(SEOUL - Freedom Chosun)
At the 2025 World North Korean Human Rights Conference in Seoul, Timothy Cho, a North Korean defector and current Secretariat of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on North Korea, delivered a powerful message urging the international community to stand firm against rising authoritarianism and to renew efforts for freedom and justice for the North Korean people.
Speaking on behalf of the UK Parliamentary Group, Cho emphasized that the issue of North Korean human rights extends far beyond the peninsula, describing it as part of a broader global struggle between democracy and dictatorship. “We are living in a world at a critical juncture where our most basic human rights and the balance between democracy and dictatorship are under great threat,” he said.
On September 22, at the UN Human Rights Council, Timothy Cho testified about the grim reality of human rights in North Korea. He said that during his stay in Geneva, North Korean agents followed and monitored him, leaving him feeling threatened. / Photo = Screenshot from UN Security Council testimony video @Freedom Chosun
A Call from the United Nations to Seoul
Cho recounted his participation at the 60th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, where he spoke alongside UN Special Rapporteur Elizabeth Salmón and former Commission of Inquiry Chair Michael Kirby. Despite the international setting, he noted that delegates from China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, and Belarus continued to defend North Korea’s human rights abuses.
“This is today’s world,” Cho said. “Authoritarian regimes defend each other while the voices of freedom are silenced.”
He also highlighted North Korea’s ongoing crimes against humanity — including political prison camps, public executions, and forced labor — describing them as “echoes of Auschwitz.” Reports estimate that 40 percent of North Korea’s population faces chronic hunger, while the regime pours resources into weapons of mass destruction and cyberattacks worth billions.
Global Authoritarianism and the ‘Axis of Threat’
Cho drew connections between Pyongyang’s behavior and wider global instability, citing North Korea’s military support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the growing influence of China in the Asia-Pacific. He warned that this “axis of authoritarianism” threatens global peace from Europe to the Indo-Pacific.
At the UK Conservative Party Conference earlier this year, he noted, North Korea was identified as a key component of this authoritarian alliance. “The question facing democracies,” he said, “is whether we can confront this global challenge together.”
In November 2023, King Charles III visited the Korean Town in New Malden, England. The visit came just a week before his scheduled state invitation to South Korea, marking the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations. During the visit, King Charles met Timothy Cho, a former North Korean street child now working in the UK Parliament, and showed particular interest in the human rights situation in North Korea, asking detailed questions. / Photo = Timothy Cho’s social media @Freedom Chosun
Faith, Freedom, and the Power of Hope
Cho’s remarks were deeply personal. Reflecting on his own escape from North Korea, he described how he and thousands of others were “brainwashed to sing only for the Kim family,” yet now “carry the power to break through the shadows.”
During a school assembly at his daughter’s Church of England school, a song lyric — ‘I’ve got the power in me’ — moved him to tears. “It reminded me of the freedom I never knew as a child,” he said.
There are now 34,000 North Korean escapees, Cho added, who “are no longer bound by the chains of this regime.” Their stories, he argued, are not merely testimonies of suffering but “proof of humanity’s unbending spirit in the darkest of times.”
A Shared Struggle for Truth and Justice
Cho expressed gratitude to the international community for standing with defectors and activists, commending conference organizers, speakers, and volunteers for their commitment.
“The fight for truth, justice, and freedom must continue,” he concluded. “Let us ensure that the suffering of the North Korean people is never ignored. God bless you all.”