Today I went down to 안산 (Ansan) to do some volunteer work with the 새터민 쉼터 (an online community for North Korean refugees) for some of the kids that don’t have any parents. We ate some food, talked, played some games, and just had a lot of fun in general.
One of the ladies who organized this event talked a little bit about her life in North Korea. She served in the North Korean military and became at least a captain (I forget how long she served, it was at least 10 years). At some point before leaving Korea she lived on the streets for five years. She mentioned carrying a baby for two years but didn’t mention what happened (although I can guess 
). The kids of course also either don’t know how their parents are doing or know that they already passed away. On top of that they have to adjust to the school system here, often pushing them behind. I can’t begin to imagine how hard all of their lives must have been.
Anyways, here’s some pics (including one pice of me with a green tongue stained by North Korean candy and some delicious North Korean rice-tofu called 두부밥 ):
After we finished I went a couple of places with a friend and even tried live octopus!
Haha.. looks like you’re fitting in just fine. You’re a good guy for helpin out the NK refugees, keep up the good work!
Hey I am looking for a place to volunteer. I would like to help out the north korean refugee. Can I get the contact info from you? I can only speak english is that ok? My email is canadic_asian@hotmail.com
@Tuan
I’ll just reply here so anyone else who has the same question sees my response.
The particular group i worked with does require Korean, but here’s two other groups I know about which have information in English:
http://eng.nkhumanrights.or.kr/main.htm
http://www.rainbowyouth.or.kr/eng/eng_01.php
Good luck!
I’m looking for ways to volunteer in South Korea. I’m interested in volunteering my time to an organization that’s dedicated to helping North Korean refugees. Does anybody have any suggestions? I’ll be in South Korea from August to December.
Thank you!
Sarah
Sarah.prstn@gmail.com
A friend recently put up a page about volunteer opportunities in Seoul:
http://seouldreamers.com/01.html
And her blog, with lots of info about on NK human rights:
http://seouldreamers.com/tc/
@danb
Thanks for the info Dan!