The sinking of the South Korean navy ship Cheonan and the subsequent international report that found a North Korean submarine’s torpedo was responsible, has lead to heightened tension between the two countries that co-exist uncomfortably at a constant level of alert.
North Korea is once again in the spot light, but what lies behind the borders of this most secretive of countries? The totalitarian regime stands accused of systematic human rights abuses amongst the worst in the world, its prison camps have been compared to the concentration camps in Nazi Germany and it is reported that there are acute food shortages due to economic mismanagement and natural disasters.
Join us at the Frontline Club with an expert panel to discuss the implications of recent events, the role and responsibility of the international community and what life is like for people living in this most secretive of countries.
With Vitit Muntarbhorn, former UN Special Rapporteur on situation of human rights in North Korea; Lord Alton of Liverpool, chair of the all party parliamentary group for North Korea; Professor Hazel Smith, professor of security and resilience at Cranfield University and author of Hungry for Peace: International Security, Humanitarian Assistance and Social Change in North Korea and North Korean refugee, Mrs Park Ji-hyun.
Chaired by Charles Scanlon, BBC correspondent in Japan and South Korea from 2000 to 2007, currently an editor at BBC World Service news.
US Army Photo by Edward N. Johnson
