Hello everyone! Sorry for the long hiatus. We just wanted to let everyone know that we are having our end of the year benefit concert this Thursday! The concert takes place every year with the same title, BOP which stands for Beyond Our Peninsula. Just like the name indicates, these series of human rights violations occurring under the Kim regime is something that transcends geographical and cultural boundaries. Dinner, drinks and dessert will be provided. ID’s will be checked at the door. This even takes place in Silver 220. Doors open at 7 PM and goes until 10. Tickets are to be purchased at the door for $5, and every dollar will go to the Han-Schneider Foundation, which largely supported the North Korean Refugee Adoption Act of 2011 and is currently working with 2 of the 44 state run orphanages in North Korea. F4NK’s own president got to meet with Mr. Han, the founder, this past summer and heard Mr. Han’s amazing story of having escaped North Korea. Please come out to support Mr. Han’s efforts to bring about a better future for the innocents suffering in North Korea and simply come out to learn more about the issues at hand. Additional F4NK products like t-shirts and pens handmade by the members will be on sale, all proceeds again going to the Han-Schneider Foundation. Please check out the talented line-up! Andrew Campbell: http://andrewcampbell.bandcamp.com/ Annika Zee: http://soundcloud.com/annikazee D.T.ROTBOT: http://www.myspace.com/dtrotbotNYU’s own Nuri - a traditional Korean drumming ensemble ***CORRECTION TO THE POSTER: While jazz band will not be playing at this event, the amazing Ben Dumond will be doing an original spoken word piece! Please come out and spread the word. RSVP here.

Hello everyone! Sorry for the long hiatus. We just wanted to let everyone know that we are having our end of the year benefit concert this Thursday! The concert takes place every year with the same title, BOP which stands for Beyond Our Peninsula. Just like the name indicates, these series of human rights violations occurring under the Kim regime is something that transcends geographical and cultural boundaries.

Dinner, drinks and dessert will be provided. ID’s will be checked at the door.

This even takes place in Silver 220. Doors open at 7 PM and goes until 10. Tickets are to be purchased at the door for $5, and every dollar will go to the Han-Schneider Foundation, which largely supported the North Korean Refugee Adoption Act of 2011 and is currently working with 2 of the 44 state run orphanages in North Korea. F4NK’s own president got to meet with Mr. Han, the founder, this past summer and heard Mr. Han’s amazing story of having escaped North Korea. Please come out to support Mr. Han’s efforts to bring about a better future for the innocents suffering in North Korea and simply come out to learn more about the issues at hand. Additional F4NK products like t-shirts and pens handmade by the members will be on sale, all proceeds again going to the Han-Schneider Foundation.

Please check out the talented line-up!
Andrew Campbell: http://andrewcampbell.bandcamp.com/
Annika Zee: http://soundcloud.com/annikazee
D.T.ROTBOT: http://www.myspace.com/dtrotbot
NYU’s own Nuri - a traditional Korean drumming ensemble
***CORRECTION TO THE POSTER: While jazz band will not be playing at this event, the amazing Ben Dumond will be doing an original spoken word piece!

Please come out and spread the word. RSVP here.

2nd April 2012
timemagazine: Next week’s cover features North Korea’s newest leader Kim Jong Un and hits newsstands Friday. Inside the issue we’ve got a great feature on NBA star Jeremy Lin, a look at the unexpected success of Rick Santorum and an appreciation of Whitney Houston. What do you all make of this recent front cover of Time?

timemagazine:

Next week’s cover features North Korea’s newest leader Kim Jong Un and hits newsstands Friday. Inside the issue we’ve got a great feature on NBA star Jeremy Lin, a look at the unexpected success of Rick Santorum and an appreciation of Whitney Houston.

What do you all make of this recent front cover of Time?

18th February 2012
1,037 notes
Reblogged from Time by timemagazine
»

KOREA NEWSLINE: The N. Korean economy's growing reliance on foreign currency

http://koreanewsline.tumblr.com/post/17804839020/the-n-korean-economys-growing-reliance-on-foreign

koreanewsline:

The Washington Post has a fascinating story on the expanding role that foreign currency is playing in North Korea’s decrepit economy. Following the country’s disastrous 2009 currency revaluation, public confidence in the North Korean won collapsed, forcing everyone — even the government — to…

18th February 2012
2 notes
Reblogged from KOREA STANDARD TIME by koreastandardtime
»

North Korea's Runaway Sushi Chef Remembers Kim Jong-Un

http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2012/01/18/north-koreas-runaway-sushi-chef-remembers-kim-jong-un/

Hello, and apologies for our brief hiatus. A lot has happened in our absence, most notably the death of Kim Jong-Il in late 2011. How did you come upon this news? Through exclamations on your Facebook news feed whilst studying for finals? This was more or less how I came to know about the Dear Leader’s death. Amid the many silly and sometimes aggravating plays on his death, there was also great debate about the future of North Korea. All opinions seemed supported yet questionable as people cited suspicions and rumors they had heard about the past leader and the new leader himself, Kim Jong-Un, for their arguments.

With that, here’s a rather interesting take on the future of North Korea. Kenji Fujimoto was Kim Jong-Il’s personal sushi chef. Not only did he get close to the past leader, but he also got familiar with the current leader, Kim Jong-Un, ever since he met him at age 7. Drawing upon his many memories with the child (with recollections such as Kim Jong-Un being the natural leader at the playground), Fujimoto makes the claim that North Korea’s human rights crisis will be alleviated under the new rule. He remembers a young Kim Jong-Un staring wistfully out the window, comtemplating on how his father’s people were doing. Perhaps this intimate moment among others has led Fujimoto to make the bold claim that instead of things going at the status quo or for the worse, North Korea will eventually come to halt its genocide.

The debates in our news, if anything, only spoke of better circumstances through intervention by some outside force.  You don’t hear many people arguing that it is going to be the new leader himself being the force of change for the better.

Fujimoto’s account is interesting, whether you fare it to be too idealistic or not. We get a further look into Kim Jong-Un’s personal characteristics as we further keep an eye on the circumstances in North Korea.

Soo Mi

7th February 2012
North Korea Kim Jong Un Kim Jong Il Human Rights 

Telltale photos of life in North Korea-NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/11/09/world/asia/20111109-NKOREA-GOBIG.html#14

14th November 2011
thedailywhat: Photo Series of the Day: A fairly depressing series of photographs from North Korea’s version of the happiest place on Earth: Mangyongdae funfair. The amusement park, located a few miles north of Pyongyang, is the last of its kind in the dreary dictatorship, and certainly fits the milieu. Chock full of dilapidated and downright dangerous rides, Mangyongdae tests its deadly attractions on local farmers before allowing foreign visitors aboard.  [kuriositas.]

thedailywhat:

Photo Series of the Day: A fairly depressing series of photographs from North Korea’s version of the happiest place on Earth: Mangyongdae funfair.

The amusement park, located a few miles north of Pyongyang, is the last of its kind in the dreary dictatorship, and certainly fits the milieu.

Chock full of dilapidated and downright dangerous rides, Mangyongdae tests its deadly attractions on local farmers before allowing foreign visitors aboard. 

[kuriositas.]

30th October 2011
1,326 notes
North Korea amusement park Mangyongdae fun fair 
Reblogged from The Daily What by thedailywhat
»

Nuclear weapons and humanitarian aid

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/world/asia/head-of-un-humanitarian-aid-paints-dire-scene-in-north-korea.html?_r=2&ref=northkorea

In aiding North Korea’s starving citizens, we more or less depend on nonprofit organizations rather than the White House, which is more or less focused on matters surrounding nuclear dearmament and, from a direct quote from a senior State Department official, the fact that it is election year.

Officially, both Washington and Seoul say they do not mix political issues with humanitarian aid. As much as this comes from a realistic point of view that which we all reluctantly accept given the nature of politics, the substantial aftermaths of these ideas do not sit well. Seoul acknowledged certain areas in North Korea in which there was malnutrition, but doubted that thousands died in the mid-1990s due to a nation-wide food crisis. In the past few months, Washington sent an investigative group to North Korea to evaluate the human rights situation, but hasn’t acted on any of their observations even after five non-profit groups has urged the US government to send aid. And meanwhile, the United Nations’ humanitarian aid chief Valerie Amos said, “Six million North Koreans urgently need food aid, but the outside world is not giving enough,” after her own 5-day investigative trip to North Korea.

And, we can only gather that those investigative trips to North Korea didn’t reveal the severity of the situation there. 

A few weeks ago, we hosted a presentation by a non-profit group called Reah. One of the presenters, a dentist by profession, spoke to us about a trip he took to North Korea. While there, he was able to visit a few clinics and help a few patients here and there. He was not fooled, while taking a tour of a seemingly abandoned medical center, when there were barely used dentist equipment and even extracted teeth that were plainly there just for show. 

But there may be some reality to the US government’s reluctance in providing full-fledged aid to North Korea. Amos said there was much tension surrounding whether the 1/3 of the $218 million the UN World Food Program had appealed for is actually being used towards its military and its ruling party elite. 

Separate from the UN, five US relief agencies have asked for $150 million to help the 2.4 million North Koreans. 

“There are rising incidences of acute malnutrition where children are dying because they are eating alternative food,” like corn mixed with roots and leaves, David Austin, the North Korea program director for the U.S. relief group Mercy Corps,  said. “They haven’t had enough food or drink dirty water from a flood, or for whatever reason, they got a cold and they are weak enough from their malnutrition that they can’t fight just a normal shock.”

It was most revealing that North Koreans were suffering from lack of nutrition when they said they spent all their household income for food.

“Every single person knew the exact date of when they last had protein,” he said. “People are emotionally fully engaged with their food and their nutrition. Their whole mind-set is about food.”



Soomi

29th October 2011
4 notes
North Korea Malnutrition Human Rights 
»

US engage North Korea in nuclear disarmament talks--Article by the Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/19/us-nuclear-weapons-talks-north-korea
19th October 2011
3 notes
At the Rosenthal Pavilion this Friday at 8 PM (facebook event page link), NYU’s Against Child Trafficking Club (ACTC) are hosting an evening with Somaly Mam, a survivor of sex slavery in Cambodia who had gone onto co-found the non-profit Somaly Mam Foundation in 2007. Somaly Mam’s endeavour in advocating human rights, especially for women and children who have suffered in the same vein has garnered her world-renowned media attention. Her passion originates from the bleak days of being one of the many victims of sex-slavery in Cambodia. It was in the mid-‘70s as the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot struck terror throughout Cambodia, driving thousands of people into the safety of the countryside that she was left orphaned in a small village called Phnong. There she was picked up by a man whom she was to refer to as “grandfather.” Somaly was abused by this grandfather until the tender age of 14 when she was sold to a brothel. Forced into prostitution alongside with girls of similar age, she dealt with five to six clients on a daily basis. When she tried to refuse, she was thrown into a cellar festering with snakes and scorpions. Coerced into a marriage with a Khmer Rouge fighter who came back home to give passion to his appetite for violence, she had to live through day after day of rape, torture and abuse for almost a decade. After breaking free of her captors, she escaped Cambodia to France in 1993 with the help of an aid worker, and served as a nurse for Médecins Sans Frontières. Somaly Mam then decided on going back to Cambodia where sex slavery for children has continued to be a run-of-the-mill phenomenon, and in 1996, she founded a nonprofit organization called AFESIP (Agir pour les Femmes en Situation Précaire, or Acting for Women in Distressing Circumstances) that collaborates with local law enforcement to raid such brothels and provides means of reintegrating into society for rescued women. Now in her early forties, Somaly Mam has helped to rescue over 4,000 girls who had been trafficked into sex slavery. She is also the author of The Road of Lost Innocence in which she chronicles her long and—for the most part—nightmarish journey to freedom. I encourage all of you to attend this event since what Somaly Mam has to say about human rights advocacy and her firsthand experience in sex slavery will be very pertinent to our cause.   Get your tickets now from the Ticket Central box office for free with valid ID. $10/ Guests in advance $12/ Guests Day-of-Event —harry

At the Rosenthal Pavilion this Friday at 8 PM (facebook event page link), NYU’s Against Child Trafficking Club (ACTC) are hosting an evening with Somaly Mam, a survivor of sex slavery in Cambodia who had gone onto co-found the non-profit Somaly Mam Foundation in 2007.

Somaly Mam’s endeavour in advocating human rights, especially for women and children who have suffered in the same vein has garnered her world-renowned media attention. Her passion originates from the bleak days of being one of the many victims of sex-slavery in Cambodia.

It was in the mid-‘70s as the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot struck terror throughout Cambodia, driving thousands of people into the safety of the countryside that she was left orphaned in a small village called Phnong. There she was picked up by a man whom she was to refer to as “grandfather.” Somaly was abused by this grandfather until the tender age of 14 when she was sold to a brothel. Forced into prostitution alongside with girls of similar age, she dealt with five to six clients on a daily basis. When she tried to refuse, she was thrown into a cellar festering with snakes and scorpions. Coerced into a marriage with a Khmer Rouge fighter who came back home to give passion to his appetite for violence, she had to live through day after day of rape, torture and abuse for almost a decade. After breaking free of her captors, she escaped Cambodia to France in 1993 with the help of an aid worker, and served as a nurse for Médecins Sans Frontières.

Somaly Mam then decided on going back to Cambodia where sex slavery for children has continued to be a run-of-the-mill phenomenon, and in 1996, she founded a nonprofit organization called AFESIP (Agir pour les Femmes en Situation Précaire, or Acting for Women in Distressing Circumstances) that collaborates with local law enforcement to raid such brothels and provides means of reintegrating into society for rescued women. Now in her early forties, Somaly Mam has helped to rescue over 4,000 girls who had been trafficked into sex slavery. She is also the author of The Road of Lost Innocence in which she chronicles her long and—for the most part—nightmarish journey to freedom.

I encourage all of you to attend this event since what Somaly Mam has to say about human rights advocacy and her firsthand experience in sex slavery will be very pertinent to our cause.

 

Get your tickets now from the Ticket Central box office for free with valid ID.
$10/ Guests in advance
$12/ Guests Day-of-Event

—harry

17th October 2011
9 notes
human rights sex trafficking Somaly Mam Cambodia Human rights advocacy 

Dictator Complex

To all our NYU followers and club members, here’s a little follow-up on the past three meetings we’ve had for the semester:

  • A brief overview of the human rights crisis in North Korea
  • A screening of  ”Escaping North Korea,” a documentary by BBC profiling the escape of a few refugees (The complete documentary found here)
  • A presentation on professor Andrei Lankov’s article on the North Korean refugee flow into Northeast China
  • Of course, games, pizza, coffee/cookies, and brainstorming ideas for funds and awareness raising (share them here too!)

So on a further note, I came upon an interesting article from The Diplomat that relates to our lastest presentation of Lankov’s article on North Korean refugee flow into Northeast China.

Minxin Pei, professor of government at Claremont McKenna College in California, speaks mainly about the front China puts in terms of it being a government that practices in realpolitiks (“pursu[al] [of] national interests without ideological biases”).

The reason behind Pei’s argument lies in the relationship between China and dictators around the world. Continually we’ve seen China side with infamous dictators such as Slobodan Milosevic, Robert Mugabe, and Hugo Chavez and more recently Muammar Gaddafi. 

Pei explains China’s political choices stem from their one-party regime and from the continual threat it feels from Western democratic governments. 

He moreover likens China to befriending these “international loners”/isolated dictators so that they are all the more dependent on China, whose government understands how to deal with Western democratic governments. But Pei notes that these loner dictators are not to be taken lightly, even though they may well be the “loners” among international relations. He argues,

“North Korea is perhaps the best example. The Kim Jong-il regime, the most isolated in the world, has given his Chinese patrons enormous grief over his nuclear programme and aggression against South Korea.”

So, China’s plan on befriending such isolated dictators might not be the greatest choice, considering that China is not only undermining regional security, but also its own security in its refusing to take a stronger stance in incidents like the Cheonan sinking last year. Further,

Diplomatic shielding of the North, particularly at the UN, has damaged (China’s) international image and weakened its standing as an honest broker in the Six-Party Talks, while encouraging risky conventional and nuclear initiatives by North Korea.’ 

And in conjunction with our club discussions regarding reasons for China not totally lending a hand to North Korean refugees, the political stances mentioned here may add more context to our standing of refugees’ plight.

Some questions to ask yourself are:

  • What does this knowledge of China’s political ideologies (realpolitik or the lack of) help us to understand about where they stand in their stance to NK refugees crossing the border?
  • What might happen with China-North Korea relations with North Korean regime change to Kim Jong Un =? With the change have any bearing on their relationship at all?
  • If China is not totally benefiting from their ambivalence or slight support for North Korea’s actions, can we foresee China deciding to take a stronger stance? Possibly again North Korea?
  • And again, what impact with the outcome of these hypothetical situations have on refugees?

We’d love to hear your thoughts!

Read More

4th October 2011
Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR) Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR), located in Seoul, South Korea, is a non-profit, non-governmental, non-religious human rights organization founded by Rev. Benjamin H. Yoon, human rights activists, intellectuals and North Korean defectors in May 1996. In May 2011, NKHR celebrated their 15th anniversary and they also received the 1st John Diefenbaker Defender of Human Rights and Freedom Award from Canada early in this year. This is a 15 year-old organization divided into three teams; International Cooperation & Campaign, Research, and Education & Training. The International Cooperation and Campaign team mainly holds international conferences for raising awareness and the Beautiful Dream Concert in August for fundraising. They held their first conference in Seoul, South Korea (1999) and next year, they will hold an international conference at Geneva, Switzerland. On August 27th, 2011, NKHR held their 5th Beautiful Dream Concert for fundraising to help NK youth in SK and support the programs that Education and Training team runs. The Research team collects and publicizes facts and other information on the current North Korean human rights situation. Currently, they are publicizing quarterly (Life and Human Rights) and monthly newsletters. They also publicize research papers and reports based on testimonies of NK. Based on their collected facts and testimonies, they published a book reporting child abuse in NK named “Child is the King of Country.” Compared to the International Cooperation & Campaign team and the Research ream, the Education & Training team runs programs not only to educate and help NK teenagers adjust to new environments but also to become a mentor for them. The Education and Training team also runs the program to raise the awareness and lead S. Koreans to gain a better understanding of NK. They run ten programs throughout the year: 1. Hangyereh Summer and Winter School : First started in 2001 summer. Since most of NK youth cannot receive proper education that they should in their age, they strengthen the basics mainly of math and English. However, in here, they do not only strengthen the basics but also a place for them to refresh. 2. Home Visits Program : Volunteers used to go to the places of NK youth or those who needs helps with their education, but currently they link up the volunteers and NK youth who needs tutor of specific subject. 3. Leadership Education Workshop for N. Korean University Students : It is three nights and four days program solely for ten to fifteen N. Korean university students. These students are recommended by former students who took this workshop. In this workshop, students will take various lectures. 4. Leadership Education for NK University Students : This is small group meeting for N. Korean university students who took the Leadership Education workshop. Through this meeting, they would do volunteers or take lectures they need. 5. Volunteer Education Workshop : This is two nights and three days workshop for university students and adults to raise the awareness and possibly lead them to volunteer in NK-related field. 6. Human Rights Education Workshop for Teenagers : To educate teenagers about what Human right is and to lead them to have better understanding about North Korea and defectors. 7. Visiting Hanawon : NKHR junior officer and volunteers visit Hanawon every Saturday. They have two sessions running; first session for math and English class and second session for outside activities. 8. ‘Becoming One’ Outing : NK youth and SK youth would gather up once in two weeks and share the cultures and help them to build real friendship. Article about outing: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/world/asia/12koreastudents.html?pagewanted=1&%2339&%2359; Alliance for North Korean Human RIghts&sq=Citizens&st=cse&scp=1 9. L4 Soccer Team (Learn to Love, Love to Learn Soccer Team) : NK university students and volunteers gathered up under the motto Learn to Love, Love to Learn and made the soccer team. By playing the game, the wall between NK and SK is broken. 10. Pulbburi (풀뿌리) Scholarship : Pulbburi in Korean literally means roots of grass. However as a Pulbburi Scholarship, volunteers or anyone donate from dollar to how much they want to in a month and this donated fund goes to one of NK student to cheer him/her. With these programs and works that NKHR do, they are not only the human rights activists but also become friend to North Korean defectors. To know more about NKHR, you can go on to Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights website: www.nkhumanrights.or.kr - Miri Cha

Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR)

Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR), located in Seoul, South Korea, is a non-profit, non-governmental, non-religious human rights organization founded by Rev. Benjamin H. Yoon, human rights activists, intellectuals and North Korean defectors in May 1996. In May 2011, NKHR celebrated their 15th anniversary and they also received the 1st John Diefenbaker Defender of Human Rights and Freedom Award from Canada early in this year.

This is a 15 year-old organization divided into three teams; International Cooperation & Campaign, Research, and Education & Training.

The International Cooperation and Campaign team mainly holds international conferences for raising awareness and the Beautiful Dream Concert in August for fundraising. They held their first conference in Seoul, South Korea (1999) and next year, they will hold an international conference at Geneva, Switzerland. On August 27th, 2011, NKHR held their 5th Beautiful Dream Concert for fundraising to help NK youth in SK and support the programs that Education and Training team runs.

The Research team collects and publicizes facts and other information on the current North Korean human rights situation. Currently, they are publicizing quarterly (Life and Human Rights) and monthly newsletters. They also publicize research papers and reports based on testimonies of NK. Based on their collected facts and testimonies, they published a book reporting child abuse in NK named “Child is the King of Country.”

Compared to the International Cooperation & Campaign team and the Research ream, the Education & Training team runs programs not only to educate and help NK teenagers adjust to new environments but also to become a mentor for them. The Education and Training team also runs the program to raise the awareness and lead S. Koreans to gain a better understanding of NK. They run ten programs throughout the year:

1. Hangyereh Summer and Winter School

: First started in 2001 summer. Since most of NK youth cannot receive proper education that they should in their age, they strengthen the basics mainly of math and English. However, in here, they do not only strengthen the basics but also a place for them to refresh.

2. Home Visits Program

: Volunteers used to go to the places of NK youth or those who needs helps with their education, but currently they link up the volunteers and NK youth who needs tutor of specific subject.

3. Leadership Education Workshop for N. Korean University Students

: It is three nights and four days program solely for ten to fifteen N. Korean university students. These students are recommended by former students who took this workshop. In this workshop, students will take various lectures.

4. Leadership Education for NK University Students

: This is small group meeting for N. Korean university students who took the Leadership Education workshop. Through this meeting, they would do volunteers or take lectures they need.

5. Volunteer Education Workshop

: This is two nights and three days workshop for university students and adults to raise the awareness and possibly lead them to volunteer in NK-related field.

6. Human Rights Education Workshop for Teenagers

: To educate teenagers about what Human right is and to lead them to have better understanding about North Korea and defectors.

7. Visiting Hanawon

: NKHR junior officer and volunteers visit Hanawon every Saturday. They have two sessions running; first session for math and English class and second session for outside activities.

8. ‘Becoming One’ Outing

: NK youth and SK youth would gather up once in two weeks and share the cultures and help them to build real friendship.

Article about outing:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/world/asia/12koreastudents.html?pagewanted=1&%2339&%2359; Alliance for North Korean Human RIghts&sq=Citizens&st=cse&scp=1

9. L4 Soccer Team (Learn to Love, Love to Learn Soccer Team)

: NK university students and volunteers gathered up under the motto Learn to Love, Love to Learn and made the soccer team. By playing the game, the wall between NK and SK is broken.

10. Pulbburi (풀뿌리) Scholarship

: Pulbburi in Korean literally means roots of grass. However as a Pulbburi Scholarship, volunteers or anyone donate from dollar to how much they want to in a month and this donated fund goes to one of NK student to cheer him/her.

With these programs and works that NKHR do, they are not only the human rights activists but also become friend to North Korean defectors. To know more about NKHR, you can go on to Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights website: www.nkhumanrights.or.kr

- Miri Cha

28th September 2011
2 notes
North Korea Human Rights NKHR Citizen's Alliance for North Korean Human Rights North Korean human rights 
Now, Action, Unity and Human Right (NAUH) Now, Action, Unity and Human Right (NAUH) is an organization based on Dongguk University, South Korea. This organization is founded by North Korean defector, Seong-ho Ji, in April, 2010. Unlike members of other organizations, NAUH members are formed with North Korean defectors, South Koreans (mainly university students) and second generations of overseas Koreans. They are newly organized, but during a year, what they have done is quite surprising. NAUH decided every Saturdays as ‘The day of North Korean Human Rights’ and go for street campaigns on general facts of human rights situation in NK and discharge of Aijalon Mahli Gomes, American human rights activists captured in NK. Through RFA (Radio Free Asia), NAUH radiobroadcasts ‘Youthful you’ every Thursday morning for twenty minutes since November, 2010. 5 percent of North Koreans (about 100 million) have heard this radiobroadcast and considering that North Koreans rarely exposed to any medias, it is the most influential way to let North Koreans to know what the fact is. The broadcast team is form with NAUH members and they have been broadcasted about political issues such as views on public death penalty and daily life such as S. Korean students studying English. NAUH is also active bringing North Korean defectors in China. They mainly bring NK women and children in China since January, 2011. From January, 2011 to September, 2011, they brought ten women and children in total. Currently, some of them are in S. Korea and the rest are in house of refuge in Thailand. The president of NAUH, Seong-ho Ji believes that not physical unification, but mental unification between N. Koreans, and S. Koreans are real unification. With this belief, NAUH hosted ‘NAUH Unification School’ January, 2011. Fifty of NAUH members, North and South Korean university students would meet up every Saturday from January to February, 2011 and heard lectures and discussed on hot issues of North Korean politics, human rights and nuclear. 2nd NAUH Unification School will be held during Winter break, 2011. Along with these events, NAUH is planning on new events/programs to raise awareness and to help N Korean university freshmen to adjust well in universities by building a mentor system. They are newly formed organization, but personally believe that if this organization keeps what they are doing, they will play important role in unification. For those who can read and understand Korean; check http://club.cyworld.com/2010NAUH Video clip from Carte Blanche (Broadcast from the Republic of South Africa) interviewing the president of NAUH, Seong-ho Ji (in English) : http://club.cyworld.com/clubV1/Home.cy/54142151 - Miri Cha

Now, Action, Unity and Human Right (NAUH)

Now, Action, Unity and Human Right (NAUH) is an organization based on Dongguk University, South Korea. This organization is founded by North Korean defector, Seong-ho Ji, in April, 2010. Unlike members of other organizations, NAUH members are formed with North Korean defectors, South Koreans (mainly university students) and second generations of overseas Koreans. They are newly organized, but during a year, what they have done is quite surprising.

NAUH decided every Saturdays as ‘The day of North Korean Human Rights’ and go for street campaigns on general facts of human rights situation in NK and discharge of Aijalon Mahli Gomes, American human rights activists captured in NK.

Through RFA (Radio Free Asia), NAUH radiobroadcasts ‘Youthful you’ every Thursday morning for twenty minutes since November, 2010. 5 percent of North Koreans (about 100 million) have heard this radiobroadcast and considering that North Koreans rarely exposed to any medias, it is the most influential way to let North Koreans to know what the fact is. The broadcast team is form with NAUH members and they have been broadcasted about political issues such as views on public death penalty and daily life such as S. Korean students studying English.

NAUH is also active bringing North Korean defectors in China. They mainly bring NK women and children in China since January, 2011. From January, 2011 to September, 2011, they brought ten women and children in total. Currently, some of them are in S. Korea and the rest are in house of refuge in Thailand.

The president of NAUH, Seong-ho Ji believes that not physical unification, but mental unification between N. Koreans, and S. Koreans are real unification. With this belief, NAUH hosted ‘NAUH Unification School’ January, 2011. Fifty of NAUH members, North and South Korean university students would meet up every Saturday from January to February, 2011 and heard lectures and discussed on hot issues of North Korean politics, human rights and nuclear. 2nd NAUH Unification School will be held during Winter break, 2011.

Along with these events, NAUH is planning on new events/programs to raise awareness and to help N Korean university freshmen to adjust well in universities by building a mentor system. They are newly formed organization, but personally believe that if this organization keeps what they are doing, they will play important role in unification.

For those who can read and understand Korean;

check http://club.cyworld.com/2010NAUH

Video clip from Carte Blanche (Broadcast from the Republic of South Africa) interviewing the president of NAUH, Seong-ho Ji (in English)

: http://club.cyworld.com/clubV1/Home.cy/54142151

- Miri Cha

28th September 2011
North Korea North Korean human rights human rights kim jong-il kim jung il NAUH Now Action Unity and Human Rights 

Nothing to Envy

image

“Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea” is a novelized, nonfiction look at the population of North Korea during the past few decades. The author, journalist Barbara Demick, chose to focus on a few individuals and families and their stories. This was effective not only because it narrowed down the overwhelming amount of information Demick must have gathered throughout her travels and interviews, but it also gave the book the feel of a novel, making the inevitable realization that the stories are simply cold hard facts only that much more shocking.

Not having known too many explicit details about life in NK before joining F4NK, I was filled with a sense of passionate outrage as I read through each chapter of the book. The injustice of it all struck me so hard that at times I felt like I might vomit. The first section discusses the teenage life of defector Mi-Ran, as well as some of the broader issues of North Korea. Mi-Ran grew up in a world I simply cannot comprehend— totally limited in what she was allowed to do, brainwashed by the government, completely cut off from reality. One day she was audacious enough to—gasp—ride a bike in public. This behavior was so unacceptable for a young woman that men started chasing her, trying to push her off her bike because  ”You’re going to tear your cunt!”

But I was even more horrified to learn that, over the past two decades, citizens have often go days without running water, that the electricity cuts out intermittently, that food has been rationed so strictly that thousands, even millions, died of hunger—all this while Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il bask in luxury. How warped can your sense of morality be that you let the people of your own country die? How is it possible that Kim Il-sung was legitimately more concerned about whether or not citizens were fulfilling their daily duty of polishing the portrait of himself he required everyone to hang in their home?

Even more shocking is that I myself have grown up unaware of the tragic and dire circumstances faced by the NK population every day. As American children, we are taught that Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin are evil. But what about Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il? Causing the deaths of millions, leading their country into famine and blackness… and for the citizens that realize how terrible the situation truly is, there is no way to escape. Of course learning about the problems of the past is important, but what about these problems, facing us here in the present?

I haven’t finished the book yet (so this post may be edited once I reach the conclusion), but I think it’s worth a read for anyone interested in learning more about the situation in NK. I have definitely become even more passionate about doing what I can to help the situation. If you have any sense of justice, I think you will too, as you read through Demick’s accounts.

-Rebecca

23rd September 2011
14 notes
books Nothing to Envy Barbara Demick North Korea activism human rights Chongjin defectors nonfiction 
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NY Philharmonic in North Korea

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/world/asia/27symphony.html?_r=1

Even though it happened a few years ago, I thought this was a really moving article. It’s not like it changed the world, but I think efforts from all organizations, even performing arts, are important. And it must have been a pretty epic experience for both the performers and the audience.

- Rebecca

13th September 2011
9 notes
North Korea music NY Phil activism Pyongyang Wagner Dvorak 

Colbert discussing North Korea and a recent smuggling plot bringing shoes into the country. His anecdote included jokes on Riverdance, jazz hands, and a ban on tap shoes, with the bit culminating in a performance by the Kim Bojangles. A fiercely satirical assault on Kim Jung Il, and freedom of speech at its best.

28th August 2011
2 notes

NYU Freedoms 4 North Korea, powered by Tumblr, Beckett theme by Jonathan Beckett