender toilets nowhere to be found”
張美萍, 陳穎思, 林家儀/Chinese University of Hong Kong – U-beat Magazine

優異獎: 《缺陷美身體雖殘美麗有法》
沈敏兒, 潘祖兒/香港中文大學- 大學線月刊
Merit: “Imperfect beauty”
沈敏兒,潘祖兒/Chinese University of Hong Kong – U-beat Magazine

中文學界報導(中學組)
Chinese Secondary Text

優異獎: 《同一片天空》
袁展柔, 張祝珊/張祝珊英文中學 – 評台
Merit: “Beneath the same sky”
袁展柔,張祝珊- Cheung Chuk Shan College – Pentoy

特寫攝影
Photography Feature

Winner: “Quezon City jail”
Noel Celis – Agence France-Presse
大獎: 《奎松市監獄》
Noel Celis – 法新社

Merit: “Philippines’ Drug War”
魯嘉裕 – HK01
優異獎: 《菲律賓掃毒》
魯嘉裕 – 香港01

Merit: “They Were People Too”
Dondi Tawatao – Getty Images
優異獎: 《他們也是人》
Dondi Tawatao – Getty Images

突發攝影
Photography Spot

Merit: “Lamentation”
Raffy Lerma – Philippine Daily Inquirer
優異獎: 《哀悼》
Raffy Lerma – Philippine Daily Inquirer

Merit: “The arrest of Wukan party secretary and the protest against it”
羅君豪 – HK01
優異獎: 《烏坎村書記林祖戀被指涉嫌受賄,遭武警強行帶走。其後數天村
自發遊行抗議,為林祖戀伸冤》
羅君豪 – 香港01

FCC Hong Kong marks World Press Freedom Day

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong will mark World Press Freedom Day on 3 May by observing one minute’s silence at the Main Bar at 6pm, with remarks by Club President Eric Wishart honouring journalists killed in the line of duty.

According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a total of 13 journalists have so far been killed this year, with eight of the deaths confirmed by the CPJ as directly related to their work.

Three were from the Asia Pacific region: Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Philippines.

Closer to home, in Hong Kong, the FCC and our partner organisations, including the Hong Kong Journalists Association, have witnessed continued deterioration in the overall press and publishing environment.

The Club is a staunch defender of the fundamental principles of press freedom, media pluralism and journalistic independence.

On World Press Freedom Day, we call on governments around the world to respect freedom of speech, freedom of expression and to aggressively investigate crimes committed against journalists in the course of their work.

In Hong Kong, we call on Carrie Lam, the chief executive-elect, to implement her promise of enacting a freedom of information law and archives law.

The FCC event is part of a global day of action called by the International Association of Press Clubs, of which the FCC is a member.

‘Never a more exciting time to be a journalist’: Asia’s talent gathers for second FCC Journalism Conference

Some of the region’s most talented journalists shared tips and views on reporting in an era censorship, fake news and tweeting presidents during the FCC’s second journalism conference.

The day-long event saw panels and workshops tackling the everyday struggles of reporting from Hong Kong and China. Special guest Evan Osnos, staff writer at the New Yorker, joined via Skype to talk about the difficulties now faced by U.S. reporters writing about the Trump administration.

“I don’t think there’s a more exciting time to be a journalist,” said FCC president Eric Wishart as he closed the conference on April 29.

Left to right: Keith Richburg, Paul Mozur, Miguel Toran and Juliana Liu discuss the difficulties of covering China. Photo: FCC/Sarah Graham

Earlier in the day guests heard from top editors and reporters on the challenges of reporting the facts at a time when fake news was so prolific it could sway an election result.

Workshops focused on writing to length under pressure and how graphics are being increasingly used to effectively tell stories to an audience bombarded with facts from different multiple sources.

In the workshop for freelancers, tips were shared by a panel including FCC board member Kate Whitehead, Zach Coleman of Nikkei Asian Review, Mark Jones of Cedar Hong Kong, and freelancer Vaudine England.

“As a freelancer you should have a website and pay attention to your LinkedIn account,” said Whitehead, who added that she often uses the social network to find potential story leads.

England advised freelancers to “go to places where there aren’t staff correspondents. Laos, Vietnam… are places that aren’t covered.”

Coleman’s advice was to build relationships, and build a reputation for yourself as a freelancer.

Telling the Hong Kong story to the world was the subject of a later workshop featuring foreign correspondents from the Guardian, Reuters, Financial Times and Bloomberg. Anne Marie Roantree, Hong Kong Bureau Chief at Reuters, said that during Occupy Central in 2014, her team used spot news to tell a wider story about the protests, bringing those stories together for special report on Beijing tracking down activists.

Benjamin Haas of the Guardian said Hong Kong had appeal globally because “there’s a lot drama in Hong Kong that you don’t get in stories on mainland China”. Panel members agreed that covering investigative stories on corrupt business practices in Hong Kong was expensive and time consuming, with time being a luxury most reporters don’t have.

Similarly, the panel on covering China focused on how difficult it is to work in a country where the government refuses to give out basic information requested by journalists.

FCC president Eric Wishart said after the conference: “At a time when fake news and alternative facts seem to be dominating the discussion, the conference showed that journalism is stronger, more diverse and more vibrant than ever.

“And as we approach the 20th anniversary of the Hong Kong handover, the conference also confirmed the FCC’s role as a beacon of press freedom in an increasingly difficult and dangerous environment for journalists.”

Gary Liu: Messaging apps will overtake Facebook as primary news source

News publishing is on the cusp of a new era which will see articles primarily shared through messaging apps, the CEO of South China Morning Post has suggested.

Gary Liu, previously CEO of aggregate news site Digg, outlined the struggles facing news organisations as advertising and print revenues decline and social media sites like Facebook become primary sources of news for so many.

“People are now going to fewer sources. Right now Facebook is a leader in that,” he said. But he added: “The age of the app is moving on. People are going to messenger apps. We’re on the cusp of a new era.”

Gary Liu, CEO of South China Morning Post, gave conference guests a glimpse of the future: Photo: FCC/Sarah Graham

Liu, a former executive at music streaming service Spotify, also proclaimed the homepage dead, an opinion first floated by the New York Times in its innovation report published in 2014.

He said publishers needed to think about their content and its delivery in an entirely new way: “Publishers have to think about two different types of platform: discovery and consumption.”

He said 90% of people now visit messaging apps every day, adding that it will become the primary “discovery and consumption” platform for publishers.

Liu explained that since so many people get their news from social media – quoting a Reuters report that stated 46% of U.S. adults now consume their news on Facebook – publishers were “no longer a world where our product is the world’s best, most accurate narrative on what’s going on”.

He added: “We should look at this as golden opportunity for news.” Liu said that the digital age had brought storytelling with reach not previously available in human history and encouraged publishers to innovate.

“Our brands are at risk… 50% of U.S. adults don’t look at the publisher name,” he said.

Liu avoided talking in depth about his new role at the 115-year-old SCMP, which was bought by China tech giant Alibaba in late 2015 – a move which prompted fears it would adopt a pro-establishment stance. He said the company was “still trying to figure out what our transformation will look like”.

Journalists need to fact check more than ever to stamp out fake news, conference told

Journalists must “double down” on their jobs now more than ever to fight the tidal wave of fake news, the FCC Journalism Conference was told.

Verify your information, quote your sources and use data to ensure you become a trusted source was the message from the opening panel.

The cream of the region’s reporters and editors gathered to discuss the challenges facing news organisations with the rise of unverified news, much of which has been blamed as contributing to the recent election of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Left to right: Gerry Mullany, Eric Wishart and Jodi Schneider discuss the challenges of fake news. Photo: FCC/Sarah Graham

Introduced by moderator Eric Wishart, FCC President, Gerry Mullany of the New York Times joined Bloomberg’s Jodi Schneider; Simon Gardner of Reuters; and Yumiko Ono of the Wall Street Journal at the opening of the April 29 conference. They discussed how difficult it has become to report political developments under Trump’s administration.

Schneider said journalism was harder now “because the agenda is being set by Trump through tweets” and the way that Whitehouse press briefings were now being controlled. Those tweets can’t be ignored, she added, but it was important now more than ever to use data to verify them. She said research showed “where there’s no name attached to a quote people tend to disbelieve it” and said she hoped that in times of crisis people would go to the trusted sources for their news.

Mullany described attacks on the press by Trump as “very dangerous” but added that “there are so many fake news stories because there’s an audience for it”.

Social media was also highlighted as a vehicle for the spread of fake news. Ono said the Wall Street Journal was doing “a lot of soul-searching” in trying to discover who its audience is and what they want as the organisation tries to combat fake news.

Reuters’ Simon Gardner revealed the head teacher at a Hong Kong school he recently visited said the school was trying to teach pupils about fake news and the importance of verified news sources – he added: “I hope next year we’ll be talking about the death of fake news at this conference.”

The FCC’s second journalism conference kicked off with an interview with the New Yorker’s Evan Osnos, who has been covering Trump’s administration for the magazine. He talked about America’s white nationalist media and how it subjected him to antisemitic attacks.

He said he believed that before the Trump administration is out it will “make a serious effort to try to stifle the press”, but added that “there is an accountability… I think Donald Trump is in a much more precarious position…” than the administration thinks in a legal sense.

“Stay tuned,” he added.

Wall Street traders use transcendental meditation to ‘deal with challenges like a Ninja’

A growing number of stressed-out traders on Wall Street are turning to transcendental meditation in order to ‘deal with challenges like a Ninja’, according to an expert in the field.

Author and transcendental meditation teacher James G. Meade extolled the virtues of mindfulness at the April 24 club lunch. Photo: FCC/Sarah Millson

Author and transcendental meditation teacher James G. Meade told the April 24 club lunch that the biggest reason traders came to him for help was anxiety, with many working at least 18-hour days.

The solution, he said, was simple: two sessions of just 20 minutes each day had given many in the finance industry ‘an extremely effective antidote to stress’. Meade cited Ray Dalio, founder of investment firm Bridgewater Associates, who introduced transcendental meditation to his entire company. Dalio told Business Insider: “I did it because it’s the greatest gift I could give anyone — it brings about equanimity, creativity, and peace.”

Watch the club lunch here

Meade, author of books including The Answer to Cancer: Is Never Giving It a Chance to Start, said working on Wall Street was highly pressured, adding: “There’s no time for sleep. Transcendental meditation is instant deep rest at will. It’s a technology.”

He added: “We do make you peaceful, it’s extremely peaceful.

“It develops the mind and the emotions… We become more appreciative of other people. Also in the world of stock brokers… we have instances where they’ll say ‘my staff asked what are you doing that’s different? How come you’re coming out and talking to us, you’re friendly where you were not before?’ So actually people become nicer.”

Meade demonstrated how the ‘whole brain gets bathed in this alpha and the stress becomes less’. Using a video of a live transcendental meditation session, he showed the difference in brain waves once someone becomes relaxed.

Hollywood director David Lynch, Beach Boy Mike Love and outspoken radio DJ Howard Stern are all advocates of transcendental meditation, Meade said.

In pictures: The Hong Kong Riots of 1967

The 1967 riots of Hong Kong left 51 people dead and hundreds more injured. Although the initial outbreaks of violence followed labour disputes, the riots were soon driven by fighting between pro-communists and their sympathisers, and the establishment. As the FCC hosts a photographic exhibition looking back at the violent events, we publish some of those powerful images from Hong Kong’s bloodiest episode.

Obituary: Ian Stewart, foreign correspondent and ex-FCC president

Ian Stewart, father, grandfather, foreign correspondent, FCC president, author, China watcher, adventurer and authority on Southeast Asian politics and culture, passed away peacefully in Sydney recently.

Ian spent a total of 36 years working as a Foreign Correspondent and author in Southeast Asia and was a passionate believer in the free press and freedom of expression. He served two terms as the president of the Foreign Correspondent’s Club, Hong Kong, in 1963-1964 and 1971-1972. He was also president of the Foreign Correspondents Association of Singapore for three terms.

Born in Whangarei, New Zealand in 1928, he went to Auckland University before starting his career in journalism at the New Zealand Herald as a cadet. He then worked for both the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Herald before coming to Hong Kong as a stringer for Reuters 1954.

Ian was posted to Indonesia in 1955 where he meet his wife Truus The Tiang Nio and married her before quitting Reuters to return to Hong Kong to work as freelance writer in 1957. After another stint in Indonesia he joined the New York Times in 1959 and for the next 14 years reported on Mao Tse-tung’s China.

He and his family moved to Sydney in 1980 where he worked in public relations and publishing, while writing his own novels, a musical and two film scripts. Ian was the author of seven published novels and two historical works. His first novel, “The Peking Pay-off” was published in 1975 and his last, “ The lust of Comrade Lu”, in 2014.

Ian moved back to Asia in 1991, first to Singapore and then Kuala Lumpur, where he filed for The Australian, The Daily Telegraph (London), South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), with occasional radio spots for the ABC, BBC and Deutsche Welle until returning to Sydney in 2001.

Ian is well remembered by the older members of the FCC for his work as club president and his entertaining FCC Folk Night performances at Sutherland House in the 1970s. A fan of Bob Dylan, Peter Paul and Mary and Woody Guthrie Ian wrote his own songs in a similar genre commenting on current events, colleagues and his work. The chorus below is typical of the lyrics that kept his performances lively, entertaining and very popular.

“We’re the China Watchers of Hong Kong

We’re never, never, never, never wrong.

We may sometimes not be right

But it’s just an oversight

And we’ll certainly correct it ere too long.”

Asylum seekers who helped Edward Snowden ‘degraded’ by Hong Kong authorities, says whistleblower’s lawyer

The asylum seekers that gave refuge to whistleblower Edward Snowden were targeted by the Hong Kong government after Oliver Stone’s film on the subject exposed them, according to Snowden’s lawyer.

Robert Tibbo told guests at the April 5 club lunch that even the families of those asylum seekers were questioned and harassed by police in Sri Lanka after the film Snowden was released. Similarly, Sri Lankan police followed the asylum seekers in Hong Kong, Tibbo said. The three were brought onto the stage at the FCC to applause from the audience as Tibbo revealed that an asylum application for the trio was currently with immigration authorities in Canada, his home country.

Watch Robert Tibbo’s talk

Tibbo, who is based in Hong Kong and represents asylum seekers in the city, was critical of the Hong Kong government for not protecting the refugees after they were revealed to have helped Snowden during his short stay in Hong Kong in 2013. He said: “I think the Hong Kong government wants my clients out of Hong Kong. It’s quite clear that the Hong Kong government has treated my clients in an inhumane and degrading way.”

The three refugees that gave Edward Snowden refuge in Hong Kong. Photo: Sarah Graham/FCC

In June 2013, former US government contractor Snowden released a swathe of secret documents revealing the extent of America’s mass surveillance of its own citizens. He immediately left the United States and came to Hong Kong, which doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the U.S.

Tibbo explained that after Snowden arrived in Hong Kong, contrary to popular belief, he was not a fugitive from justice because he had not committed a crime in the city and there was no extradition request from America at that time. Tibbo said that with the very real threat of Snowden being arrested – or renditioned – while in Hong Kong he decided the best way forward was to “hide Mr Snowden in plain sight”. So Snowden left the Mira Hotel where he had been secretly holed up and was given refuge by the city’s “marginalised” asylum seekers.

During his speech Tibbo played video clips from the Edward Snowden documentary, Citizen Four, in which he can be heard on the telephone discussing how to get Snowden to the Hong Kong branch of the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) to help protect him. Tibbo revealed that he remains own touch with Snowden, who is still in Russia and is working with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Tibbo denied reports that Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, had agreed to hand Snowden over to the new U.S. president Donald Trump.

‘Speak up against China’: North Korean defector Yeonmi Park’s tearful plea

A young woman who defected from North Korea made a tearful plea to FCC guests to help the “forgotten” people of her home country as she spoke at a club lunch on April 3.

Yeonmi Park recounted the ordeal that she endured as she escaped the dictatorship with her mother in 2007. The pair were trafficked into China where mother and daughter were sold into slavery. Ms Park has since written a book, In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom, on her escape, and gives talks around the world.

Ms Park, whose mother was in the audience as she spoke, gave an insight into life in North Korea, where the internet is banned and education is geared largely towards serving the “socialist paradise”. Children are taught to hate “American bastards”, and watching American movies can lead to incarceration in a prison camp, she said.

“I did not know what Africa was,” she said, adding: “I did not know we had many different races in the world.”

Yeonmi Park takes questions from the audience after an emotional talk on her escape from North Korea. Photo: Sarah Graham

When she finally escaped North Korea, she was forced to watch as her mother was raped by a trafficker. “We did not have sex education in North Korea… I lost my faith in humanity. She was raped instead of me.”

Eventually, her mother was sold for US$75, and Ms Park for $200 “because I was a virgin and I was younger”, she said. A year later mother and daughter were helped out of China to South Korea.

Watch Yeonmi Park recount her ordeal:

On her life today as a university student, Ms Park said: “I’m trying to be normal as much as possible but I will never be normal because I am from a different universe. I am here today even though I know I might get killed by Kim Jong-un. I am on his target list but human rights is something to care about, I will continue to talk about this.”

Having recounted her harrowing story, she fought back tears as she directly addressed the audience, and said: “The people of North Korea have been forgotten for 70 years… I am asking you to help them… Why doesn’t anyone do anything about North Korea?”

When asked by a guest what exactly could be done to help those in North Korea, she asked that people support the NGOs on the ground rescuing defectors in China. And she added: “Speak up against China.”