In brief: Former N. Korean prisoner to speak

Soon Ok Lee, a former North Korean prisoner, will speak about her experiences as part of Eastern Washington University’s inaugural International Week celebration May 12-17. Lee’s presentation will be from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in Showalter Auditorium on EWU’s Cheney campus.

Lee was a member of the North Korean Communist Party working as a supervisor of a material distribution center in 1986 when she was arrested on charges of embezzlement

She was sentenced to 13 years of hard labor, but was fortunate to survive and be released after six years of torture in the North Korean prison system known as the gulag. She and her son then managed to escape to South Korea in 1995, where they live today.

Lee wrote a book about her experiences, “Eyes of the Tailless Animals,” published in 1999. She received the Democracy Award from the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, D.C., in 2003.

This speech is supported by a gift from the Dan and Margi Carper Foundation. The event is free, but parking and seating are limited. For more information, contact Ed Slack in Eastern’s history department at 659-7954.

– From staff reports

Hillyard

Panel discusses ‘Felons Coming Home’

Spokane COPS will present “Felons Coming Home,” a panel discussion about the State Department of Corrections Re-entry Program in Spokane.

The event will be held today from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Northeast Community Center, 4001 N. Cook.

Panel participants include representatives from the Washington State Department of Corrections, the Spokane Police Department, Northeast Washington Housing Solutions, the Spokane Neighborhood Action Plan and Lutheran Services Victim Advocacy Services.

Christy Hamilton, of Spokane COPS, will moderate the discussion.

For more information, call Spokane COPS at 835-4592.

– Lisa Leinberger