Summer Internship at Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, Seoul, South Korea

Just thought this would be the perfect opportunity to share about my summer internship experience (2009) at the Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR) as one of the scholars of Harvard University Committee for Human Rights Studies (UCHRS).

My internship experience at the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR) was incredibly hectic and overwhelming at times, yet I consider every second to be invaluably rewarding. Since the day I arrived here in Seoul, South Korea, so much happened in the Korean peninsula, including at least five separate rounds of missile tests by North Korean regime, suicide death of the South Korean President, twelve-year sentencing of two American journalists, unofficial announcement of Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-il’s third son, as the successor, detainment of a South Korean employee (Mr. You) of Hyundai in Gaesong Industrial Complex, and many more. Caught in the midst of all the global attention, sitting in the NKHR office often seemed no less than a heated war zone. As a matter of fact, the Korean War has never seen an official end, which gives this entire human rights crisis all the more meaning and urgency. Separated by the demilitarized zone, South Korea represents an overly fattened cow rottening within, while North Korea represents an extremely emaciated cow chained to the Kim Jong-il dictatorship.

In the scheme of this large picture, how I spent my two months working as a Campaign Team intern at NKHR can seem like a meager speck. Indeed, working within an NGO with limited resources, striving to maintain its purely humanitarian position without being swayed left or right, I sometimes wondered whether any of this really mattered and would have any sort of impact on the situation in North Korea. But the more I spent time with North Korean defectors and the more I spoke with various human rights activists, I began to realize that all this is actually a process toward and preparation for reunification, when love and understanding will have to cover up multitudes of scars, and human rights will have to rise above the past failures to build a united Korea once again.

As I sit here reminiscing at all the activities that have been realized by NKHR this past summer, I cannot help but gasp at the sheer amount and extent of accomplishments. Considering all the superficial elements, such as an office located inside a nearly dilapidated building, a team of five or six extremely underpaid and overworked staff, a rock bottom budget, etc., I could not have imagined anything more than a nominal existence and low-cost, mundane maintenance. Contrary to my rather utilitarian expectation, however, NKHR has not only withstood all the political pressures with its strictly humanitarian focus, but also proven its capacity to stand out and voice out for those suffering in darkest silence. United in one vision, staff and supervisors worked together to mobilize creativity and to avoid paralyzing bureaucracy that is so common within South Korea’s hierarchical society. As an intern with little background in human rights NGO, I was surprised how much I myself was able to contribute in brainstorming for campaign events, designing our newsletter template, improving fundraising efforts, and so forth.

Among many reasons behind NKHR’s success, I have learned that its longitudinal vision toward imminent reunification has truly been the sustaining factor. While many political entities and even human rights organizations tend to focus on resolving the current crisis, such as nuclear threat, political gulags, famine, etc., NKHR recognizes the need to take one step further and has already taken many initiatives to prepare for what is to come. With over 30,000 North Korean refugees settled in South Korea and perhaps up to tenfold more hiding in China, it cannot be denied that this flood out of Kim Jong-Il’s so-called “paradise” is an inevitable phenomenon to be continued. Such a massive exodus of first-hand victims from a world devoid of the word “human rights” can serve not only as a source of inside information, but also as a crucial manpower for preparing the Korean peninsula and the rest of the world for the reunification process. Having adopted this mindset, NKHR has established various programs to empower and equip young North Korean refugees living in South Korea. After attending a number of leadership training sessions and visiting the Hanawon resettlement center, I was firmly assured of the tangible outcomes of such programs and once again reminded of the importance and urgency of raising up strong leaders among the North Korean refugee population. No other figures than these young North Korean refugees would be equipped with the bi-cultural background so crucial to reconciling the two worlds. They would serve as the key, the bridge, or the ambassadors throughout the process of reuniting the broken family and healing the wounds, yet South Korean society has thus far neglected in providing them sufficient support for their education attainment and economic independence. While NKHR attempts to fill in those gaps and does quite well, a much more extensive effort needs to be launched given that the number of North Korean refugees will only continue to rise with the slowly crumpling regime.

In conclusion, I am grateful for the opportunity I have been given to deepen my understanding of North Korean human rights issue and to further solidify my lifelong commitment of service in this field. Looking back to what I have envisioned at the beginning of this past summer, I can truly attest that this internship has allowed me to achieve my initial goals: to avoid remaining within the emotional boundary of inactivity or returning to the cushion of complacency and ignorance; to understand the cultural/language/socioeconomic barriers faced by North Korean refugees living in South Korea; to form meaningful relationship with North Korean refugee youth and college students in the hopes of finding common ground to ameliorate the human rights crisis in North Korea; and to establish a connection between NKHR and student organizations in the U.S. in order to improve international-level dialogue and collaborative effort. In particular, I am extremely thrilled about continuing to pursue the last goal mentioned, in regards to building bridges between the NKHR and student organizations in the U.S. Currently, I am working with seven other NKHR summer interns from various universities in the U.S., such as Brown, Wellesley, University of Michigan, Harvard Law, etc., to organize some sort of national event that would bring together all the student organizations in the field of North Korean human rights.

As for students pursuing summer human rights work in the future, I would highly recommend considering Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights. This internship offers a great balance between all the behind-the-scene administrative tasks and the hands-on field experiences interacting with the North Korean refugees. Given its extremely active and outspoken role in South Korean society and in the international community, NKHR also offers countless networking opportunities for those students with a desire to continue fighting for the North Korean human rights issue. As for me, though I am still in the midst of absorbing all there is to learn about the human rights crisis in North Korea, more than ever before, I have found this cause to be truly worthy of lifelong commitment and service.