North Korean Human Rights
Activists and Networks

This volume explores the emergence, evolution, and politics of North Korean human rights activism and its relevance for international policy.

Andrew Yeo (Edited by), Danielle Chubb (Edited by)

9781108425490, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 August 2018

330 pages, 21 b/w illus. 7 tables
23.5 x 15.6 x 1.9 cm, 0.66 kg

'Having been passionately involved in North Korean human rights activism since the 1990s, and experiencing first-hand the frustrations of trying to enact meaningful change in the country, I found this book to be a timely and encouraging analysis of the role of transnational advocacy networks in persuading the DPRK to honor its human rights obligations. This work insightfully explores the unique dynamics of North Korea, which lacks a developed civil society of its own, and the challenges and opportunities of transnational activism. A must-read for scholars as well as practitioners, this book will have important implications for the next generation of activism in the field of North Korean human rights.' Changrok Soh, Korea University and Human Asia

The evidentiary weight of North Korean defectors' testimony depicting crimes against humanity has drawn considerable attention from the international community in recent years. Despite the attention to North Korean human rights, what remains unexamined is the rise of the transnational advocacy network, which drew attention to the issue in the first place. Andrew Yeo and Danielle Chubb explore the 'hard case' that is North Korea and challenge existing conceptions of transnational human rights networks, how they operate, and why they provoke a response from even the most recalcitrant regimes. In this volume, leading experts and activists assemble original data from multiple language sources, including North Korean sources, and adopt a range of sophisticated methodologies to provide valuable insight into the politics, strategy, and policy objectives of North Korean human rights activism.

1. Adaptive activism: transnational advocacy networks and the case of North Korea Danielle Chubb and Andrew Yeo
Part I. Domestic Discourse and Activism: 2. A prisoner's dilemma of movement nationalization: North Korean human rights in South Korea, 1990–2016 Jacob Reidhead
3. North Korean human rights discourse and advocacy in the United States Andrew Yeo
4. Linking abductions activism to North Korean human rights advocacy in Japan and abroad Celeste L. Arrington
5. North Korean human rights discourse and advocacy: the European dimension Rajiv Narayan
Part II. Transnational Networks: 6. NGOs as discursive catalysts at the United Nations and beyond: an activist's perspective Joanna Hosaniak
7. Human rights diffusion in North Korea: the impact of transnational legal mobilization Patricia Goedde
8. The politics of networking: behind the public face of the transnational North Korean human rights movement Danielle Chubb
Part III. North Korean Voices: 9. The emergence of five North Korean defector-activists in transnational activism Jiyoung Song
10. North Korea responds to transnational human rights advocacy: state discourse and ersatz civil society Sandra Fahy
11. Breaking through: North Korea's information underground and transnational advocacy networks Jieun Baek
12. Conclusion: the contentious terrain of North Korean human rights activism Andrew Yeo and Danielle Chubb.

Subject Areas: Human rights [JPVH]