BASISxPSCORE Event 2025
In March 2024, BASIS welcomed the South Korean NGO PSCORE for the first time at Leiden University, marking the beginning of a powerful tradition. Now in its second edition, this event brought together an array of students to hear moving testimonies from North Korean defectors and to deepen understanding of human rights challenges in the region. Yamal van Oordt from BASIS provides a detailed recap of the impactful discussions, personal stories, and the ongoing commitment to awareness and solidarity. Read the full account below.
Pretty much exactly one year ago, on the 22nd March 2024, we welcomed the South Korean NGO PSCORE (People for Successful Corean Reunification) at Wijnhaven for the very first time. With more than 400 attendees, we exceeded any expectations from our association, the university, and our honoured guests. President Kim and General-Secretary Nam were as overwhelmed as we were and kindly offered us to combine their annual attendance at a United Nations Human Rights Convention in Geneva with a visit to BASIS at Leiden University. And with this, a most extraordinary tradition was born.
The first year of this tradition, 2025, was of great symbolic importance for all attendees. Once again filling an entire lecture room, we listened to the chilling testimony of two defectors who have spent large parts of their lives without freedom, without agency, and without a voice. As a sign against this hardship, we welcomed them to our 450-year celebration of Leiden University, our praesidium libertatis (bastion of freedom), at the Wijnhaven Campus here in the City of Peace and Justice. This year also marked the 80-year anniversary of when the Korean peninsula was split in two at the 38th parallel, dividing an entire people, and all the families within them.
Moderated by Korean expert Professor Remco Breuker, we heard about the workings of PSCORE and their efforts to spread awareness about the living conditions and human rights abuses in the most totalitarian regime in history. A student of the BA International Studies, Sam Boezeman, reflected on his experience of being an intern at the organization, and another expert of East Asia, Elena Guido, provided interesting insights into the regional tensions and issues of today.
Afterwards, the room turned completely silent when Professor Breuker handed the microphone to the first defector, Mr. Lee Young-Hyeon. He is the very first North Korean defector to both be accepted to the bar and become a lawyer in South Korea. The tragic story of his life starts in the 1990s, when he had to witness his grandmother and uncle starve to death due to widespread famine. He was one of many “children with sunken eyes and skeletal bodies,” as he described. It was not even plain rice they had to eat, but rather tree bark, for which he was regularly sent to the forest. Mr. Lee continues to explain that, after having written his will at the age of eleven, he and his other uncle decided to flee to China in search for a brighter future. I it was during a rainy night in June of 1997, when he, a young 14-year-old boy, and his uncle attempted to cross the river on the North Korean border into China. He had to watch helplessly whilst his uncle, to weak to fight the currents, was swept away and drowned in the same waters that has taken many lives before, an acceptable risk with the prospect of freedom on the other side. All alone in a foreign country, he hid away from the authorities in the fear of being deported back to North Korea and started working in construction to afford enough food to survive. Some years passed, and a US missionary helped him join a school, in which he pretended to be a Chinese orphan. It wasn’t long before the Chinese authorities raided the school in search for illegal defectors, and once again, Lee Young-Hyeon was forced to flee. Continuing his arduous journey, he crossed the Mongolian desert to eventually reach South Korea, where he had to no longer hide his true identity. Struggling to catch up with the years of education he had lost, he chased his dream of becoming a lawyer no matter how often he failed and thought of giving up. And eventually, after years of trying, he achieved this dream and is now a symbol of inspiration for all those chasing their dreams and trying to overcome their disadvantages.
Following this deeply touching reflection on his childhood, Mrs. Lee Byung-Lim, through the translation of Sean Oh, offered her experience to a room of hundreds of captivated students, lecturers, staff, and guests. Her story does not start with herself but rather her son, who, after having fled North Korea as a child, was captured by Chinese authorities in Kunming in 2010, and repatriated as a political prisoner. With a trembling voice, she explains that “just for wanting to live in a better world, he became a criminal, without being one.” He would be 31 today, yet his whereabouts are unknown. Maybe he is still serving in a work camp, maybe he was executed, or maybe he is free in the most captive society in the world. Despite thoughts about ending her life, Mrs. Lee has lived on, with the sole hope of one day meeting her “beloved son” again before her death. With tears in her eyes, she shares that “I wish to make a warm meal for my son with my own hands and just once tell him that I am sorry and that I love him.” Before ending her speech to thunderous applause, she reflects on the difficulty of defectors having to escape forced repatriation in China and thus having to flee another country before being able to make it into a safe haven such as South Korea, which recognizes the defectors as its own citizens and helps them to reintegrate into a normal society.
Like last year, the dozens of questions from curious attendees had to be cut short after the event reached its two-hour mark, yielding the floor to private conversations with our guests. Shortly after that, the BASIS Board and the East Asia Committee invited the PSCORE representatives, accompanied by several of our lecturers, for a long dinner to forge the relationship between our associations. We are thus delighted to announce that this event is coming back in March of 2026, also celebrating the 20th anniversary of PSCORE!
We are very thankful for the Faculty of Humanities JEDI Fund for making this event possible, and we hope to again secure this support for when Mr. Lee and his representatives join us next year, this time probably for several days to see more of the beautiful city of The Hague.
We are thankful to all those that have participated in the planning and execution of the event and also want to express appreciation to SVJ Media OnAir for reporting on this unique event on their talk show.
For all those interested in learning more, feel free to listen to our BAISwave podcast episode with General-Secretary Mr. Nam, read the BAISmag article about the event, or check out PSCORE itself. More pictures of the event can be found on our Instagram or on LinkedIn.