difficult times that we have faced in
our lives we often remember our friends
or communities that have helped us
through those times today I want to
share about one of the best communities
that I’m a part of it’s name is Liberty
in North Korea or link for short it’s
also the name of NGO where I have the
privilege of working at the full time
staffer it’s a such a unique community
because it shows that when we share our
struggles help can come from the most
unlikely places across borders cultures
and even languages this linked community
was started by young students as a
response to the immense challenges that
25 million knows when people are facing
and overcoming this is North Korea every
year many North Korean people leave
their families and friends in their home
country to escape poverty and find
freedom and human rights even after they
successfully escaped from North Korea
they’re still in danger many North
Korean women including teenage girls get
traffic in China and sold into a first
marriage with Chinese men who are often
much older than them this is the link
community is made of this beautiful
compassionate and courageous people on
the left side there are some of the
Norseman refugees who have reached
freedom to our our rescue program which
was made possible by links supporters
around the world even after these North
Korean refugees risk their lives
crossing the border from North Korea to
China the Chinese government doesn’t
recognize them as refugees but instead
defines them
as illegal economic migrants if they’re
caught in China they’re sent back to
North Korea where they will face severe
punishment for leaving their country we
cover their faces and use pseudonyms to
protect their family members who are
still in North Korea if the North Korean
regime finds out that these people have
come to South Korea the families back
home could be her rest were even
punished there are the supporters of
North Korean people through our work
there from many different countries such
as the u.s. the UK South Korea China New
Zealand Nigeria and many other countries
I could have kept going most of our
supporters are young students that
organize student clubs to raise money
through fun and creative fundraising
activities such as bake sales benefit
concerts and different ordinance events
on campus to fund our work to rescue
North Korean refugees in danger thanks
to their support and love as well as the
resilience and courage of the North
Korean people link has rescued more than
700 North Korean refugees and their
children since 2010 and the number keeps
although there’s no scream people and
many of their supporters have never met
and live far away from each other they
still come together to form this
incredible community that overcomes
challenges and spreads hope in this
community I get to be a bridge between
the North Korean people and their
supporters my colleagues and I conduct
written and video interviews with
resettled North Korean refugees about
how they overcome challenges achieve
freedom and fulfill their potential in
their new society sharing this inspires
so many people around the world to get
involved in their stories change how the
world views the North can issues by
putting the focus on the people rather
than nuclear weapons work in German like
this here in this picture I interview
reset of North Korean people living in
South Korea just to be clear this is how
I look when I’m trying to engage when
they’re sharing their stories not me
wanting to go to the restroom or
something one of the stories I’ve
written is about joy
pictured here Joe is an amazing North
Korean woman that I had the privilege of
working with if you ever meet her you
know why her name is joy she’s so joyous
and strong despite what she had gone
through in North Korea in China she was
rescued a few years of in China after
she was sold to a Chinese man as a
teenager at the time she was only 18
during her interview she revealed that
she felt like a monkey in a zoo locked
up with lost by old men who wanted to
buy her as their teenage bride in rural
she’s safe now living in South Korea
praise God and she attends University as
a Social Work major she chose my major
because she wants to work for other
female North Korean refugees were also
victims of sex trafficking in China she
says that she feels a lot of love and
support from our community so in return
she is committed to giving back in love
by helping others like herself in this
community when we hear stories of North
Korean people like Joyce we’re not only
compelled to do something in response we
also learn from North Korean people joy
appreciates her basic freedoms like
being able to study what she wants to
study being of the trouble where she
wants to travel which we often take for
granted you know we all have travels to
different degrees no matter where we are
from right when we hear stories of
courage like Joyce we are encouraged to
find a hope and strength to overcome our
own struggles another part of what we do
is to help North Korean refugees adjust
to South Korea by organizing gatherings
where they connect with other North
Koreans South Korean people and people
from different parts of the world I find
it very important to share with North
can people that there are so many people
around the world supporting them and
they get to interact with some of our
supporters at gatherings like this and
meeting and even hearing of our
supporters gave them so much
encouragement in the midst of missing
their families back home this was a few
years ago when I went to visit to
resettle North Koreans head Jung han-soo
mom and daughter and this Julianne one
of my closest friends and an avid
supporter of North Korean people and my
hair back then was just like that you
know we all make mistakes right but I
think my hair looks better now thanks to
the help from my beautiful fiance
Miranda who is here with us today I love
you so much thank you anyway at the time
Julianne was working as an English
teacher in South Korea and people he
lived here he went to University of
Texas Austin which has one of the most
active student clubs for our work and
the clock is known for selling fried
Oreos to fundraise for our rescue work
do you guys like Oreos
of course anything deep-fried is so
delicious so think of that amazing
combination not so good for your body
but good for your soul in our world so
hadrian’s who were the first two North
Korean refugees whose rescue was funded
by the student level ut-austin and when
Julie and I went to visit them I had the
opportunity to translate for Julian to
share how these college students had
sold fried Oreo to fund their rescue and
it was the mom and daughters first time
hearing about it and they’re so moved
and when the UT students heard about
their rescue stories they became even
more inspired and sold even more fried
Oreos to rescue the rescues of 17 North
Korean refugees in total that’s
incredible to me that’s love and what a
loving community does here’s what we can
learn from this community first share
your stories of struggle they matter
your families friends and co-workers
should hear them because they might be
able to help and you can help people to
understand their own and other people’s
troubles
second
listen to other people’s stories to hear
where and how you can help Julian and
the UT students are listening and
continuing to help by Frank one area at
a time vastly respond with compassion
and love that’s how our stories of
struggles and challenges turn into
stories of hope and restoration in a
community
remember the hope that Hedgehog ensue
enjoy having their community they
haven’t even met most of these people
who have helped them and continue to
help them but they belong amongst their
supporters and this community including
North Korea refugees there are
supporters around the world my
colleagues and myself share hope that
the North Korean people will achieve
their Liberty in a lifetime thank you [Applause]