Republican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, a Catholic, said April 28 that the North Korean human rights movement is facing increasing pressure from both inside North Korea and from recent policy shifts in South Korea.
Speaking at an April 28 hearing dedicated to the prospects and challenges facing North Korea’s human rights movement, Smith described the regime as “what may well be the most comprehensively repressive government in the world.” He cited the government’s use of torture, surveillance, labor camps, as well as strict controls on information entering the country.
He emphasized that despite these restrictions, some outside information still reaches North Koreans and plays a critical role in fostering change.
“It’s long been and continues to be our government’s policy to help as much information, news, ideas, and truth get through as possible,” Smith said.
He pointed to testimony from several North Korean defectors who attended the hearing, many of whom described exposure to outside media as life-changing. One defector wrote in a submission to the commission that “everything changes” when citizens come to understand their “God-given rights,” according to Smith. Another defector recalled hearing a forbidden radio broadcast as a child, describing it as his first window into “freedom and hope.”
Smith argued that the flow of information — rather than military force — is one of the most powerful tools for influencing change in North Korea.
“That insight should guide us, inspire us, and motivate us to do more,” he said. “Information is transformative, and efforts to block it—wherever they occur—must be taken with the utmost seriousness.”
Smith also raised concerns about recent actions by the South Korean government, which he said have curtailed efforts to send information into North Korea. He cited steps such as halting government-backed broadcasts, withholding human rights reports, and supporting legislation that allows authorities to block activists from sending materials across the border.
“These are not minor administrative adjustments,” Smith said. “These are actions that directly affect the ability of civil society — especially defector-led organizations — to carry out one of the most effective forms of engagement with the North Korean people: the transmission of information.”
He added that activists have reported increased surveillance, restricted access to launch sites for sending materials, and a “chilling effect” on human rights efforts.
“Policies that suppress the flow of information into North Korea, or that penalize those seeking to expose the truth, are not neutral acts. They have consequences,” Smith said. “They affect whether the people of North Korea hear alternative voices. They affect whether defectors can continue their work. And ultimately, they affect whether the cause of human rights advances or recedes.”
He concluded by stressing that promoting human rights remains central to U.S. policy toward North Korea and warned against restrictions on freedom of expression in the region. Efforts to suppress information, he said, risk strengthening repression rather than promoting stability.
Smith also praised North Korean defectors, calling them the “most credible witnesses for human dignity and what is at stake between North Korean nuclear blackmail and the free world.” He added that the U.S. and South Korea should work to “amplify their words into the North” to help drive meaningful change.