Democracy Network Against the North Korean Gulag

Democracy Network Against the North Korean Gulag (NKGulag) "is a human rights group based in South Korea working to stop abuses of the North Korean regime. The ultimate goal of NKGulag is to safely release the political prisoners of North Korea and completely dismantle the political prison camps in that country."

"Kang Chul Hwan now works as a reporter for the Chosun Daily and co-directs the nongovernmental Democracy Network Against the North Korean Gulag." (November 2007)

Other
"To take advantage of the availability of the North Korean defectors DFF (Defense Forum Foundation) hosted for North Korea Freedom Day (see page 10), DFF sponsored a Capitol Hill forum for all the defectors to participate. The largest gathering of North Korean defectors outside of the Korean peninsula took part in DFF’s forum to discuss what was happening in North Korea. The defectors were all members of the Democracy Network Against the North Korean Gulag."

"When LiNK first began over two and a half years ago, LiNK’s leaders were still new to the cause, and had yet to visit the field themselves. One of the first organizations to really embrace and support LiNK was NKGulag, a new organization itself, founded largely by leading North Korean defectors in South Korea. The organization maintains strong networks within North Korea today, and continues many field operations in the underground railroad, sheltering North Korean refugees and helping them escape to freedom.

"Among NKGulag’s leading members are An Hyuk, survivor of the Yoduk prison camp and initial co-founder of the organization; Kang Cheol Hwan, author of Aquariums of Pyongyang, who met President George W. Bush of the United States earlier this year; and Kim Sung Min, who is now also leader of Radio Free North Korea. LiNK’s first fact-finding trip to the field was sponsored by leaders of NKGulag, who also provided for local visits to some of their underground operations in China. These trips were crucial to LiNK’s initial understanding of conditions for refugees in hiding, and led eventually to the founding of LiNK’s own shelters out in China."

Contact

 * Web: http://nkgulag.org/english/ (2004)