About Tufts LiNK

LiNK's History

In the mid-1990s, over a million people died on the other side of the world, and hardly anybody noticed. Millions starved, hundreds of thousands were imprisoned in concentration camps, and tens of thousands crossed borders seeking food, money, protection and even freedom that they never knew existed. That place was, and continues to be, a land with virtually no freedoms - of speech, assembly, religion, movement and more.

This is North Korea, and very little has changed since then.

In 2001, as more North Korean refugees made the harsh and dangerous trek to free nations, information about the human rights and humanitarian crisis in North Korea began to spread all over the world. Defectors began to testify before major institutions, books were written and reports compiled – all corroborating testimonies of human rights atrocities in North Korea.

In 2004, two passionate individuals learned about what was happening and felt a burden to share with the rest of the world what had gone unnoticed for too long.  Educating a group of college students and young leaders about the crisis, together they formed LiNK with the hope of spreading awareness and effecting real change. The organization quickly grew and became a movement of activists empowered by the stories of refugees and motivated by the urgency of the issue. LiNK's work focuses on awareness through mobilizing the grassroots and telling these stories of hope and survival. We meet with governments, NGOs and institutions to advocate for the North Korean people, while working directly with refugees through a network of shelters in China and Southeast Asia - protecting, educating and assisting them to eventually find freedom and empower them to live new lives.

Tufts LiNK is a chapter of LiNK which aims to further extend the grassroots mobilization to bring awareness to Tufts and the greater Boston community.