Letter to President Trump from North Korean Defectors

April 28, 2018

Mr. Donald J. Trump
President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC 20500

Dear President Donald Trump,

We are writing to you today as defectors from North Korea who have survived and left the most oppressive regime on the earth.

Today, we are holding the 15th North Korea Freedom Week event and are sending this letter to let you know how we, North Korean defectors, feel about freedom and liberty for the North Korean people.

Your meeting with Kim Jong-un has only come about because of your policy of ‘maximum pressure and engagement’ against North Korea. Please know that this meeting gives a great deal of hope to the 25 million North Koreans. Most of the North Korean people hope that the Kim dynasty, which has been in existence for 73 years, will end.

The thirty-two thousand North Korean refugees, who have left their beloved parents, family members, and relatives in North Korea, would like you to consider the following: Continue reading “Letter to President Trump from North Korean Defectors”

15th North Korea Freedom Week 2018 Press Release

15th North Korea Freedom Week 2018 (April 28~May 5)

Introduction:

‘North Korea Freedom Week’ is co-organized by NGOs in South Korea as well as international community to promote the freedom and human rights of North Korean people, which is held in the last week of April.

The events of North Korea Freedom Week focus on raising awareness on dire human rights situation that North Korean people face every day, and open to the public so that anyone can join.

The 15th North Korea Freedom Week is organized by the Honorary Chairman Suzanne Scholte of North Korea Freedom Coalition, and the representatives of North Korean defector NGOs and civil society leaders cooperate to form the Organizing Committee.

The theme of the 15th North Korea Freedom Week is “Truth Will Set Them Free”, and aims to achieve following goals:

1) To highlight the North Korean defectors’ actions to bring the freedom to North Korea (including balloon launch, sending PET bottles with rice)
2) To save North Korean refugees in China and call for the Chinese government to stop repatriating North Korean refugees
3) To introduce the education program for North Korean defector children
4) To expose the ongoing human rights violation of political prison and human trafficking, and find the solution

Continue reading “15th North Korea Freedom Week 2018 Press Release”

China Detains 7 More North Korean Refugees

Forced Return Threatens Torture, Sexual Abuse, and Mistreatment

Sophie Richardson
China Director
Human Rights Watch

All day, Park anxiously checked her cell phone, awaiting news of her sister, who was being transported along with six other North Koreans from China’s northern Liaoning province to southern Yunnan province.

Then came the news she dreaded: a text message saying Chinese police had apprehended her sister and two other North Koreans, including a teenager, while they were waiting for a train that day in late March. The other four members of the group briefly hid out in a safe house, but they too were apprehended a few days later.

Today, Park, who only uses her surname for fear of retaliation against relatives living in North Korea, joined a gathering of North Korean exiles and their supporters outside China’s embassy in Seoul, South Korea. The group meets monthly to call on the Chinese government to stop forcibly returning North Korean refugees back across the border to face torture, forced labor, sexual abuse, and worse.

“My sister has only me,” Park said. “And we need to do all we can before China decides to send her back to unimaginable horrors of torture, beatings, threats, and being treated like less than an animal.”

Continue reading “China Detains 7 More North Korean Refugees”

International Day of Prayer and Fasting for North Korea

 

April 28

Please commit to pray and fast with us for the people of North Korea on Saturday, April 28, the International Day of Extraordinary Prayer and Fasting to Almighty God for North Korea.

While there have been many prayer vigils and services focused on North Korea, we believe that not just prayer — but also fasting — is necessary to combat the evil that reigns over the people of North Korea.

In January, 2018, Dr. Thomas Belke, one of the world’s leading experts on Juche and author of JUCHE: A Christian Study of North Korea’s State Religion, testified before the Congressional International Religious Freedom Caucus about the spiritual evil pervading North Korea explaining that it can only be defeated by prayer and fasting. Citing Matthew 17:21, when Jesus told his disciples, “This kind [of demon] does not go out except by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21), Dr. Belke reminded us of the many times in America’s history (e.g., President James Madison in 1814) when Americans appealed to Heaven with prayer and fasting to change the course of history.

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Defectors and North Korean Human Rights NGOs Hold Press Conference in Front of the Blue House

Press Release

Submission of a Formal Petition to Include the North Korean Human Rights Issue as an Agenda in the Coming South-North Summit Talk

Host:  Defectors and about 30 other North Korean Human Rights NGOs including Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of Korea (LHUK, Rep. Kim Tae-hoon)

Date:  11 a.m, March 22, 2018

Venue:  At the water fountain in front of the Blue House

Download PDF

Continue reading “Defectors and North Korean Human Rights NGOs Hold Press Conference in Front of the Blue House”

NK Women 2018 Speaking Tour

Please join NKFC and our Working Group on North Korean Women for one of the following events. We will be joined by two North Korean women who will speak about their experiences in North Korean and China.

March 8, 2017 at 7pm
International Women’s Day Event
GW Marvin Center, Washington, DC

March 10, 2017 at 7pm
Main Street Meets North Korea
West Branch Bible Baptist Church, Deposit, NY

March 12, 2017 at 4:30pm
Destitution in Rural DPRK and China
4 W 43rd St, Aqua Room, New York, NY

NKFC Executive Committee Letter to President Trump

Today, the NKFC Executive Committee delivered a letter to the White House congratulating President Trump on a decisive, human rights focused speech  to the South Korean National Assembly. The President addressed the grave human rights situation in North Korea and gave hope to the millions of oppressed in the North.

We also asked President Trump to tell Xi Jinping to stop violating international law by forcibly repatriating North Korean refugees.

Letter to President Trump (PDF)
President Trump’s Remarks (PDF)