Monthly Archives: July 2009

LFNKR Seeks Closer Ties with UN

Application for ECOSOC Status
Report Submitted to Human Rights Council

Resolving the various human rights issues related to North Korea requires the understanding and cooperation of the international community. With this in mind, Life Funds has recently been working to build and deepen ties to the United Nations.

US NGO Report – ‘Lives for Sale’

Personal Accounts of NK Women Fleeing to China  

An American NGO, The US Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK), at the end of April this year, released a 64-page document titled “Lives for Sale.”  The report includes 53 summarized personal accounts, along with the history and context of such human trafficking of North Korean women in China.  Most of the women fall into the hands of brokers, who sell them to Chinese farmers or to China’s sex trade.

Protesting NK Resident’s Organization in Japan

Nuclear Tests, Abductions, Human Rights Violations an Outrage

North Korea continues to ignore the UN resolutions and has repeatedly committed outrageous misconducts, such as the nuclear bomb tests and the ballistic missile launches.? My resentment has risen beyond the critical level.? I now feel that we definitely must do something to stop them.

Prosecute Kim Jong-il through ICC for Crimes Against Humanity

According to recent media reports, Kim Jong-il, now suffering health difficulties, has selected his third son, Kim Jong-un, to succeed him. The North Korean regime is reportedly accelerating plans to become an important military power by 2012.  This may explain why the regime has conducted repeated missile launches and nuclear tests in defiance of UN resolutions on sanctions, despite escalating tensions in the world community.

Panicked Chinese Students Evacuated

Yanji, China

North Korea’s second nuclear test on May 25 shocked the world and caused the strongest tremor ever to hit the border area between China and North Korea.  People in the region feared that it was another huge earthquake like the recent one in Sichuan.  Fortunately, I had lived in Japan long enough to be familiar with earthquakes, so I did not panic.  However, most people living in the border area were clearly terrified.

Resettling NK Defectors in USA

Special Report by S. Yee

For a long while now, I have been keenly interested in what happens to North Koreans who have resettled in the USA via a third country. This is partly because I have been involved with Life Funds for North Korean Refugees in protecting and helping North Korean defectors in Southeast Asia. I wondered if there was anything I could do to help those who were headed for America, so when I had the opportunity in April and May to visit the US, I decided to find out how they are doing.

Who Planned Abduction of 2 US Journalists?

2 Americans Given 12 Years’ Labor in Work Camp

Things are heating up among the countries involved in the March 2009 abduction of two American journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, at the China-North Korean border.

Unexpected Gifts of Love for Foster Children

Hand-knitted scarves, hats, mittens donated by "Ms Warmheart"

Early Christmas Gifts from US Warm LFNKR Members’ Hearts, Too

On July 3, a package filled with knitted goods arrived at the LFNKR office in Tokyo. They were sent by a lady in the US, who knitted them all herself.

She wrote that as she knitted, she pictured the finished gloves, mufflers and caps warming the North Korean foster children who are in LFNKR’s education sponsorship program.