USAU Seminar on book & Movie

Medical students Talking about Healthcare in North Korea (MedTHiNK) is an organization consisted of Korean university students with a keen interest in healthcare and human rights in North Korea. MedTHiNK strongly believes that studying about medical support for North Korea, healthcare targeting North Korean refugees, and inter-Korean medical cooperation would provide ways to practical considerations regarding the unification and human rights of people in North Korea.

USAU and NKHRW hosted one day cafe in Seoul to raise funds for North Korean defector students. Students from North and South Korea served cookies, tea, coffee and so much more to customers who visited to support our mission. These students were from many different universities in Seoul and they developed a strong bond running one day cafe together.   

North and South Korean students held a cooking class together to learn how to cook famous NK food - INJOKOGI which means artificial meat. In North Korea, it is hard to consume meat, and Injo Kogi is alternative meat that can provide necessary proteins to NK people.

HANA held a fundraising campaign selling handmade pouches to donate sanitary pads to North Korean defector students in South Korea. 

Masquerade, the main theme of the party, symbolizes the message that no matter where we come from or grow up in, whether it's NK or any other country, we are all people with hopes and dreams and should be seen with respect and unbiased eyes. Here we celebrate our diverse youth and its limitless potential!

North & South Korean students gathered together to get to know each other in two different sports events, Bowling night & Mountain Day. 

NKHRW and USAU are organizing a student group to start a social enterprise in order to help North Korean Defector students. The goal of this venture enterprise is to raise funds for NKHRW and USAU’s future projects and activities by producing and selling various goods in Korea and the U.S. 

This workshop was an opportunity to talk about the future unification of Korea. North and South Korean students tried to understand and overcome the differences between them through various activities in the workshop.

“Healing in Jeju” is a student-led camp where university students from the North and South travel in Jeju Island as they learn about the Jeju 4.3 incident as well as the process of reconciliation and social integration after the historic tragedy derived from ideological conflict.

 The main objective of this program is to encourage constructive relationships between North and South participants as well as different USAU school clubs. Every healthy partnership as well as social integration starts with a genuine and friendly relationship. USAU expects “Healing in Jeju” to stimulate an active collaboration of school club activities and provide a chance for students from North and South to understand each other well. 

March 28th, 2019, Catch Café. Seoul, Korea

About the Lecturer

Professor Kang Dong-wan is currently the head of Busan Hana Center (an institute in Busan designated by the Ministry of Unification to assist North Korean defectors with settlement) and a scholar at Dong-A University. His research interests include the Korean Wave (Hallyu) in North Korea, North Korean media, culture in the two Koreas, and settlement support policies for North Korean defectors. 

At the same time, he is widely known as Creative Director for Unification for his photography work from the China–North Korea border region, capturing images of people living ordinary lives in the divided country, shining light on those outside of Pyongyang—a city for a handful of loyal elites, who are well-treated. 

For his ambitious activities related to unification and his excellent research achievements, he received the Presidential Award in 2015.  

Mrs. Young Hee Heo, who is a former professor at Haesan Art College in North Korea and a vocal performer, will share her story of defecting to South Korea and her new life of freedom in this society. She will also share how her South Korean colleagues helped her overcome the agony of her husband and sons being repatriated to the North on their way to defect to the South. Mrs. Heo will share a few of her favorite songs, like “Danny Boy,” and encourage people to remember and act for human rights in North Korea.

University students from various schools in Seoul, South Korea gathered together at the conference to exchange their academic reports on issues relating to North Korea from different perspectives.