North Korea Human Rights Watch

North Korea Human Rights Watch (NKHRW) is a non-profit educational organization that was founded in May 2018. NKHRW serves a global community. The administration and staff believe that the single most valuable tool in the fight against human rights abuses in North Korea is quality education. The main goal of NKHRW is to inspire North Korean defector students residing in South Korea to embrace their education and integrate into democratic countries. We view these students as resilient survivors who have overcome innumerable challenges and hurdles to enjoy freedom in South Korea. Moreover, NKHRW recognizes that defector students are eager to learn about new cultures and embrace the new world in which they now live. Therefore, the administration and staff of NKHRW strive to provide these young, resilient North Korean defector students with opportunities to learn and educate themselves by exploring the Western world. NKHRW is committed to supporting them in building a bridge from their past hardships to a fuller, more promising future. To accomplish this goal, we empower our North Korean defector students with English as a Second Language (ESL) education and important cross-cultural experiences. Accordingly, NKHRW proudly creates and implements programs for these young defector students to improve their English skills as well as their understanding of the Western world. Students selected to participate in an NKHRW program return to South Korea more enriched and better prepared to undertake their future endeavors.

We also support college student organizations in South Korea, such as University Students’ Association for Unification (USAU), to raise awareness of human rights abuses in North Korea among college students not only in South Korea but in many free nations worldwide. Many students in South Korea pay little attention to North Korean human rights issues. Neither do many students worldwide take this problem seriously. NKHRW wants to help them raise their voices together to fight injustice in North Korea. We rely, and concentrate partially, on disseminating information via social media to meet this goal.

HUMAN RIGHTS FOR HUMAN WRONGS

NKHRW operates pursuant to the motto “Human Rights for Human Wrongs.” Simply put, students working within the framework of NKHRW believe that it is simply wrong to deny individuals access to global information and the benefit of the best possible education. Therefore, these students are working toward righting the wrong of the deliberate deprivation of a global education.

WHAT NKHRW DOES NOT DO

NKHRW does not seek to provide short-term financial assistance to North Korean defectors so much as long-term educational assistance. NKHRW believes that creating solid educational paths and programming for North Korean defectors will help them fend for themselves in their new communities. NKHRW avoids the pitfall of focusing on North Korea’s geopolitical environment and instead concentrates on individual defectors’ educational needs.