Tens of thousands of North Korean women are hiding in China trying to avoid capture by Chinese and North Korean police. Many have been sold into sexual slavery or as brides to unwed Chinese farmers. The U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea is completing a two-year study based on interviews with over 70 of these women. Beck will discuss the results of this field research as well as steps that can be taken to improve their situation.

Peter M. Beck is the executive director of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. He is also a columnist for Weekly Chosun and The Korea Herald. Prior to joining the Committee, he directed the International Crisis Group's Northeast Asia Project in Seoul (2004-2007) and was the director of research and academic affairs at the Korea Economic Institute in Washington, DC (1997-2004). Beck has served as a member of the Ministry of Unification's Policy Advisory Committee (2005-2007), and as an adjunct faculty member at American, Ewha, Georgetown and Yonsei universities. He was also a columnist for the Korean daily Donga Ilbo (2001-04), an instructor at the University of California at San Diego, a translator for the Korea Foundation, and a staff assistant at Korea's National Assembly and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Beck received his B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley, completed the Korean language program at Seoul National University, and conducted his graduate studies at U.C. San Diego's Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies.