Korea Verband

Korea Verband is a non-profit association (gemeinnütziger Verein) that emerged in 1990 from the democracy and solidarity movement for Korea. It works for human and civil rights in divided Korea, in Europe, and locally in its neighbourhood, and it questions power structures from a postcolonial, feminist and intersectional perspective. It works with various target groups including young people, adults, activists, multipliers and political decision-makers, and is active in a large number of alliances with a broad network. Its main themes include the development of civil society and critical reflection on nationalism; challenges of globalization such as the protection of human rights in the context of migration; coming to terms with the past and its influence on peaceful coexistence in East Asia; social change and its effects on personal relationships and gender roles; the preconditions for overcoming division and the consequences of possible reunification, also against the background of German experience; and the creation of intercultural meeting spaces.

The founding history of the Korea Verband goes back to the 1960s and rests on a special friendship between Prof. Dr. Günter Freudenberg, the initiator of the Korea Verband and founder of today's Stiftung Asienhaus, and the famous Korean composer YUN Isang. The abduction of seventeen young students from Germany — among them YUN Isang — by the Korean secret service KCIA in 1967 became the beginning of Prof. Günter Freudenberg's active Korea solidarity work. The next scandalous abduction of the then opposition leader KIM Dae-Jung from Japan to Korea by the KCIA during the PARK Chung-Hee regime and the death sentence against the poet KIM Chi-Ha led in 1976 to the founding of the Korea-Komitee, whose goal was to support the South Korean opposition at home and abroad in its struggle against the ruling military dictatorship and the division of the country organizationally as well as materially and ideologically. It was a founding member of the Alliance of Overseas Koreans for Democracy and Reunification, which was launched in Tokyo in 1979. As early as 1978 the Korea-Komitee, in cooperation with the student Forum for Democracy, the Korean Women's Group in Germany and the Korean Workers' Association with ideological support from the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), organized the first international political Korea conference outside Japan in Bonn. Despite attempts at discrimination directed against Prof. Freudenberg and his fellow campaigners by the embassy of the Republic of Korea, leading German politicians also took part. To better network Korea activities in Germany, a joint organizational platform, the Korea-Koordinationskonferenz, was created in 1978. The Korea Verband is a non-profit association that emerged in 1990 from the democracy and solidarity movement for Korea.

1. 1Korea Verbandkoreaverband.de
2. 2Ziele & Aufgaben - Korea-Verband e.V.koreaverband.de
3. 3Geschichte - Korea-Verband e.V.koreaverband.de
4. 4Korea Verbandwikidata.org