SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — The vast majority of human rights groups focused on North Korea face an existential crisis after receiving notices from the U.S. government that their grant funds have been frozen, according to several sources among the predominantly Seoul-based NGOs.
The National Endowment for Democracy, or NED, established by Congress to strengthen democratic institutions globally, and the State Department’s Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Bureau, which provide most of the groups’ funding, sent the notices over the last several weeks, according to documents reviewed by VOA.
The freeze threatens to devastate an already fragile collection of North Korea human rights groups, potentially wiping out vital sources of advocacy and research on one of the world’s most closed and repressive states, which has a population of 25 million.
Hanna Song, executive director of the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, told VOA her organization, like many others in Seoul, is now in “survival mode” because of the funding freeze.
“I just really don’t know how many will be able to survive,” said Song, whose organization works directly with North Koreans who have fled the North and has long been a key repository of data on Pyongyang’s abuses.
Trump policy shift
The funding freeze is part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s broader push to reshape the federal bureaucracy and realign taxpayer spending with his “America First” agenda, in coordination with billionaire businessman Elon Musk.
The NED has been repeatedly attacked by Musk, who has called it a “scam” and an “evil organization [that] needs to be dissolved.”
In a message sent last week to several North Korea-focused human rights organizations, the NED said it has “unfortunately been unable to access our previously approved funds” and “may not be able to provide additional payments to your organization.”
“Once you run out of money, consider your NED grant agreement suspended,” the message added.
Meanwhile, a January 24 notice from the State Department bureau ordered organizations receiving grants to immediately stop all work, even if already funded.
The bureau has reportedly fired dozens of contractors and is also subject to a Trump executive order suspending foreign aid for 90 days. Although aid could theoretically resume, the pause has already had devastating consequences for many North Korea advocacy groups.
Survival mode
Song’s Seoul-based center, whose mission includes providing psychosocial support to North Korean defectors, has had to postpone counseling sessions while they look for new funding, Song said.
“It’s just absolutely destroying groups working on North Korea,” said Sokeel Park, South Korea country director at Liberty in North Korea, which helps North Korean defectors escape and resettle. “It’s by far the biggest crisis facing NGOs working on this issue since the start of the movement in the 1990s,” he said in an interview.
Although the group does not receive direct U.S. government funding, Park said other organizations have been forced to reduce salaries, furlough staff, or halt projects midstream.
The freeze threatens a broad range of activities, including support for North Koreans who have fled, efforts to transmit information into and out of the country, and raising global awareness of its abuses.
The crisis comes at a time when gaining insight into North Korea is more challenging than ever. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, strict border controls have made escapes rare and slowed the flow of information, leaving the outside world with extremely little insight into the reclusive country.
This isolation has coincided with a decline in global attention to North Korea more generally, which has made it harder for organizations to diversify their funding sources, activists say.
Seoul’s inconsistency
While South Korea, a wealthy democracy bordering the North, might seem like a natural alternative source of funds, it has failed to consistently support North Korea-focused NGOs, mainly because the issue is politically sensitive in Seoul.
Conservative governments, which take a harder line on the North, often condemn its human rights abuses and provide more backing for civil society groups. In contrast, left-leaning governments tend to focus on improving ties with Pyongyang, favoring humanitarian aid directly to the North Korean government in the hope that better relations will eventually lead to improved human rights.
South Korea’s inconsistency on the issue is unfortunate, Lee Jung-hoon, former South Korean ambassador for North Korean human rights under conservative President Park Geun-hye told VOA.
“In fact, we should be the ones providing funding to American NGOs working on North Korea… we should be at the forefront of this,” Lee, now a dean and professor of international relations at Seoul’s Yonsei University, said.
After taking office in 2022, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol pledged to improve North Korea’s “horrendous” human rights situation. However, in December, Yoon unexpectedly declared martial law to combat what he called “anti-state forces,” leading to his impeachment and possible removal from office.
With Yoon’s future uncertain, the left-leaning Democratic Party is seen as the favorite to reclaim the presidency. Such political volatility has made many NGOs hesitant to accept South Korean government funding, fearing it could be easily withdrawn.
As a result, many organizations have felt compelled to rely on U.S. government funding – primarily from NED and the State Department. With that money now frozen, many groups are scrambling to fill the gaps by seeking support from European governments and major private donors, Park said.
North Korea-focused groups, though, are competing with countless global causes for limited funds.
Song said no one wants to be in a position where they’re saying North Korea is a more important issue events in Myanmar or Syria, “But it’s gotten to the point where it’s just survival mode.”
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