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12 Facts About Adrian Hong

1.

Adrian Hong is known for his leadership of the political group Free Joseon, a self-described North Korean provisional government based in Los Angeles.

2.

Adrian Hong's commentary calling attention to North Korean human rights abuses has been published in many American newspapers and magazines, including The Christian Science Monitor.

3.

Adrian Hong is a co-founder of the Street Symphony, a classical music group based in Los Angeles.

4.

Adrian Hong's father, Joseph, was a Christian missionary and taekwondo champion, who immigrated to Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.

5.

Adrian Hong taught martial arts in Tijuana under the name 'El Tigre'.

6.

Adrian Hong was born in Tijuana in either 1983 or 1984, making him a Mexican national by birth.

7.

Adrian Hong was the co-founder and executive director of Liberty in North Korea, an international NGO devoted to human rights in North Korea.

8.

In 2009, Adrian Hong was selected as a TED fellow, and was appointed as an Alfred Wolfers Fellow at Yale University.

9.

Adrian Hong was arrested and deported from China for his efforts to help North Korean refugees living in the country illegally.

10.

In 2012, Adrian Hong was the co-recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant.

11.

In February 2019, Adrian Hong was charged by Spanish authorities along with other perpetrators for invading the North Korean embassy and assaulting the staff during the 2019 North Korean embassy in Madrid incident, during which he used the aliases 'Mathew Chao' and 'Oswaldo Trump'.

12.

Free Joseon and Adrian Hong have denied that this was a raid, and assert that its members were invited into the embassy compound by one or more staff members.