Interviews with Han Nam-su

The Young Defectors Alliance for North Korean Human Rights is an NGO that was established and operated by young North Korean defectors.

Our goal is to expose the realities of life in North Korea and help improve the human rights situation there. Also, we want to prepare North Korean society for a future where they can establish a genuine democracy.
Towards this end we conduct educational sessions, seminars, forums, and various campaigns on democracy.
We also developed a network of young people who can discuss issues such as change in North Korea and styles of democratic governance.

Ultimately, we are targeting North Koreans [in North Korea], but to achieve that end, we are preparing and educating North Korean defectors in South Korea. I think that with the knowledge and experience that defectors have accumulated in South Korea, they will lead future efforts to reconstruct North Korea.

As such, we want to ensure that defectors in the South are hardworking and maintain their affection for their home country. We provide them with training and education towards this end but ultimately, we want to address the human rights situation in North Korea and help the people.

Overall, I think many people in South Korea are indifferent to the issues pertaining to North Korea. This is natural in some ways but also unfortunate. Most South Koreans know that North Korea is a dictatorship, that it is a difficult place to live, and that North Koreans are really suffering. When it comes to the details of the regime’s brutality and specifically how North Korean human rights are violated, I don’t think many people have a complete understanding.

This is probably due to different circumstances and the country’s social atmosphere. Because of this, when South Koreans meet North Korean defectors, they are eager to learn about what’s happening in North Korea.

If I were to compare 2004 to today, I think South Korea demonstrated greater indifference to the North. These days, more people have a better understanding of North Korea and its human rights situation and the terrible life North Koreans are living.

Han Nam-su was destined for a life among North Korea’s elite. The son of a military officer, Han and his family were afforded privileges that ordinary North Koreans didn’t have.

Things changed after Han’s father commented on the country’s need for economic reform; he was instantly branded a traitor, tried in a military court, and executed. Han was subsequently expelled from his university and exiled to a remote corner of the country with his family.

On Christmas Eve, 1998, Han decided to leave North Korea and pursue a better life elsewhere. He crossed the frozen Tumen River into China and remained there for the next six years working various odd jobs. In 2004, Han escaped to South Korea where he started a new life in a free society.

Attending Sogang University, Han majored in Diplomacy and Political Science. While there, he decided to raise awareness of the human rights abuses happening in North Korea and founded the Young Defectors’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights. As the organization’s leader, Han works to empower North Korean defectors through trainings, seminars, forums, and various campaigns on democratic governance.