PRINCETON, NJ, Oct 27, 2006 - Chosun Journal was launched in February 2001. At the time, there was Citizen’s Alliance, Defense Forum Foundation, NKNet, and Helping Hands Korea. Of these, only one (DFF) was based in the U.S. and still information on NK human rights tended to be overly scattered. So CJ was started to help fill the void by gathering all the testimonies and interviews and articles together into one convenient location.

Today, we can add LFNKR, CSW, HRNK, LiNK, NK Gulag, NK Missions, NK Daily and more to the list of active North Korean human rights groups.

After a 2 year lull, we are now back with a revamped site (thanks Sarah!) and a new motto: “Networking communities for human rights in North Korea.” Our main goal now is to foster greater communication and synergy among the 10+ organizations working for NK human rights.

The rationale behind our new motto and goal can best be explained by this passage from what has become one of the most important books in my life:

“There appears to be a general assumption that it is good for people to be exposed to the pain and suffering of the world. Not only do newspapers and news broadcasts seem to act on this assumption but also most organizations whose main concern is to help suffering people. . . . We might ask, however, whether mass communication directed to millions of people who experience themselves as small, insignificant, powerless individuals does not in fact do more harm than good. When there is no community that can mediate between world needs and personal responses, the burden of the world can only be a crushing burden. When the pains of the world are presented to people who are already overwhelmed by the problems in their small circle of family or friends, how can we hope for a creative response? What we can expect is the opposite of compassion: numbness and anger.” Henri Nouwen, Compassion (Image, 2005), p. 53.

Accordingly, we are becoming a more reader-driven and community-oriented site. Like Wikipedia, communities can post real-time any Latest News, Announcements, and Opinions they want others also to see. For example, LFNKR recently posted an appeal for jailed SK rescuer Choi Yong-hun, LiNK posted an announcement for the NK musical Yoduk Story, and NK Missions posted a job position at Cornerstone Ministries.

We are hosting regular columnists with divergent perspectives, from Norbert Vollertsen to Suzanne Scholte to Tim Peters, to share their experiences and to enhance the opportunities for creative collaboration and cooperation among diverse groups.

We are making pages available for groups to inform the greater community about their latest projects - from raising funds to shelter NK orphans to organizing global prayer/fasting meetings to publishing substantive reports - in whatever detail and manner and timeliness they like.

We are conducting more interviews with leaders of organizations that are innovatively mobilizing efforts to reach more refugees, inspiring more community and government involvement, and preparing for the aftermath of Kim Jong Il’s demise.

We are integrating Web 2.0 multimedia features to help groups share more resources more quickly, to a more widespread audience, and for more substantive and sophisticated presentations.

In short, we hope to foster a greater sense of community among the various organizations which share a passion for helping the suffering people of North Korea while at the same encouraging the distinctive contributions that each group makes. As an open community we want to help mediate the depressing news that tends to paralyze individuals with apathy or cynicism and in turn give a more hopeful perspective and a sense of empowerment. We want to apply the truth of the old adage that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts to the North Korean human rights movement.

* If you have not heard from us and are interested in getting plugged into this community, please email us at inquiries at chosunjournal dot com.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 27th, 2006 and is filed under Edward Kim's Column. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.