hearings on north korea policy, including the otto warmbier versus dprk trial this evening. we have a unique opportunity to hear his insights about country that keeps us awake, continues to present challenging policy problems for the region and beyond and. as if that weren't difficult enough to try to the pathology of secretive kim that leads it joining dr. lee is our very own emma whitmyer easy society policy institute officer, program officer will interview dr. lee and then conduct a q&a with the audience. emma was previously a fellow with the south korean ministry of foreign affairs. now we get the program underway, which is why you are here. i want to first thank dr. lee for taking time to speak here. we are delighted for this opportunity to host you for what we anticipate is going to be a very insightful conversation and. his book is available for purchase in baghdad, please. but just let me know. have them signed by dr. lee and i would also like to thank our members for your support to this program and all our programs here at asia society. i made possible, because of

i am the author of what is known as the otto warmbier at, tighten sanctions is north korea by applying secondary sanctions against foreign banks and entities that violate them. the united nations has it in the fight of schemes the dprk is using to evade those sanctions in some of the firms that are aiding and abetting in that effort. i've spoken to the department of the treasury is department of treasury about this and we need to do more to plug the gaps in the enforcement regime, including cracking down the north korea's use of crypto to evade sanctions to fund its illegal weapons program. we should also shine a brighter light on the horrendous human rights abuses in north korea. as chairman of the senate foreign relations subcommittee on east asia and pacific i will be exploring these questions more deeply at the upcoming hearing that i'm holding on the korean peninsula, and getting what i know will be good advice from dr. cha who will be one of the witnesses at that hearing. of course it is not only kim jong-un was watching r response to putin's aggression in ukraine, so is presiden

and international sanctions against the dprk, including the provision of the bipartisan otto warmbier act, which i authored a couple of years ago that took effect in 2019. that law put additional teeth into the sanctions regime, applying secondary sanctions against foreign banks and entities that violate them. the sanctions regime has been subject to a lot of leakage. in fact, the united nations has identified a variety of schemes the dprk is using to evade those sanctions. and some of the firms that are aiding and abetting them in that effort. north korea's theft of cryptocurrency to fund illegal weapons programs is another area we must monitor and crackdown on. we must also do more to shine a light on the hermit's human rights abuses taking place in north korea. the dprk's increasing alignment with russia and china raises other concerns that we will discuss as we go forward. there are many other areas where we have to coordinate our efforts with south korea, including covering the p.r.c.'s economic coercion, prohibiting export of cutting-edge technologies that can enhance china's mi