An NGO-based internet television channel,

OTV [Open North Korea], has launched a new English language program about North

Korea titled “North Korea Today.” The program is produced and hosted by Casey

Lartigue, the Director for International Cooperation at the Freedom Factory, a

Seoul-based liberal think tank, and co-hosted by Yeonmi Park, a North Korean

defector who escaped the country in 2007.

According to OTV’s production team, one of

the main goals of North Korea Today is to raise awareness of the myriad

societal issues facing North Korea by incorporating a range of perspectives in

its discourse. In an interview with the Daily NK, Mr. Lartigue stated that he

wants this program “to inspire, motivate, and remind people of the importance

of engagement” and “encourage people to take action” for human rights in North

Korea.

Mr. Lartigue hopes to address problems

affecting North Korea including forced repatriation of defectors, suppression

of free speech, and women’s rights. The plight of the kkotjebi, North Korea’s

large population of homeless children of whom many beg for food around the

country’s public markets is another topic slated for discussion.

During the same interview Ms. Park also

expressed her intentions and hopes for the show, “People in North Korea have no

idea what freedom is like. I really want to bring freedom to my people there.”

Yeonmi Park is a popular guest for Channel A’s talk show, “Now on My Way to

Meet You”, a program that features a guest panel of North Korean defectors conversing

about daily and life and society in their former country.

Mr. Lartigue plans to cover tourism in

North Korea during the debut show; This is a multifaceted subject that raises a

number of ethical concerns about an industry that provides the regime with

much-needed foreign currency while overlooking its flagrant human rights

violations.

OTV is a video production organization

committed to fostering rational and informed public opinion on domestic and

international issues affecting the Korean Peninsula.