Learning Freedom: Help Educate North Korean Youth

Last Winter break, 33 North Korean students joined the Hangyureh Winter School from January 2 to 19. Participating students lived side-by-side with volunteer teachers and NKHR officers and took intense courses on Korean writing, math, and English. In the evening, one-on-one tutoring sessions were prepared to provide more tailored education to individual students.

Participating students also enjoyed English recreation classes which helped them feel comfortable with English while playing word games and singing American pop songs. The school curriculum also included extensive program during which students learned about and actively discussed various issues, such as the impact of humans on environment, or impact of using positive speech. Generally speaking, North Korean students have serious inhibitions to express what they feel and think, as freedom of thought and expression is prohibited in North Korea, but as the time went by more and more students actively joined the debates.

Joon, who is enrolled at UC Berkely, summed up the time spent as a volunteer teacher saying, "I have re-evaluated the essence of volunteering. When I realized that for me it was just contributing time and skills, but for these children the school was like a ladder helping them to suceede in life, and that they looked up to me as their teacher, I began feeling enormous responsibility."

Since 2001, NKHR helped 800 student through the Hangyoreh School, focusing on basic academic instruction and training on life in a free society.