Page 44 - NKHR Hawaii Conference 2023

PANEL DISCUSSION

on the radio broadcast, and then I was curious about what happened to the
people that went before me.”

I heard about the restaurant workers that had defected from China. I looked them up on
the Internet or I asked around to get stories about what had happened to them. Having
North Korean refugees who are living in South Korea or in the United States who have
great success stories of achieving the American dream also helps plant the seed of the
thought of what North Korea could be like if it was also a free and independent society.

So I just encourage you to think along those lines. I mean there are tons of other ways to
get involved and to be active including engaging with your government wherever you are
from in the US and calling me—I’m always happy to talk to people—or talk to either the
Consul General where you are or to Ambassador Lee. We want to hear and we need to
hear from people to hold us accountable as governments that do serve our population—
hearing what you guys want to see us doing, what we can be doing more of and so also,
that advocacy in approaching government, approaching the UN, is important.

DR. STEPHEN NOERPER
T ank you, ambassador, for building on that issue of success stories and providing a new
life, new hope, and new opportunity.

A question for Ambassador Tan. Are we potentially building success stories, building
potential for new leadership in North Korea, for North Koreans to return and contribute
to a United Korea, and to better help the people of the northern half of the peninsula?

AMBASSADOR MORSE TAN

I think so. We’re talking about roughly 33,000 North Korean defectors in South Korea.
We’re talking about over 200,000 North Korean refugees in China. We’re talking about
hundreds, not thousands, but hundreds of North Korean refugees in the US. I would like
to see the US make it easier for North Korean refugees to come to the United States. I
would also like to see the North Korean Human Rights Act implemented.

For example, take the ten million dollars that was allocated for sending information
to North Korea during my time in the government. I saw that that wasn’t being
implemented and I was surprised to hear that certain people in the State Department
considered it merely a suggestion and not something that they needed to follow up on.