LiNK Press Release

[Update: NKay has the full schedule for “Project Sunshine.” The name is rather inspired, I think.]

Adrian Hong sends news of LiNK’s next campaign to seize the initiative on human rights on the streets of Seoul. Some gratuitous advice: bring plenty of camcorders in case these guys show up. That way, if they revert to their thuggish character, there will be incentives for the South Korean and American governments to add significant legal action to the self-discrediting of the radical Korean left.

Yes, this will take courage. To join or support LiNK, click. Full press release follows.

(SEOUL – MAY 16) Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) will kick off a two-week campaign for human rights for North Koreans with a press conference and mock funeral at 10:00 AM on Thursday, May 18 in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Jongno-gu, Seoul. LiNK hopes to raise greater awareness of human rights violations in North Korea and urge the South Korean government to take a more active approach on human rights in its dealings with Pyongyang. LiNK will be holding a mock funeral to mourn for victims of starvation, execution and torture in North Korea, continuing victims of public apathy and indifference.

“The voices of the citizens of Korea, and Seoul in particular, have been most noticeably absent from the dialogue on this crucial issue. This is an enormous tragedy that demands our full and urgent attention,” said Adrian Hong, Executive Director of LiNK. “The citizens of Korea should be at the forefront of the global movement for North Korean human rights.

A delegation of 35 Korean Americans and Americans are paying their own way out to Seoul to participate. Joining them in the two-week campaign will be a host of Korea-based activists; including Tim Peters with Helping Hands Korea, Kang Chul Hwan ““ Co-author of “Aquariums of Pyongyang,” Ahn Myung Chul – a former prison guard in North Korea, Sohn Jung Hoon ““ a defector whose brother was killed in a public execution, Kim Sung Min – president of “Radio Free North Korea,” and Cho Myung Sook – principal of Yuh Myung School and Jayoutuh School (which assists North Koreans with resettling in South Korea).

“Korean citizens and government officials are in a frenzy over Dokdo, an uninhabited island, and the upcoming World Cup,” said Hong. “But where are the rallies for the millions of malnourished brothers and sisters in North Korea? Where are the candlelight vigils for the hundreds of thousands of brutalized and tortured political prisoners?”

Hong added, “The freedom, democracy and prosperity South Korea enjoys today bring with them an obligation to help those less fortunate, and we can begin with those family members just north of us, who are in dire circumstances.

LiNK will be hosting a series of awareness-oriented events and seminars at major universities and schools throughout Seoul, as well as sitting in on meetings with public officials, policy makers and NGO workers and activists working on North Korean issues. The objective of the three-week trip is to encourage a domestic, grassroots movement for North Korean human rights, and to remind South Koreans of the urgency of the cause for North Korean human rights.

In the past decade, an estimated 2 to 3 million North Koreans died of starvation alone. Currently, an estimated 200,000 North Koreans remain imprisoned in concentration camps, and an additional 100,000 to 200,000 North Koreans remain in hiding in China as refugees, hunted down and repatriated by the Chinese government. Various studies have placed the rate of sexual trafficking among female NK refugees as high as 70 to 90%.

LiNK is an international grassroots organization of young people devoted to pressing for awareness and change on the issue of North Korean human rights. There are 70 chapters worldwide, including the US, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Europe and Australia. LiNK is non-profit, non-partisan, non-religious and non-ethnic. The organization currently maintains many field projects, including Project Safe Haven, a network of 30 underground shelters in China protecting North Korean refugees, among them orphans, sexually trafficked women and chronically-ill North Koreans unable to get treatment in China, as well as Project Hope Net, an effort to rescue and protect in particular sexually trafficked women. LiNK is also involved in resettlement efforts for newly-admitted North Korean refugees in the United States. The group is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and led by young Korean Americans.

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