Adrian Hong
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Adrian Hong Chang (b. 1983 or 1984 in
Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and
< ...
), is an activist of Korean descent, U.S. residence, and Mexican citizenship, notable for his human rights activism, and leadership in a North Korean provisional government based in Los Angeles. Hong serves as managing director of the political group Free Joseon and was previously head of Pegasus Strategies LLC, "a strategic advisory firm." His commentary calling attention to North Korean human rights abuses has been published in many American newspapers and magazines, including The Christian Science Monitor. He is a co-founder of the Street Symphony, a classical music group based in Los Angeles.


Early life and education

Hong's father, Joseph, was a Christian missionary and taekwondo champion, who immigrated to Tijuana, B.C., Mexico. He taught martial arts in Tijuana under the name 'El Tigre'. Hong was born in Tijuana in either 1983 or 1984, making him a Mexican national by birth. In 1991, at the age of seven, he immigrated along with his family to Chula Vista, California. Hong attended
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
.


Co-Founder of Liberty in North Korea

Hong was the co-founder and executive director of
Liberty in North Korea Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) is a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It has offices in Long Beach, California, United States, and Seoul, South Korea. The organization rescues refugees hiding in China and resettles them in South Korea or the ...
(LiNK), an international
NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
devoted to human rights in North Korea. In May 2006, LINK helped arrange the first
asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea ...
to be given to North Korean refugees by the US. In 2009, his work with Liberty in North Korea appears to have ended, according to a statement from that group in 2019. In 2009, Hong was selected as a
TED fellow TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...
, and was appointed as an Alfred Wolfers Fellow at Yale University.


Arrest and deportation from China

Hong was arrested and deported from China for his efforts to help North Korean refugees living in the country illegally.


Humanitarian work in Libya and Los Angeles

In 2011, he traveled to Libya to "help open the door for the evacuation of tens of thousands of injured civilians and provide them with urgent medical care in Jordan." He also co-founded the group Street Symphony with another TED fellow, Robert Vijay Gupta, in order to bring "live classical music to mentally ill individuals living in deeply impoverished, disenfranchised communities in Los Angeles".


Awards and recognition

In 2012, Hong was the co-recipient of a
National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
grant.


Involvement in 2019 North Korean embassy in Madrid incident

In February 2019, Hong was charged by Spanish authorities along with other perpetrators for invading North Korean embassy and assaulting the staff during the 2019 North Korean embassy in Madrid incident, during which he used the aliases 'Mathew Chao' and 'Oswaldo Trump'. Free Joseon and Hong have denied that this was a raid, and assert that its members were invited into the embassy compound by one or more staff members. Rather than a raid, the North Korean embassy incident was reportedly an attempted defection made to appear as a kidnapping to protect the defectors' family members in North Korea.


See also

*
Human rights in North Korea The human rights record of North Korea is often considered to be the worst in the world and has been globally condemned, with the United Nations, the European Union and groups such as Human Rights Watch all critical of the country's record. Most ...
* Phillip Buck *
TED Fellows TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...
*
Ahn Changho Ahn Changho, sometimes An Chang-ho (; , November 9, 1878 – March 10, 1938) was a Korean independence activist and one of the early leaders of the Korean-American immigrant community in the United States. He is also referred to by his pen n ...


References


Bibliography

*Hope, Bradley (2022). ''The Rebel and the Kingdom: The True Story of the Secret Mission to Overthrow the North Korean Regime''. Crown. ISBN 9780593240656.


External links


TED Fellow - Adrian HongTown Hall interview with Adrian Hong

LiNK - Liberty in North Korea


{{DEFAULTSORT:Hong, Adrian Human rights in North Korea Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) American people of Korean descent Experts on North Korea Mexican activists Mexican people of Korean descent People from Tijuana