HRF Announces New Grants for North Korean Human Rights

NEW YORK (February 22, 2023) – The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is pleased to announce five grants to help strengthen the work of civil society organizations in South Korea focused on improving North Korean human rights, education, and resettlement.

– $28,000 to North Korea Strategy Center to extract information about the regime to shed light on human rights violations in North Korea.

– $25,000 to EUM Research Institute to provide human rights education for female North Korean defectors during the resettlement process.

– $25,000 to NoChain for North Korea to increase understanding of liberal democracy and market economy among North Koreans through the inflow of external information.

– $20,000 to North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity to produce and smuggle “resistance music” inside North Korea to educate North Korean people about human rights.

– $10,000 to North Korean Human Rights Association to increase public awareness in South Korea about North Korean human rights issues.

These organizations cover a range of high-need areas, reflective of the multidimensional nature of North Korean human rights issues today. “It is vital to help organizations and activists that shed light on the enormous challenges facing the North Korean people, counter the dictatorship’s propaganda, and assist defectors with resettlement,” said HRF’s director of Korea Desk, Seongmin Lee. “HRF is confident these grants will meaningfully impact many North Korean lives.”

Over the past 15 years, HRF has led pro-democracy and human rights initiatives in Asia, including North Korea, providing activists with the necessary resources, skills, contacts, and platforms to make a difference. HRF’s work includes public education about the North Korean human rights crisis, capacity building for North Korean defector groups, and the award-winning Flash Drives for Freedom (FDFF) program. FDFF is a global initiative that encourages people to donate their USB drives to help disseminate information into North Korea and combat the regime’s constant propaganda.

Flash Drives for Freedom (FDFF) is an HRF program that travels the world to inspire people to donate their USB drives, microSD cards, and hard drives to help disseminate information into North Korea to counter Kim Jung-un’s propaganda.

The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. To view a complete archive of our activities, please visit hrf.org.