Seongmin Lee is the director of the HRF’s Korea Desk, where he manages Korea-related programs, including Flash Drives for Freedom, an initiative that smuggles information from the outside world into North Korea in collaboration with local organizations. He is also the founder of HRF’s NK Insider, an online English news platform covering broad aspects of North Korean society, primarily from the perspectives of North Korean defectors, with occasional contributions from others. Before joining HRF, he managed and advised several high-profile projects at organizations in South Korea, Canada, and the United States, focusing on improving human rights conditions and access to external information in North Korea. Born and raised in North Korea, Seongmin later defected to South Korea and received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Columbia University and a master’s degree in international security policy and management from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Seongmin is a naturalized US citizen.