At North Korea Freedom Week in Washington, D.C. in late April, 2026, Reverend Kenneth Bae, founder and president of New Korea Foundation International and New Korea Hope Broadcasting delivered a message of urgency, hope, and global responsibility regarding the worsening human rights crisis in North Korea. Speaking during an interview held alongside the week-long advocacy events, Bae reflected on his years of humanitarian engagement following his detention in North Korea and called for renewed international attention to the suffering of ordinary North Koreans.
For more than a decade since his release, Rev. Bae has worked closely with North Korean defectors and humanitarian initiatives while advocating for improved human rights conditions inside the country. Yet despite years of diplomatic engagements, inter-Korean dialogue, and summit meetings involving world leaders, he observed that little has changed for the North Korean people.
“There have been no reports indicating that the situation has improved,” Rev. Bae said. “I feel that there has been very little actual change regarding human rights or the daily lives of the North Korean people.”
Instead, reports indicate that conditions have become increasingly severe. Bae pointed to alarming economic realities as evidence of deepening hardship. According to accounts he recently received, exchange rates in North Korea’s informal markets have skyrocketed dramatically, while staple food prices such as rice have reportedly tripled within the past year. To him, these developments signal not only economic collapse but also intensifying suffering for ordinary citizens already living under strict state control.
While the humanitarian crisis continues to worsen, Rev. Bae emphasized that access to outside information remains one of the most important lifelines available to the people of North Korea. He explained that information allows individuals to better understand the outside world, regain hope, and begin imagining a different future for themselves and their families.
“By facilitating the inflow of information, the North Korean people can become aware of the reality themselves and gain a better understanding of the outside world,” he said, “even if it doesn’t lead to an immediate improvement in human rights, it could at least empower them to dream again on their own terms.”
Rev. Bae also shared insights from recent discussions on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers and advocates voiced concern that decades have passed with little improvement in North Korean human rights. He welcomed renewed calls for stronger advocacy, including efforts to reauthorize the North Korean Human Rights Act and encourage governments to speak more boldly on behalf of those whose voices are silenced.
A central focus of Rev. Bae’s work today is broadcasting hope directly into North Korea through New Korea Hope Broadcasting. Inspired by the hundreds of letters he received while imprisoned, messages assuring him that he had not been forgotten, Rev. Bae launched shortwave broadcasts featuring news, practical information, faith-based programming, and a special segment called “Letters of Hope.” These letters, submitted by people around the world, are read aloud for North Korean listeners to hear.
Many of the messages carry a common theme: “A better world is coming.”
For Rev. Bae, these broadcasts are about more than information. They are about restoring hope, emotional healing, and human connection to people living in deep isolation. Reflecting on the encouragement he received during his imprisonment, he explained how those messages became the inspiration behind the broadcasts.
“As I read and reread those letters, they became my lifeline, a thread of hope that sustained me,” he shared.
The interview concluded with Rev. Bae offering words of encouragement to the people of North Korea, assuring them that people across the world remember them, pray for them, and continue to stand in solidarity with their pursuit of freedom and dignity. He expressed hope for a future where Koreans can live together in freedom, peace, and reconciliation.
As efforts continue to support human rights, peacebuilding, and reunification on the Korean Peninsula, individuals and organizations around the world are being encouraged to join the One Korea Global Campaign, an international movement advancing the vision of a free, unified, and peaceful Korea grounded in universal principles of freedom, human rights, and shared prosperity.
Learn more and support the campaign through One Korea Global Campaign.
Watch the original interview video in Korean, with English auto-dub available, to hear Rev. Bae’s full reflections on hope, human rights, and the future of a free Korea.
