LiNK History

Beginning from 2001, as more and more North Korean refugees made the harsh and dangerous trek to free nations, information about the North Korean human rights and humanitarian crisis began to spread all over the world. Defectors began to testify before major institutions internationally — from the United States Senate to United Nations hearings.

Two Korean American leaders who were moved by reports of severe human rights abuses, widespread malnourishment and the tragic plight of refugees in China, decided they had to spread the word about the crisis. That following spring, at the Eighteenth Annual Korean American Students Conference (KASCON XVIII), held at Yale University, they arranged for the conference to feature several seminars on North Korea, including a special talk by a North Korean defector, video clips of the escape attempts by North Korean refugees, and panel discussions on various aspects of the North Korea crisis. Nearly 800 Korean American leaders were present, including over 50 distinguished speakers, experts and important figures.

LiNK was founded on March 27, 2004, the final day of the conference, as leaders, young and old, gathered together and dedicated themselves to the cause of becoming voices for the voiceless.

The organization immediately spread across a wide collegiate network of Korean American student leaders, marking 40 chapters within one month of launching. As the organization spread, leaders began to raise awareness about the human rights crisis in their local cities and campuses. As LiNK leaders became more heavily involved in the issue, they began to realize that raising awareness was not enough. Little was being done to address the issue, and existing groups combating the crisis were vastly undermanned and under–funded.

The all-volunteer movement began to delve into activism, first by participating in protests, petition drives and public awareness campaigns. In December of 2004, LiNK sent two teams to the border of China and North Korea on factfinding missions, to interview North Korean refugees in person and to investigate the conditions they faced. It was on this trip that LiNK’s investigators found that many North Korean orphans lived on the streets, were vulnerable to traffickers, and had no protection from the authorities. LiNK team members left China having established the first two shelters in what would grow to become Project: Safe Haven.

LiNK quickly evolved into a group that would balance raising awareness and investigation of the crisis, with actions to make improvements on the ground. Taking this two–pronged approach, LiNK focused on dealing with both the symptoms (ie: the refugee crisis and food crisis), and the problems (ie: the political oppression in the DPRK and poor food distribution) at once.

Over the next year, LiNK began to engage in more extensive field projects and high–level advocacy, while continuing to expand its chapters. As of March, 2007, LiNK marked 100 chapters worldwide, throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan and Korea.