Korean American Youth and Young Adults Show Activism for Human Rights in North Korea

KCC
Some 80 youth and young adults participated in KCC's summer mission and internship conference this year. |

KCC
(Photo : Courtesy of Bethel Korean Church)
Some 80 youth and young adults participated in KCC's summer mission and internship conference this year.

Some 80 Korean American high school and college students gathered at the nation's capital for Korean Church Coalition for North Korea Freedom (KCC)'s annual summer mission and internship conference from July 13 to 16. The conference comprised of various training sessions which included spiritual training and becoming more informed on the issues surrounding North Korea and human rights.

Each morning began with devotionals and each night ended with worship, with messages preached by pastors volunteering for the conference.

"It's real. It's going on," said Pastor Dan Nam in opening remarks for the conference, referring to the suffering in North Korea people are exposed to through the media. "There's people out there that need a voice. There are Christians out there that are suffering. ... God picked you this year to be that voice. I want you to remember that -- this is not just something you're doing, but God has chosen you to go and be that voice."

During the conference, attendees were also able to make Congressional office visits to ask the Congressmen of their home regions to join them in being "a voice for the voiceless for our suffering brothers and sisters in North Korea," in the words of Sam Kim, the executive director of KCC.

KCC North Korea rally vigil
(Photo : Christianity Daily)
Participants of the recent KCC summer mission and internship conference took part in a White House vigil that called for restoration of human rights in North Korea.

Attendees also participated in a vigil at La Fayette Park, a walkathon on Pennsylvania Ave., and a rally at the West Lawn in front of the Capitol.

In particular, attendees pushed for the passing of H.R. 757 North Korea Sanctions Act; the implementation of the North Korean Refugee Adoption Act of 2011; stopping repatriation of North Korean refugees living in China; stopping forced marriages and trafficking of women and orphans in China; allowing North Korean orphans enter the U.S. for adoption; and securing religious freedom in North Korea, among other requests through the rallies, marches, and Congressional visits.

KCC is a non-profit, religious coalition of some 2,500 Korean American pastors and their churches. The coalition, which was founded in 2004, has focused on activism for the restoration of human rights in North Korea. Representatives of the coalition are located in every major U.S. city as well as in South Korea.