On December 3rd, the North Korean human rights nonprofit organization ‘THINK’ announced the launch of an international youth exchange project in the Czech Republic. The initiative aims to promote awareness of North Korean human rights issues and advocate for peaceful reunification.
THINK reported that it had concluded its youth North Korean human rights activist training program in Poland, titled “Following Freedom, Towards Unification: From the Iron Curtain to the 38th Parallel,” and will continue its activities in the Czech Republic.
This program serves as a youth international exchange initiative that disseminates information about North Korean human rights and peaceful reunification. Participants learn from the experiences of democratization and regime transition in Poland and the Czech Republic, engage in discussions with local youth, and conduct civic campaigns.
On November 28th, participants attended a seminar in Warsaw, collaborating with officials and researchers from the Polish National Memorial Research Institute. They shared historical lessons on civic resistance and democratization under communist regimes while exploring connections between Korea and Europe.
The group also held open discussions at Jagiellonian University and visited key sites including the Warsaw Uprising Museum, the Palace of Culture and Science, the Jewish Historical Institute, the Oskar Schindler Factory Museum, and the Auschwitz-Birkenau National Museum. These visits provided firsthand experiences of the struggle for democracy and human rights.
On December 3rd, the program will continue with an international symposium and roundtable sessions at Charles University. On the 4th, activities at Palacký University will focus on connecting lessons from regime transitions to the discourse on North Korean human rights.
Son Moon-kyung, the representative of THINK, stated, “Building on the lessons of democratization and regime transition observed in Poland, we aim to further expand international solidarity for improving North Korean human rights and achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula during our time in the Czech Republic. Through direct dialogue with Eastern European youth, we expect our young participants to actively explore ways to protect the rights of North Korean citizens and envision a future of reunification.”