News release details

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) has added stories about North Korea to an exhibit that shows the importance of breaking silence on gross human rights abuses.

On Thursday, November 23, the president of the Council for Human Rights in North Korea (Canada) and a human rights advocate from South Korea will visit the Museum to see the new exhibit element and share their perspectives. They will be joined by a member of Winnipeg's Korean‐Canadian community and a former Sisler High School student who started an advocacy group in her school to raise awareness about human rights violations in North Korea, one of the world's most repressive countries.

The new exhibit content at the CMHR consists of video testimony from survivors of human rights abuses who escaped from North Korea, as well as digital images, documents and text explaining the build‐up, violation, denial and minimization, and efforts to break silence.

North Korea permits no freedom of expression, conscience or religion. The ruling family dynasty demands complete loyalty, and suspected opponents are imprisoned and often tortured, with the punishment sometimes extended to three generations of their family members. Citizens are not allowed to leave the country nor access foreign media, leaving them largely cut off from the rest of the world.

What: New exhibit content on North Korea. Interview opportunities with curator and human rights advocates

When: Thursday, November 23, 2017, 11:45 a.m.

Where: Breaking the Silence gallery, Level 4, CMHR, 85 Israel Asper Way

Photos from the exhibit and links to survivor video testimony can be provided upon request.

The Breaking the Silence gallery includes an interactive experience where visitors can explore hard evidence of gross human rights violations from around the world. The "investigative approach" of this gallery encourages visitors to be active participants in confronting and breaking silence.