To Give or Not to Give: What's Driving the Current Deliberations on DPRK Food Aid?

Our friend, John Park, is moderating this live event in D.C. There is also a webcast if you want to watch from afar.

This event will be webcast live beginning at 2:30pm EST on May 5, 2011 at www.usip.org/webcast.

"In February and March, three U.N. agencies conducted on-the-ground assessments of the food situation in North Korea. After visiting 40 counties in nine of North Korea’s eleven provinces, the World Food Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and UNICEF reported on March 24 that more than 6 million North Koreans – about a quarter of the country’s population – are in urgent need of international food aid. Our panel will examine what factors are driving key countries’ deliberations on whether to provide food aid to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)."

Speakers
Dr. Richard Solomon, Welcoming Remarks, President, U.S. Institute of Peace

Professor Andrew Natsios, Panelist, Georgetown University

Dr. Marcus Noland, Panelist, Peterson Institute

Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, Panelist, Good Friends

Dr. John Park, Moderator, U.S. Institute of Peace

"It's Your Turn To Speak: Apply to be a Nomad" @LiNK!

LiNK (Liberty in North Korea) is looking for summer interns. Pretty cool program targeting college students and recent graduates, which is called "LiNK Nomads". It's a three-month commitment from August 30th to December 10th. More info from LiNK here:

"Nomads are different; everything is done in a wild way."

Once on board, you'll make your entrance in traditional wild fashion – living at the Nomad house and LiNK office, making your tour a reality by booking your route solid. You'll also get a crash course on North Korea, meet other trailblazers and discover a new family and part of yourself. You'll then pack your van with LiNK merchandise before you go out to incite a generation to rise up and investigate this issue for themselves. Tour is another story. One adventure will turn into another as you get a country excited about what they can do, turning that fire into something that will spread. The road won't be without bumps as you grow, but you will look back in appreciation and marvel.

The Nomadship is a three month commitment, August 30th and the new end date will be December 10th. Travel dates are September till early December. Housing will be provided during training, and on the road with your "contacts" who will soon become new friends. We’ll also help you raise your food and living stipend prior to your Nomadship. With this note* If these dates conflict with your school end date please email jobs@linkglobal.org.


It's Your Turn To Speak: Apply to be a Nomad from LiNK Global on Vimeo.

So if someone you know is interested, remember that:

- Deadline is July 23, 2010
- Limited spots available
- Rolling application process. The sooner you apply, the sooner you'll hear a response from LiNK. You can APPLY here.

Shop LiNK This Holiday, Rescue TheHundred

Shop LiNK from LiNK Global on Vimeo.

"The holidays are just around the corner and with it, exorbitant spending. What if this year, we put a small fraction of that spending to work - not only giving gifts but also changing the lives of North Koreans in the process?

This holiday season, we have the opportunity to do more with our giving.

Give a LiNK gift and directly contribute to TheHundred, LiNK's new program to bring 100 North Korean refugees out of hiding from the underground. We want to begin this initiative as soon as possible, but we can't do it without your support. You can buy the LiNK holiday package which includes a scarf, t-shirt and hoodie and ALL proceeds from sales of the package will benefit this rescue.

NEW scarves, hoodies, laptop cases and t-shirts are also available individually here."

"All of Us" TheHundred Holiday Campaign from LiNK Global on Vimeo.

Craziness of Christine Ahn and the Korea Policy Institute

Once in a while you come across such an outlier perspective on an issue that it's difficult to categorize as "far left" or "far right." Just reading a piece by Christine Ahn and Thomas Kim of the Korea Policy Institute it's not even possible to label it "far, far left" or "extreme left" because a couple of my far left friends didn't welcome such a viewpoint so one word remains: crazy.

This is the second crazy piece I read from Christine Ahn and beginning to believe she's from the halls of Pyongyang or Venus. Her latest article, "The Untold Story Behind Human Rights Violations in North Korea," states such fantasied notions as questioning why North Korea is on the State Department's terrorist list and being "tarred with the label of human rights abuser."

I doubt recent news of North Korea's increased missile threats and the recent plight of Laura Ling and Euna Lee will sway Christine or Thomas.

They even bring forth such a frivolous argument against sanctions because "no domestic group within North Korea supports sanctions, as did the African National Congress in South Africa and the National League for Democracy in Burma." Eh? It's a dictatorship. Hello!

So do they believe there are no concentration camps in North Korea? And no human rights violations? The food aid that was flowing into North Korea for years was not being diverted to the military or black markets? Do they believe there should be increased aid from South Korea or elsewhere? All very puzzling to me.

American Express Members Project... Vote for LiNK or Five & Alive! Both!

A couple great causes I know of are participating in the American Express Members Project where the winning project will be awarded $1.5 million. Second and third place projects will win $500,000 and $300,000 respectively, and then two finalists will win $100,000 each. Very cool effort by American Express.

The first project to consider is Liberty House by LiNK (Liberty in North Korea):

Liberty House: a refugee resettlement center specifically for North Korean refugees seeking asylum in the U.S. In conjunction with the federal government, full financial support, basic necessities, and core services – such as case management, vocational/ educational training, job placement, counseling, mentorship, cultural orientation, and recreational/ youth activities – will be provided. The goal of Liberty House is to acculturate these unique refugees and help them become self-sufficient.

North Korea is home to some of today’s worst human rights violations. As such, up to 300,000 have fled to China risking torture/execution if captured and repatriated. A fraction escape and seek resettlement in nations willing to provide asylum. Once resettled, refugees face issues like discrimination, acclimating to a new culture/language, getting jobs, and starting new lives alone. Due to the unique background of these refugees, it’s critical there is a program to address their specific needs. (read more and vote here)


Mi Sun: A North Korean Refugee


Adrian Hong, LiNK's Co-founder and Executive Director, is a friend and asked me to be an advisor to their incredible nonprofit organization earlier this year.

The second project to consider is Five & Alive. It was founded by Kate Roberts, who I met during the Socrates Society Seminars of the Aspen Institute. Very cool and amazing person. Kate founded the Youth AIDS program and then founded Five & Alive. Both are initiatives under PSI. More on their project:

Five & Alive reaches children five and under to prevent and treat malaria, water-borne illness, pneumonia and malnutrition. Five & Alive, a program of Population Services International (PSI), provides children and their families with the education, products, services and care needed to improve health and save lives in more than 30 countries.

Every year, an estimated two million children under the age of five die from diarrhea. Children die in such shockingly high numbers because of loss of fluids during severe diarrhea. Approximately 95% of these deaths could be prevented. There is a solution that is simple to use, cost effective and could save millions of lives. That solution is oral rehydration salts (ORS) combined with zinc.

Five & Alive has such a treatment in one complete package called a Diarrhea Treatment Kit. This kit costs just 37¢ and is easy to distribute. This Five & Alive project can be eligible for the top Members Project prize of $1.5 million but we can’t do it alone - we need your help. (read more and vote here)


Reducing diarrhea risk for Cambodian children


The first round of VOTING ENDS AUGUST 31ST. Vote for one of these great causes! Vote for both!!

"Crossing"... Los Angeles Screening

There will be a special screening of a Korean movie, Crossing, in LA on Thursday, June 19 at 7:00 pm.

This is presented by LiNK, KoreAm Journal, and ImaginAsian Entertainment. I serve on LiNK's advisory board, but would promote this anyway since this is simply a great cause. More info:

Production quietly began on this film in 2004, and today we have the first feature film touching upon the North Korean human rights and refugee crisis. It is slated for theatrical release in South Korea on June 26. This film may very well be our movement's "Hotel Rwanda" or "Schindler's List." We are excited to be able to present this film here in the US for special advance screening.

Location: ImaginAsian Center, 251 South Main Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Presented by: LiNK, KoreAm Journal, and ImaginAsian Entertainment.
RSVP with name, affiliation, and reference. Affiliation and reference required: rsvp[at]linkglobal.org.
*Seating is limited and RSVP's will be on a first-come, first-serve basis.

"Drama focuses on horror of re-education camps
Depicts perils of N. Korean defector" The Washington Times

"Giving Until It Hurts"... Stephen Linton

Great article in The Washington Post on Dr. Stephen Linton and his efforts to help the people of North Korea. I met Stephen Linton almost 15 years ago when my parents befriended him and supported the early days of the Eugene Bell Foundation. I remember one fund-raiser at our home where Linton was showing a video of one of his trips inside North Korea during the mid-90s. Some of the footage showed people eating grass, bark, and whatever else to sustain themselves. It was and still is a systematic starvation of its people. The concentration camps, which most of the world ignores, there are a systematic killing of its citizens.

Giving Until It Hurts
For a decade, Stephen Linton has been battling an epidemic of tuberculosis -- and the world's most obstinate bureaucracy -- in North Korea, a country few foreigners are allowed to even see

STEPHEN LINTON IS BEING HUSTLED THROUGH THE DARKENING CORRIDORS of Hadan Tuberculosis Hospital in western North Korea. It took him three hours to get here from Pyongyang, the capital, which is linked tenuously to Hadan by 50 miles of deeply rutted and washed-out roads. A diminutive man with a craggy face and patrician silhouette, Linton has just finished unloading a cache of medical supplies, and now the hospital director, who wears a white lab coat and a head covering that could double for a baker's hat, wants him to observe a surgery. But they'll have to hurry: It's already late in the November day and, in a country where electricity is tightly rationed, a surgery's outcome can hinge on how much sunlight is pouring through operating room windows... (full article)

U.S. Tour of North Korean Defector

Press Release from LiNK:

US TOUR OF NORTH KOREAN DEFECTOR BORN AND RAISED IN CONCENTRATION CAMP

Washington, DC – LiNK will be hosting North Korean defector Dong-hyuk SHIN on a speaking tour entitled, "Born and Raised in a Concentration Camp," from Wednesday, April 30 to Wednesday, May 14. Shin will recount his experiences as a North Korean who was born into slavery as a political prisoner in a North Korean concentration camp. After some relatives defected, Shin's father, grandparents, and uncle were deemed treasonous and sent to separate camps. His father was sent to Political Prison Camp No. 14 in Kaechon, South Pyongan province, which houses approximately 60,000 inmates and is about 50 miles north of Pyongyang. For good behavior, he was permitted to marry a fellow inmate.

Dong-hyuk SHIN was born on Nov. 19, 1982 and called the camp home until 2005. While at the camp, Shin endured daily beatings, torture, starvation-level rations, saw forced abortions and even witnessed the public execution of his mother and brother in 1996. Shin described his life of total isolation from the world: "In South Korea, although there is disappointment and sadness, there is also so much joy, happiness and comfort. In Kaechon, I did not even know such emotions existed. The only emotion I ever knew was fear: fear of beatings, fear of starvation, fear of torture and fear of death."

The speaking tour will be held in Washington, DC (4/30-5/5); New York City (5/6-5/8); Chicago (5/9-5/10); San Francisco (5/11-5/13); Los Angeles (5/13); and Irvine, California (5/14). For more details, please visit: http://www.libertyinnorthkorea.blogspot.com/

LiNK's Executive Director Adrian Hong and Deputy Director Hannah Song will accompany Shin on the tour and will be speaking about the broader issue of human rights in North Korea, as well as the current refugee situation and LiNK's resettlement activities. Liberty in North Korea, or LiNK, is an international non-governmental organization devoted to human rights in North Korea and the protection of North Korean refugees.



So Christine and I are helping LiNK with this tour. Christine set up the Tech Talk for LiNK and Dong-hyuk Shin at Google, and we're helping Michael and Sunny Yang who are hosting a private event at their home in Los Altos Hills on May 13th. If you're in the Bay Area and interested in attending, just email me at bernard.moon[at]gmail.com. Also here is the rest of the tour's schedule.

"US-Bound NK Refugees in Bangkok Must Be Given Exit Visas"

Press Release from LiNK:

Washington, DC - LiNK calls upon the Kingdom of Thailand to issue exit visas without delay to North Korean refugees bound for resettlement in the United States. On Thursday, April 10, twenty three North Korean refugees launched a hunger strike as a final desperate plea to the Thai and U.S. governments for expedited processing of their exit visas. Participating in the hunger strike are 15 refugees currently in the Bangkok Immigration Detention Center (IDC), as well as another 8 housed at an external shelter- all of whom are in the queue to go to the United States. Many of these refugees have been waiting for over a year in various IDC's in Thailand or in external shelters, some even up to two years with no sense for when they can anticipate leaving.

"These North Korean refugees cannot even begin to understand the true concept of freedom even after leaving North Korea if they are being kept in detention centers, prisons, and shelters for over a year with no idea when they will be able to leave and begin their new lives," noted LiNK Deputy Director Hannah Song. "In recent months we have seen a marked acceleration in processing of North Korean refugees headed for the ROK, but an inconsistent and delayed process for those hoping to go to the U.S."

Included in the group of refugees waiting to go to the U.S. was a North Korean woman who was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. The woman was granted an exit visa on humanitarian grounds yesterday with her immediate family; other refugees, many of them also with serious health issues, remain in Thailand. As of Monday, April 14, LiNK protection officers reported that four refugees participating in the hunger strike had already fainted, with the remaining refugees determined to carry on until definitive measures have been taken to ensure their exit to the U.S.

The refugees in question have fled from North Korea, some spending significant time hiding in China, many facing situations of starvation, severe oppression, sex trafficking or exploitation from brokers on the long journey to Thailand. While the Thai government will not repatriate North Koreans, and claims to recognize them as refugees, in practice they have been treated as illegal immigrants and subject to imprisonment in IDCs.

Liberty in North Korea, or LiNK, an international NGO devoted to the protection of human rights for North Koreans, has been monitoring the situation of North Korean refugees in Thailand for 6 months. The organization has met regularly with refugees both in hiding and in the government's Immigration Detention Centers.