The North Korean people continue to endure immense suffering at the hands of the Kim regime. Post-COVID-19 indicators suggest that conditions inside the country are worsening. Heightened state-imposed isolation has cut off the North Korean people from critical lifelines like the use of informal markets for livelihood and sustenance, as well as from outside information. Even fewer North Koreans are making it to freedom beyond the country’s borders than before the pandemic.But the lucky few who escape are forging new lives for themselves and identifying new lines of effort to bring freedom and human rights to the North Koreans who were left behind. Join Hudson for a conversation with the new generation of North Korean refugees on the future of American and South Korean policy to address the North Korean human rights challenge.

The United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) develops and operates global space, missile defense, and high-altitude systems. Conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have underscored the importance of space and missile defense capabilities, but questions remain regarding the Army’s role and preparedness in performing these missions.Please join US Army SMDC commander Lieutenant General Sean A. Gainey and Hudson Senior Fellow Timothy A. Walton for a discussion with participants on what role Army forces should play in space operations, how Army air and missile defense forces should modernize, and how SMDC can deepen its engagement in the Pacific.

Join Hudson for an event to launch Beneath the Harbor: Hong Kong’s Leading Role in Sanctions Evasion, a new report by the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation.Hong Kong was once the freest economy in the world. But it is now experiencing a rapid erosion in the rule of law, which affects how businesses operate on the island. In recent years, the city has emerged as a top sanctions violator, a money laundering hub, and a transshipment center that plays a key role in providing Russia dual-use technology for its war effort. Experts will discuss new evidence of how the Chinese Communist Party is using Hong Kong to sow instability and conflict around the world and how the United States can better counter these illicit activities.

China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea are forming a new axis of aggressors to oppose the United States and its interests. With chaos unfolding around the globe, how should the US and its allies restore deterrence, maintain global leadership, and protect the prosperity of its people?Join Chair of the Hudson Institute Japan Chair Advisory Board and former National Security Advisor LTG (Ret.) H.R. McMaster and Media Fellow Jeremy Hunt for a discussion on this topic.

In July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party launched one of the most severe acts of religious persecution since the Cultural Revolution—a violent campaign to wipe out Falun Gong, an indigenous spiritual group with tens of millions of Chinese practitioners. Twenty-five years later, this CCP campaign continues with large-scale imprisonments inside China as well as systematic propaganda and harassment in the United States.Beyond the horrific toll on the Falun Gong community, the CCP’s relentless repression campaign has had wide-ranging repercussions for China and the world. Executing the campaign has sharpened the CCP’s security apparatus, served as a blueprint for repressing other designated enemies, and honed the party’s ability to influence Western media.Join Hudson Institute as expert panels take stock of the Falun Gong crackdown over the past quarter of a century.

Cyber and emerging technology play a critical role in the strategic contest between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. The US needs to secure its advantages on computer networks, semiconductors, critical infrastructure, and artificial intelligence to avoid having its competition with the PRC devolve into crisis or conflict.National Security Council Director for Cyber Policy Israel Soong joins Hudson’s Miles Yu for a conversation on why technology is crucial to Beijing’s plans and how the US can maintain the lead in its cyber and technology competition with China.

After a monthslong investigation, the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and Chinese Communist Party uncovered that China is actively subsidizing the sale of fentanyl precursors to Mexico. With 80,000–100,000 American citizens dying of fentanyl overdoses each year, the administration needs to comprehensively disrupt the finances and operations of Mexico’s drug cartels and their suppliers, launderers, and partners in crime: the Chinese Communists.David Asher and Raymond Donovan, former director of operations of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and a strategic law enforcement expert, will discuss how America should hold the perpetrators accountable by strategically targeting them from the top down.

Iran is a key player in the growing axis of revisionist powers threatening the United States–led world order. Yet the US and Europe have been hesitant to fully back Israel in its proxy war against Tehran, and the Islamic Republic is not meaningfully on the agenda for the seventy-fifth North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit.Former Congressman Ted Deutch, the CEO of the American Jewish Committee, will join Hudson to discuss what NATO militaries can learn from Israel’s fight against Iran-backed militias, the implications of a nuclear Iran for Europe, Tehran’s role in the rise of antisemitism in the West, and why aiding Israel is an important step to dismantle the China–Russia–Iran–North Korea axis.

Upon taking office as foreign minister of Lithuania in December 2020, Gabrielius Landsbergis quickly made a name for himself as one of Europe’s most effective diplomats. Early in his term, he announced that Lithuania would no longer participate in the Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (China-CEEC) format; Estonia and Latvia withdrew the following year. Moreover, since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Landsbergis has outspokenly defended Ukrainian sovereignty and denounced Russia’s occupation. In fact, his clarity on the threat Russia poses goes back years. As he put it in June 2024, “I’m Lithuanian, and we strongly disapproved of Russian imperialism before it was common to do so.”Furthermore, Foreign Minister Landsbergis has time and again made the case for the transatlantic alliance and underscored the importance of a strong American presence in Europe.Please join Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis as he sits down with Senior Fellow Peter Rough on the eve of the Washington summit to discuss the prospects for Ukraine and the outlook for Lithuanian security. He will be introduced by Hudson Visiting Fellow Tomas Janeliūnas of Vilnius University.

Moving the partnership between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and its Asia-Pacific partners from dialogue to cooperation is becoming increasingly urgent as Russia and China create a two-front challenge for the United States and its allies. But maritime security, hybrid warfare challenges, and increasing automation are ideal points of departure to get cooperation off the ground.Rapid technological change and global interconnection have changed the maritime threat environment and the capabilities that nations use to address it. Maritime hybrid warfare threats from Russia and China are on the rise. These operations are generally conducted in coastal waters and feature the use of civilian and coast guard vessels manned by non-uniformed personnel armed with off-the-shelf systems. Are the US and its allies prepared for these threats? Warships are expensive and should be built to last 30 years or more. But the frequent emergence of new threats involving complex actors challenges ships’ lifespans. In the Russia-Ukraine War and in Operation Prosperity Guardian in the Red Sea, allies and partner forces shoot down cheap enemy drones with missiles that cost millions.Should Washington and its allies build smaller and cheaper ships and create redundancy to reduce vulnerability? Can the defense industry develop laser technology to shoot down enemy drones and replace expensive missiles? Can greater flexibility, rather than specialization, guide the development of warships to prepare them for a variety of complex threats? Is US and allied ship production sufficient to meet the demand for affordable capabilities at a time when national defenses are stretched thin?Hudson’s Liselotte Odgaard will moderate a panel with Benedetta Berti, the head of policy planning in the Office of the NATO Secretary General, Tsuneo Watanabe, senior fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Senior Fellow Peter Rough, and Japan Chair Ken Weinstein to discuss these issues.