Obituary
Rest in peace, Kenkichi Nakadaira
It is with great sadness that Life Funds for North Korean Refugees announces the passing of its founding Executive Director, Kenkichi Nakadaira at the age of 89 from heart failure.
We are deeply grateful for the selfless devotion he showed, becoming the bedrock of the fledgling organization that LFNKR then was. LFNKR, a recognized NPO, is the organization it is today because of the foundation that Nakadaira-sensei established. We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Nakadaira-sensei for everything he has done and we express our deepest condolences to his family.
LFNKR Exect Kato Interviewed
Emil Truszkowski, a Polish journalist, who is the first subscriber to the LFNKR YouTube site, visited LFNKR office in Tokyo to interview Hiroshi Kato, the executive director. He has posted the interview at his channel “Welcome to North Korea.” Truszkowski expressed his wish to help Polish people become aware of the North Korea human rights issue.
LFNKR to participate in NK human rights event
LFNKR board member will join Japan’s NK human rights symposium in NY
On May 5th, 2015, the government of Japan will host the international symposium on human rights violations by North Korea, including their record of abductions. LFNKR is dispatching a permanent board member to participate in the special event.
Former NK Refugee Starts New Business
LFNKR has helped many North Korean refugees to escape and resettle in Japan. Here is one of those success stories. This young lady attended LFNKR’s recent annual meeting, where she caught us up on her current activities. This report is from the mother of Baby Sumi, now age two (check the links below for more details). Here is a summary of her presentation.
A Whole New Look
Website Facelift
See anything different? Silly question, right? You’re probably already noticing the new look. Here at NorthKoreanRefugees.com we’re in the process of changing our site’s appearance. Starting today, we’re sporting an entirely new, more streamlined style.
The old look was a very new look back in 2002, when we first launched this site. But time marches on – especially on the Internet – and the very newest thing can be superseded very quickly by technology that works better, faster and more transparently.
UN Receives NK Human Rights Review
UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW
( Visit UN’s Periodic Review Page )
Submission for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
(NORTH KOREA)
2 Executed, 7 to Prison Camp
7 Sent to Labor Camp, 2 Executed
An Example of NK’s “Humanitarian” Treatment of Defectors
In June of 2013, we reported on 9 orphans who made it all the way out of North Korea, across China, and into Laos before they were arrested and repatriated to the brutal regime they were trying to escape. (See “World Community Outraged by Orphans Returned to NK“)
Now, news is starting to filter out about what happened to them. The Dong A Ilbo website in South Korea reports that of the nine young escapees, two were executed, and the other seven sent to the infamous Prison Camp 14.
Crowd Funding
Exciting Donation and Financing Technology
GOAL:
Help One More North Korean Refugee Reach Safety
Everybody’s familiar with how fast Internet technology advances. Way, way back in 2003, when we instituted a new way for you to donate (via PayPal), it was still a fairly new idea. But time rolls quickly onward.
And now, there’s a new option we think you might appreciate. It’s called “Crowd Funding” and it’s an easy way to make donations to help support the rescue of North Korean refugees. Find out more about crowd funding here.