ARTIST / ACTIVIST
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Song Byeok was born in Hwanghaedo, North Korea. He was a painter of propaganda poster for the regime until he arrived in South Korea in 2002. Song majored in received his Bachelors in Art Education from National Gongju Univeristy and his Masters in Oriental Studies from Hongik University. He went on to be a professor in the Fine Arts Department at National Gongju University. Song’s work focuses on the human rights violations under the North Korean regime. Song has exhibited his work since 2007 and had his first exhibit in the US in 2012. Song’s efforts led to the 2016 United States Delegationn’s “Influence of External Information Influence” event. Song was awarded the 2018 Global Artist Awardfor his work concerning the North Korean human rights crisis. Song has been featured on CNN, Washington Post, the BBC, and Asahi in Japan.