Recognizing the Rescuers

Recognizing the Rescuers

This March, Jubilee Campaign co-organized a parallel event at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women entitled "Rescuers: Meet Today's Heroes and Heroines Saving North Korean Refugees". We welcomed four incredible esteemed panelists whose work over the past 25 years has allowed for the liberation of thousands of North Korean refugees and defectors escaping the tyrannical Kim regime. Our first presenter, Pastor Kim Seungeun, briefly discussed liberating thousands of North Korean defectors, his lifework which was featured in the 2023 award-nominated documentary Beyond Utopia.

Park Jiah, "The Harriet Tubman of North Korea" spoke at our event about how her escape and subsequent rescue of one of her friend's daughters in 2003 sparked her mission to bring other struggling North Koreans to freedom; her rescue count is now in the thousands. Another panelist, Ji Hannah, revealed how she was caught by agents five separate times while undertaking transnational smuggling of daily necessities into North Korea; for each infraction she spent half a year in prison. Despite risks to her safety, Ms. Ji traveled again to the China-North Korea border to rescue her two sons in 2019. As was further elucidated at our event, the precarious situation of life for North Korean citizens in China often necessitates resettlement in third countries. Our fourth panelist, Lee Kyung Sun, leads a group which visits these defector communities to assess their immediate needs and strategize the next steps of their migratory journey.

There is no shortage of Rescuers in every corner of the world; we are honored to work alongside them every day, and we are endlessly indebted to their leadership and courage. While Jubilee staff can be safe working from our offices in Washington DC and the Netherlands, even remotely from Sweden or Geneva, the true Rescuers are those who courageously respond to crises on the ground with compassion, without delay, and despite fear of retribution from bad actors.

Our friend Abishag Sambo pays out of her own pocket to rescue abducted and forcibly married Christian girls in Nigeria; she feels she has no choice, as the government fails to deliver on its promise of eradicating insecurity. Kola Alapinni, meanwhile, continues to lead the charge for the liberation of Sufi Muslim musician and prisoner of conscience, Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, who he first visited in Kano State in 2020; Kola had to wear a disguise to blend in with locals and not draw attention as a Christian himself. Alheri Magaji and her organization, Resilient Aid & Dialogue Initiative, distribute daily necessities to internally displaced communities, allowing them to live in dignity despite their circumstances.

In Pakistan, our colleagues at Centre for Legal Aid Assistance & Settlement offer legal assistance and representation to faith minorities accused of blasphemy. Additionally, Christian mother of four Shagufta Kiran, whom Jubilee Campaign has advocated for repeatedly at the UN and EU, is currently under the legal care of attorney Rana Abdul Hameed, who bravely contested recent demands from radical Muslims that her sentence for blasphemy be extended. The dangers of such work cannot be overstated; in a country dominated by a singular majority religion and fiercely antagonistic to other believers, attorneys who dare to 'challenge the status quo' and work towards the release of unjustly imprisoned Christians and Ahmadis routinely face death threats. In 2014, lawyer and regional coordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Rashid Rehman, was fatally shot by individuals who had pressured - unsuccessfully - him to abandon his client who had been accused of blasphemy, university lecturer Junaid Hafeez.

Finally, we would like to take a moment to honor the legacy of the late Kim Seong-min, a close colleague of Jubilee Campaign and North Korea Freedom Coalition. The son of a lyrical poet, Kim worked as a writer for North Korea's military art propaganda outlet for years before defecting in 1995 at the age of 33. A "first-generation defector", in 2004 Kim established Free North Korea Radio (Korean language site \ English language site) , the first ever - and only - private shortwave radio station based in Seoul which broadcasted to Pyongyang. Over the next two decades, defectors would credit Free North Korea Radio's relaying of global news as the impetus for them to become disillusioned by their native government's oppressive propaganda and make the daring escape to freedom. Kim Seong-min received numerous awards through his illustrious decades-long career, including Reporters Without Borders' Media of the Year Award, Taiwan Democracy Foundation's Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award, and the National Medal of Civic Merit. Last December, The New York Times published a profile detailing Kim's mission and work. After eight years battling terminal lung cancer and a brain tumor, Kim Seong-min passed away peacefully in the company of his beloved family and friends in Seoul this September. But Suzanne Scholte, Chairwoman of North Korea Freedom Coalition, and the staff at Free North Korea Radio, have reiterated their dedication to continue Kim Seong-min's mission and honor his memory. They also shared the following poem (translated into English), penned by Kim:

On Rice

In a labyrinthian cauldron /

a handful of barley is stirred.

It is rice traded /

for his sister's chastity.

What if he is a father /

who starved his child to death?

Rubbing his stinging eyes /

he raises the evening smoke.

Some people advocate /

for the preservation of rice.

I don't understand why rice /

above all else /

must survive.

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