September 2007
Liberty in North Korea | LiNK Newsletter
Updates from LiNK Worldwide
Greetings!
Read on for the latest news from LiNK, and the worldwide movement for North Korean human rights!
Message from the Director
Dear Friends,
As difficult and hopeless this cause sometimes seems, when circumstances appear to be at their worst, something always happens to inspire us and remind us that change is not only possible, it is inevitable.
Two weeks ago, a very generous donor donated $150,000; and pledged an additional $150,000 for early next year; enabling us to cover all overhead fees for the next full year. This means that for the first time, LiNK will not have to worry about paying utilities or office rent. This also means that for the first time, LiNK will be able to pay its staff members modest salaries for their work!
This development also means that all of your contributions this year will go 100% toward our advocacy programs, awareness initiatives and field operations! This also means that instead of planning project to project, month to month, we can stabilize our organization and delve into longer term planning and strategies, with the knowledge that we will be able to provide resources to run our programs as we continue to move forward. I’d like to express our most deepest gratitude to the special donor for their critical contribution. It has truly provided our organization the fuel to rise to a higher level, and we could not be more appreciative.
Next month, LiNK will be holding its Inaugural Benefit Gala, entitled, “Light of Liberty.” We will be honoring champions of our cause, as well as highlighting some of our successful past programs and exciting new initiatives. If you are in the Washington, D.C. area on October 24th, 2007, please join us! We will be sending more information in coming weeks.
Friends, our organization is nothing without your support. We are not LiNK. We are merely facilitators and deliverers of the resources you empower us with. You are LiNK. Thank you for being with us in this fight as we reach new heights.
Onwards and Upwards!
Adrian Hong
Executive Director
Light of Liberty Inaugural Benefit Gala
More information to come!
Awardee: U.S. Representative Ed Royce (R-CA)
U.S. Representative Ed Royce (R-CA) is serving his eighth term in Congress representing Southern California’s 40th District, based in Orange County. In 2001, Rep. Royce introduced H.Con.Res. 213, which called on the Chinese government to provide asylum to North Korean refugees and Beijing to cooperate with the U.N.H.C.R. to resettle these refugees in third countries. Two years later, he introduced H. Res. 109, which urged the U.N.C.H.R. to pass a resolution addressing North Korean human rights. As a cosponsor of the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 [H.R. 4011], Rep. Royce stated at the North Korea Freedom Day Rally that “The human rights situation in North Korea is abysmal. It is important that we stand up and speak out, especially when human rights are being so wantonly disregarded as they are in North Korea. For the 110th Congress, Rep. Royce also serves as a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs and Financial Services Committees.
Awardee: Kang Cheol Hwan
When President George W. Bush sought to understand the grim realities of human rights abuses in the D.P.R.K., he and his closest advisors turned to Kang Cheol Hwan’s harrowing memoir of growing up in a North Korean concentration camp. When he was nine years old, the author - along with members of his family - was sent to the notorious labor camp Yodok, where for ten years he observed frequent public executions and endured forced labor and near-starvation rations. He eventually escaped to South Korea and now, working as a journalist, gives testimony to the atrocities endured by an estimated two hundred thousand North Korean citizens who are still detained in the gulags. Part horror story, part memoir, part political tract, this story of one man’s extraordinary personal suffering offers eyewitness proof of the shocking and ongoing abuses perpetrated by the North Korean regime.
Special Remarks: Lisa Ling
Lisa Ling is the host of National Geographic’s Explorer, the flagship weekly television series of National Geographic. Her role on the Emmy Award-winning series has taken her to Colombia where she investigated the increasingly deadly drug war, China where she examined the complex issues surrounding the country’s one-child policy and the D.P.R.K., where she explored the restrictions on freedom, violation of human rights and lack of medical care. As a special correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show, she has also covered the Lord’s Resistance Army and the crisis of AIDS orphans in Uganda, bride burning in India and gang-rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ling was a co-host of ABC Daytime’s morning talk and entertainment program, The View, which won its first daytime Emmy during her time at the show.
Master of Ceremonies: Sonya Crawford
Sonya Crawford served as a special-events anchor and correspondent for ABC News based in Washington, D.C. She contributed reports to the network’s overnight and early-morning news programs World News Now and World News This Morning, as well as Good Morning America and other ABC News broadcasts and platforms. The former anchor covered the 2004 Republican National Convention, President Reagan’s funeral and the war in Iraq from D.C. and Pope John Paul II’s funeral and the conclave that chose his successor from Rome. Prior to joining ABC News, Crawford worked as a reporter and substitute anchor for KNBC-TV in Los Angeles and an associate producer at Dateline NBC in Los Angeles, where she won an Emmy Award for producing a story on the O.J. Simpson trial. She began her career as a features reporter for KBS-TV in Seoul, Korea, where she was born and raised and is an active member and past national board member of the Asian American Journalists Association.
Special Presenter: Yul Kwon
Yul Kwon, winner of Survivor: Cook Islands, was born in Queens, New York to parents who emigrated from South Korea. The family moved to the West Coast when he was six years old. Kwon has enjoyed a diverse career in both the private and public sectors in law, business and technology and served as a judicial clerk to a federal judge on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. He also worked as a legislative aide to Senator Joseph Lieberman in Washington, D.C., where he helped draft sections of the Homeland Security Bill. Several years ago, Kwon switched careers and became a management consultant at McKinsey. From there, he joined Google’s business strategy group and most recently went back into consulting. Kwon is a member of the Washington, D.C. and California State Bar Associations and currently resides in San Mateo, California.
Special Presenter: Becky Lee
Born to South Korean immigrants in Flushing, New York, Rebekah “Becky” Lee, second runner-up of Survivor: Cook Islands, was raised in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. Interested in the prevention of domestic violence, she has been working on issues concerning domestic violence survivors over the last eight years as a policy associate and attorney. She is also passionate about creating awareness of the specific needs of battered immigrant women, such as language access and cultural competency. She has previously worked as a kickboxing instructor, policy associate and legal intern. She is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and currently resides in Washington, D.C.
Help Raise $10k for LiNK by September 15th!
To sign up: [ link ]
LiNK has joined a $10,000 competition with up and coming online network Razoo! Please join Razoo [ here ] before September 15th in order to be eligible to vote for which group will receive $10,000 for their cause. Once the September 15th deadline has passed, Razoo! will announce to community members which groups are eligible for the prize, and how community members can vote for the group they want to win.
Based in Washington, D.C. and self-proclaimed as “the platform for social good,” the online networking group Razoo! seeks to network individuals for and amongst various causes, and help those causes reach their intended goals. The site, currently in development, can be found [ here ].
For inquiries about LiNK’s participation in the Razoo! $10k competition, contact: ally (at) linkglobal.org. For now, please sign up with Razoo and search for and join our group “Liberty in North Korea”; and when the time comes, please vote for our group to win!
Upcoming Events
KAC National Convention
Friday, September 21, 2007 @ 1:00 pm
Georgia Tech Convention Center and Hotel
LiNK’s Executive Director Adrian Hong will be giving a special presentation on the North Korean human rights crisis at the 5th Annual Korean American Coalition National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information, see http://www.kacatl.org/convention/index.html
Donate to LiNK!
Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is
Don’t forget - you can make recurring, monthly donations to LiNK and the worldwide movement for North Korean human rights! With a few clicks, you can set a monthly contribution from your credit card - funds that will go toward LiNK’s growing network of underground shelters in China, rescue missions, humanitarian aid projects inside North Korea, and international advocacy for these vulnerable and voiceless people.
All contributions are, of course, tax-deductible!
Click below to donate today!
Contact Information
email: info@linkglobal.org
phone: 202.714.LiNK
web: http://www.linkglobal.org
