North Korean Human Rights Rescue Fund, a volunteer-run group within the Seoul-based
NGO, Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights[NKHR], will host a
hunger banquet event on November 6th at 7.p.m.
Every year, NKHR receives a large number of
requests from North Koreans who have escaped to China and are vulnerable to exploitation and under constant
threat of being sent back to North Korea. The
Rescue Fund was created in 2013 to help NKHR rescue as many of those refugees
as possible.
The NKHR Hunger Banquet seeks to increase awareness
about hunger, food insecurity, and social inequality in North Korea by creating
a dramatization of the Public Distribution System there, as well as the social classification system known as Songbun, which focuses on family background and political loyalty. Participants will be randomly
assigned to one of North Korea’s three social classes and served a corresponding meal. Those placed in the lowest
class at the event will not receive a full meal in order to more realistically portray the inequality experienced by people who fall under that group in North Korea. NKHR Rescue Fund hopes that participants will learn more about the isolated North
Korean society and gain insight on human rights violations in the nation, such
as that to the right to food.
The event will also feature a raffle and a
talk by a North Korean defector.
The venue for the event, Neungla Bapsang, a
restaurant in Jongno that specializes in authentic North Korean cuisine, will
provide the banquet’s food. Neungla Bapsang is run by Dr. Lee Ae Ran , the
first North Korean female defector to earn a doctoral degree. and founder of
the North Korea Traditional Culinary and Culture Institute.
All proceeds from the event will be used to
rescue North Koreans in China who need assistance to reach safety in South
Korea.
In order to attend, please RSVP here by
November 1st. Tickets are 15,000 KRW for wire transfers and 17.00 USD for
Paypal payments [due to commission fee]. More information on how to make a
payment and the event itself can be found here.
