Support NKnet
Since 1999 NKnet has worked non-stop for North Korean human rights and democracy. We’ve held major conferences, started other organizations such as the Daily NK and Radio Free Chosun, and published magazines and newsletters. Below we highlight one of our latest projects and ask for your financial support.
Featured Project: North Korean Human Rights Photo Exhibition
People walk through the exhibition "Spring Never Comes to the North" in the popular spot, Cheonggyecheon, in Seoul on March 30, 2011. The event was cosponsored by NKnet and HANA, a student group at Sookmyung Women's University.
The current exhibition contains 39 framed panels (each 84cm x 60cm / 33″ x 23.5″), which feature drawings based on refugee testimony, photos from North Korea, reprints of newspaper articles, etc. Topics covered include:
• hunger
• political prison camps
• Kim Jong Il and his family’s luxurious lifestyle
• military provocations
An important note – just as we share these materials with other groups, we are grateful to other organizations for providing the contents of some of the panels.
Exhibition panel of recent news clippings about North Korea. In the lower left is a photo from a news conference NKnet held March 8, 2011, urging passage of the North Korean Human Rights bill.
Exhibition panel about the Kim family's luxurious lifestyle, which is in great contrast to that of most citizens of North Korea.
Why is raising awareness important in South Korea of all places?
While virtually everyone in South Korea is aware in general of the poverty in North Korea and the threats the country frequently makes, South Korean society pays little attention otherwise to the North. The everyday lives of North Koreans are little known, and the reasons behind the North Korean government’s military provocations are little understood. Public schools in the past, especially under the military dictatorships, vilified North Koreans and exaggerated the threat posed by the North, so many South Koreans view anything that appears to be critical of the North — regardless of whether it is true or false — as mere propaganda.
NKnet President Han Ki Hong goes through the exhibition in the lobby of the Korean National Assembly Members' Office Building with members Kim Sung-dong, Kim Sung-hae, and Lee Doo-ah (from left to right). April 18, 2011.
Not long after the military dictators were replaced, the Kim Dae Jung and Roh Moo Hyun administrations (1998-2008) pursued the Sunshine Policy, which purposely suppressed talk about the human rights of North Koreans, because it was feared that publicly acknowledging such things would hurt the North-South relationship. Young people today, at their parents’ urging, tend to focus all their time on getting into the best universities, being hired by the best companies, and then finding a suitable spouse and starting a family. Furthermore, reunification increasingly is looked at as an unwanted financial burden.
The result is that the reality of North Korea has been either distorted or ignored most of the time since the Korean War and the South Korean public inoculated against the truth. In this environment, raising awareness is the difficult but very essential task of North Korean human rights groups in South Korea.
There are signs of hope, though. Some have awoken from their so-called slumber after the sinking of the Cheonan and shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in 2010. Often more than one group at a time wants to host our North Korean human rights exhibition — won’t you help make this possible?
How Your Donation Will Be Used
Your gift will go toward a new set of panels and easels for a second North Korean human rights exhibition (if you wish to make a general donation to NKnet, please mention that in the comments field). We will buy approximately 40 of each of the following items. Donations in any amount are welcome to help us reach our goal.
• each full-color panel costs about 100,000 won (approx. $92) to print and frame
• each easel costs about 50,000 won (approx. $46)
Outside Korea
Please email us to be notified as soon as our site is ready to receive donations via credit card or Paypal.
Or you may send an international wire transfer to the following account:
Kookmin Bank
343601-04-060728
SWIFT Code: CZNBKRSEXXX
Within Korea
Become a Member and Give Monthly:
In Korea there is a system commonly called CMS that allows supporters to automatically donate a fixed amount every month. If you would like to support us in this way, please fax or email us the following information:
– Name
– Address
– Phone Number
– Email Address
– Citizen or Alien Registration Number*
– Amount: 10,000 won, 20,000 won, 50,000 won, etc.
– Bank Name
– Account Number
– Name on Account
– Date of withdrawal each month (choose from the 5th, 15th, or 25th)
– How did you hear about us? / Other comments
*Do not email your registration number. Please call us with this bit of information OR you may fax all of the above information to 02-723-6715.
One-Time Donations:
If you have a bank account in South Korea, it is very easy — you may simply do a bank transfer to the following account:
Kookmin Bank
343601-04-060728
Please send us an email or call us to verify receipt and let us know if you require a receipt for tax purposes.
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Prison Camps Brochure
The Daily NK- NSA Calling for Kim to Be Handed Over May 17, 2012
- Kim's Mother Out in Support of Her Son May 17, 2012
- Lee Claims People's Welfare at Heart May 17, 2012
- Kim Raises KWP Membership Doubts May 17, 2012
