The award comes as most of RFA’s U.S.-based journalists and staff are furloughed, including the winners of this award, amid the termination of its grant by the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
WASHINGTON – Radio Free Asia’s (RFA) Korean Service was named this week among the winners at the 50th annual Gracie Awards for its report, “Please Save My Sister: A North Korean Escapee’s Plea Against an Authoritarian Regime.” The project, which examines the human toll of China’s repatriation of North Korean escapees, won in the Non-English Program category.
“Hye Jun and Jamin Anderson documented China’s violation of international laws and exploitation of North Korean escapees and sought to hold North Korean and Chinese officials to account in this important report,” said RFA President Bay Fang. “That this recognition should come at a difficult moment, as RFA stands on the brink of closure, is unfortunate.
“But despite the uncertainty of our future, we are doing our best to continue this work.”
The winning report, filed by RFA Korean journalists Hye Jun Seo and Jamin Anderson, follows two North Korean escapees who detail their stories of forced repatriation and human trafficking. Through first-hand accounts and in-depth interviews, Seo and Anderson’s piece sheds light on the harrowing experiences of female escapees and China’s role in their forced repatriation. At the 55th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Anderson and Seo bravely approached North Korean and Chinese officials for interviews. Most notably the team pressed Bang Kwang Hyuk, the acting Ambassador to the U.N. Office in Geneva, about the whereabouts of the repatriated North Koreans and whether their safety was guaranteed. Bang declined to answer.
This award marks the organization’s fourth Gracie in four years, with RFA Korean previously winning in 2022 for a project focusing on two escapees’ journeys to South Korea. Last year, imprisoned RFA Burmese contributor and prolific documentarian Shin Daewe won for a video report examining the human impact of climate change in Myanmar.
This year’s winners will be honored at the 50th Annual Gracie Gala in Los Angeles on May 20. Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (AWMF) is a non-profit that creates educational programs and scholarship initiatives to benefit the public and women in the media.