Dear Friends of HRNK,

On Thursday, September 10, 2020 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. EDT, HRNK Executive Director Greg Scarlatoiu will moderate a Zoom event with James Sneddon, brother of David Sneddon. In August 2004, David Louis Sneddon, at the time a 24-year-old Brigham Young University student, disappeared in China's Yunnan Province after traveling alone through Tiger Leaping Gorge. The evidence surrounding his disappearance followed patterns identified in multiple cases of North Korean abductions.

As the older brother of David Sneddon, the only US citizen believed to be held against his will in the DPRK, James Sneddon is intimately aware and personally dedicated to the return of all DPRK abductees while helping shine a bright light on the abysmal human rights record of North Korea. He believes that only through this lens, that of the DPRK’s past and concurrent human rights abuses, will his family gain traction to find out the full truth about his brother and secure his release. James personally searched in China and, with his father Roy Sneddon and older brother Michael Sneddon, developed the original detailed executive report utilized today as the launchpad for explaining David’s disappearance.

James, having spent over 20 years working and living in Asia, has keen insight into Asian cultures, and is able to carefully leverage his Japanese language fluency and cultural adaptability to navigate the original abduction information sourced from NGOs, and to consult with Government officials and organizations allied to this passionate common cause.

Professionally, James has spent the past two decades working with the tech companies in Silicon Valley, including leadership roles with companies including Google, Intel, and Qualcomm.

In 2011, HRNK published the report "Taken: North Korea's Criminal Abduction of Citizens of Other Countries," authored by Mr. Yoshi Yamamoto and edited by former HRNK Executive Director Chuck Downs, together with a team of HRNK interns that served in various capacities.

According to "Taken," the number of abductees taken by North Korea may well approach 180,000. During the Korean War, by October 28, 1950, 82,959 South Koreans had been abducted and taken to the North. Since the signing of the Korean War Armistice on July 27, 1953, an additional 3,824 South Koreans, 3,721 of them fishermen, have been abducted. Over 93,000 ethnic Koreans residing in Japan were lured to North Korea, and most were never allowed to return to Japan. The Japanese government officially lists 17 persons whose disappearances are attributable to North Korean abductions, while acknowledging that the number of those taken may be as high as 883. News reports estimate that 200 Chinese, most of ethnic Korean background, were abducted to North Korea. Over 25 citizens of other countries, including David Sneddon, have been seen in North Korea by the accounts of witnesses. They can be assumed to have been taken against their will and are more than likely being held against their will.

The Zoom credentials will be sent to you shortly before the program. 

Please email the Director of Programs and Editor at rosapark@hrnk.org if you have any questions or concerns.