A Tufts student organization launching this fall hopes to play a role in alleviating the North Korean refugee crisis through education and fund raising measures.
Co−founders senior Ronnie Lim and junior YouJin Kim re−established the Tufts chapter of Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) in response to North Korea's refugee crisis. LiNK aims to raise awareness about the refugee situation and to raise money to finance the rescue of North Korean refugees hiding across the Chinese border, according to LiNK Chapter Coordinator Megan Rhodes.
"All the funds the chapters raise will go directly to our fieldwork to support the rescue of a North Korean refugee from hiding in China," Lim said.
LiNK is an international organization with approximately 80 chapters worldwide, most of which are supported by religious and educational institutions, Rhodes said. This fall marks LiNK's return to the Tufts campus after the national organization in 2007 closed the Tufts branch in a chapter−restructuring effort, according to Lim.
"A grassroots movement is, we think, the best way to make a change," Rhodes told the Daily. "Our chapters are a really vital part of that movement."
Kim said that the Tufts chapter's goal is to raise at least $2,500 this year, the amount typically spent to rescue one refugee.
"That provides them with safety, it provides them with shelter, it gives them resources," he said. "It allows them a normal life, a life that we take for granted here."
There are approximately 300,000 North Korean refugees in China at present, according to Rhodes. LiNK partners with Chinese organizations to transport some of these refugees to shelters and resettlement areas in the United States, she said.
Rhodes said that LiNK's relative anonymity in the region helps the organization to operate inconspicuously.
"It's a little bit underground what we do, by necessity. It's better for us that we keep things a little quieter," she said. "If [the refugees are] discovered in China, they'll be repatriated to North Korea, where they'll face severe punishment, possibly death."
Lim became involved with LiNK while working as a resettlement program intern at LiNK's national headquarters in Torrance, Calif. over the summer. She said that, despite having lived in South Korea, she never knew the full extent of the situation in the north.
"Growing up in South Korea, I knew what was going on in North Korea, but not accurately," Lim said.
She lived with two refugees during her internship. One of them, Lim said, survived and escaped to China after his father died from starvation in North Korea. The refugee, whom Lim identified as Joseph, now lives with a foster family in Virginia and studied for the SAT in Los Angeles this summer, Lim said.
"Just seeing him really convinced me what people do here is working and making a really meaningful impact on individual lives," she said. "It's really nice to see how their lives have been transformed so much just by coming here."
Kim was pleased at the interest non−Korean students have shown in the group at the LiNK general interest meeting on Thursday. "It was really great to see that other people — a diverse crowd — were interested in this issue as well," he said.
LiNK member Ken Nozaki, a junior, said the issue extends past Korean borders. "The refugee crisis there is becoming more of an international issue, not just a Korean issue," he said.
Nozaki added that LiNK focuses more on refugees' needs than the political situation in North Korea.
"They're trying to move away from a lot of the political issues that are surrounding North Korea and trying to focus more on individuals that really need help," he said.
LiNK at Tufts is planning a film−screening event in November that will coincide with a visit from representatives from the national organization, according to Lim
Kim said that other Boston−area schools, including Wellesley College, have contacted the group in the hopes of collaborating to raise funds.
"There are people who are really interested in this issue and are willing to reach out and coordinate with people with similar passions," Kim said. "I think with that kind of attention and that kind of communication, we can get something really big going on."
