On 6th February, Japanese organizations part of the ICNK hosted a Symposium in Japan called “Stop the Crimes against Humanity in North Korea”. It involved the testimonies of two defectors, Lee Su Bok and Kim Kwang Hyok, who were prisoners in the No. 12 detention center, as well as Takashi Fujita, whose brother Susumu Fujita is believed to have been abducted by North Korea.

In addition to this, five senior MPs from the Japanese ruling party gave speeches to an audience of over 80 people, which was beyond the room’s capacity, a sign of the event’s success.

Among the defector’s testimonies were details of the conditions of the camp they were detained in. They called it a prison, where labour is assigned based on the level of their crime. One man was charged with the disposal of dead bodies however he was never informed of what crime he was charged with. Both men claimed the camp’s purpose was to drive people to death.

After the public symposium a closed study session was conducted for Parliamentary members and the media.

The Symposium was attended by two South Korean ICNK members; Peter Jung of Justice for North Korea, and Sang Hun Kim from the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights. Other ICNK attendees included representatives of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Investigation Commission on Missing Japanese Probably Related to North Korea, Life Funds for North Korean Refugees, Asia Human Rights & Humanity Association of Japan, NO FENCE, and the National Association for the Rescue of Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea.