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| San Francisco Summit
April 19-22, 2007
Because of LiNK's large geographical stretch it becomes nearly impossible for LiNK's coordinators and activists to meet on a regular basis. To solve this LiNK has held two international summits every year- a Summer and Winter Summit, where the entirety of LiNK, as well as those interested in becoming part of LiNK, get together to look back on the past, catch up on developments and plan for the future. LiNK has held Summits so far in San Diego, California; Englewood, New Jersey; Irvine, California; Washington, D.C.; and Los Angeles, California.
Summits regularly feature prominent speakers (Washington, D.C., for example, had a senior MOFAT official from the ROK, representatives from the office of the US Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights, and David Hawk, NK human rights researcher), off-the-record discussions and debates, presentations by underground field workers and the latest updates on advocacy efforts worldwide.
We have not had a Summit for LiNK since the summer of 2006, as LiNK and the movement have been in the thick of some important changes. Next month, San Francisco will be host to our final LiNK Summit- perhaps our most important! The Summit will feature a special presentation by David Hawk, leading researcher on North Korean human rights, as well as the debut of his new report, presentations on latest developments in the field and for the movement, and intense debates and discussions on future directions. Also, we may be graced with the presence of some very special guests. The NKHR movement of today is different than that of several years ago, and our discussions and presentations will highlight new priorities and targets, and methods of engaging the powers that be.
Participants pay a fee of $125, including three night's lodging, lunch on Friday and Saturday, summit t-shirt, materials and registration. -- Applications available here: [ link ]
Registration fees payable here:
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| LiNK at the AMSA National Convention
March 9, 2007 @ 1:30 pm
Hyatt Regency, Crystal City, Virginia
LiNK will be hosting a special presentation on the state of health and human rights in the DPRK at this weekend's 57th Annual American Medical Students Association National Convention, entitled: "Health Care Justice: Pursuing The Dream of a Healthy Society." Executive Director Adrian Hong will speak as a part of a panel entitled: "North Korea: Forgotten Humanity Behind a Cruel Regime." The discussion will cover the NK health system, it's breakdown, public access to health care and humanitarian response to the NK system and crisis.
For more information, see: www.amsa.org/conv/.
LiNK at the United Nations
March 23, 2007 @ 1 pm
Palais des Nations, Room TBD
Geneva, Switzerland
LiNK will be participating in meetings at the upcoming session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, participating in briefings, advocacy, and presentations. Freedom House has organized a panel entitled,
"North Korean Human Rights: Moving the Agenda"- featuring speakers:
Vitit Muntarbhorn, Special Rapporteur (invited)
Elizabeth Batha, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (confirmed)
Jared Genser, DLA Piper (confirmed)
David Hawk, Author of Hidden Gulag & Thank You Father Kim Il Sung (confirmed)
Roland Kovats, Freedom House Europe (confirmed)
Adrian Hong, Liberty in North Korea (confirmed)
For more information, email barnes@freedomhouse.org.
UN Human Rights Council website: here | | |
| Dear LiNK Supporters of Chicago, An easy way to donate to LiNK! Jewel: Shop and Share Print the coupon below out as many times as you want, and go shop at JEWEL from March 12th through March 14th . Present the coupon at the time of purchase and 5% of your total proceeds will be donated to LiNK [www.linkglobal.org ]. Please feel free to forward this to your friends and families! Happy Shopping! | | |
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| Inside North Korea
National Geographic Explorer, Tonight, 9 pm
Encore: Wednesday, 8 pm
Tune in to catch Lisa Ling's undercover trip into the DPRK.
Some background from Lisa Ling:
"I have traveled to many places on many continents, but I never felt my personal freedom limited as much as it was during our time in North Korea. North Korea is usually off-limits to foreigners—especially to Americans. In order to film the work of Dr. Ruit, a Nepalese eye surgeon, the only way that I could enter the secretive state was to go undercover posing as part of his medical team. Ruit’s goal is to heal patients in poor countries who have gone blind from cataracts. My cameraman and I hoped that we would also get glimpses of real life in North Korea. It turned out to be one of the hardest assignments I had. The government sent us six (!) minders who accompanied us all the way from Katmandu, Nepal to North Korea and back. In Pyongyang they took away our passports and cell phones. There wasn’t a moment when we could wander off and walk around unobserved. I had to stay within eyesight of the hotel, so I jogged in circles around the compound. This is what prison must feel like. The only North Korean citizens we were officially allowed to film were Dr. Ruit’s patients. The number of people who came to see him was overwhelming. In the developed world cataracts hardly ever cause blindness, and mostly elderly people are affected. Here, children and old people alike had lived in the dark for years. All were hoping for a miracle. We witnessed Dr. Ruit and his team operate on more than one thousand people in only six days. It was an act of unbelievable stamina, and proved Dr. Ruit’s deep-rooted humanity. Then the crucial day arrived. A thousand fearful and expectant patients with their eyes bandaged were gathered in one room. What would happen when the bandages come off? Nobody knew and everybody, including us, held their breaths. Dr. Ruit went up to every single person, talked to each one soothingly – and slowly took off the bandage. One by one, we witnessed the miracle happening. Old women saw their grandchildren and children their parents for the first time after years in the dark. But what was so remarkable was that immediately after regaining their sight, rather than thanking the doctor, people started crying and bowing and giving thanks in front of pictures of the Dear Leader Kim Jong Il and his father, Kim Il Sung as hundreds clapped and cheered in unison. I never saw such an extreme personality cult before." |
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| Congressional Hearing:
North Korean Human Rights: An Update
Held yesterday at the Rayburn House Office Building, Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Jay Lefkowitz testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs' Asia/Pacific/Global Environment Subcommittee.
Statement by Chairman Eni Faleomavaega: here
Statement by Special Envoy Jay Lefkowitz: here
Webcast: here
Congressman Ed Royce of California also inserted a statement by LiNK Executive Director Adrian Hong into the Congressional Record. An excerpt follows:
"It is deplorable that the Chinese government continues to actively hunt down, imprison and repatriate North Korean refugees, in violation of their obligations under international law. It is further reprehensible that underground activists remain in prison to this day, for the "crime" of helping North Korean refugees. But that is China.
I have confidence that underground networks can rescue thousands of North Korean refugees, if only they had a nation willing to accept them. It is absolutely unacceptable and shameful that a United States post will turn away legitimate asylum seekers, especially those that are targeted for capture and repatriation by local authorities. These and other refugees and their guides take tremendous risk upon themselves, with their hopes placed on the principles of the United States, and the North Korean Human Rights Act. That they are turned away, literally at the gates, and sent elsewhere is a betrayal of American principles, and perhaps laws.
My experiences in December showed me that three years after the North Korean Human Rights Act has passed, nothing has changed on the ground for North Koreans. Refugees are being turned away from the gates of US posts and sent to the UNHCR in Beijing- a dangerous journey that very few manage to make without capture. Funding for NGOs and underground workers has not been released; and less than a paltry three dozen North Korean refugees are now resettled in the United States. Our own refugees that I personally escorted to US custody last October arrived just last week- nearly four months after they had been accepted! It is my understanding that delays on their arrival here were not from the Chinese, but from our own State Department.
We have a tremendous opportunity here to save thousands of refugees and effect real change for human rights and liberties for North Koreans. It is with regret that I say that despite our high rhetoric and the promises we have made to these people with no other advocate in the world, I believe the United States is squandering that opportunity. Unless our State Department and this Administration is held to account for its lack of action for these people, it will continue to be that way.
So long as this government continues to drag its feet on bringing about real, tangible change on this issue, the North Korean Human Rights Act will simply be a paper tiger, and no government or leader in the world will take US policies and rhetoric about North Korean human rights seriously. If we have not followed through with our actions before, why would we in the future?
The United States can effect tremendous change in the world on this single issue, and hold the Chinese and North Koreans to account for their treatment of the North Korean people. The lives of hundreds of thousands of refugees, and millions of North Koreans who remain inside the DPRK, are at stake. We are hopeful of the day when the United States sees their welfare and liberty as a real priority, because we are already very late." | | |
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