Kang Chol-hwan, co-author of The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag, founded the non-partisan think-tank North Korea Strategy Center (NKSC) in 2007. Through the raising of awareness, leadership development, research and the dissemination of information, NKSC aims to promote action on issues related to North Korea based on the principles of freedom of expression and freedom of information.

Programs that NKSC undertakes include: sending USB sticks, DVDs, and radios into North Korea in an effort to increase the flow of information within its borders; publishing Eyes of Pyongyang, a magazine featuring the voices of North Korean defectors; and training North Korean defectors to become journalists.