Free Joseon (), formerly known as Cheollima Civil Defense () and formally styled as The Provisional Government of Free Joseon (), is an anti-

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

n activist group established on 4 March 2017. It has been noted for protecting the family of Kim Jong Nam (including Kim Han Sol) following his assassination in Malaysia. It is also known to support

North Korean defectors People defect from North Korea for political, material, and personal reasons. Defectors flee to various countries, mainly South Korea. In South Korea, they are referred to by several terms, including "northern refugees" and "new settlers". To ...

. On 1 March 2019, "Cheollima Civil Defense" was renamed to "Free Joseon", which is also the proposed name for North Korea if it "overthrows its current government".

Mission

On March 1, 2019, Free Joseon issued the "Declaration for a Free Joseon". Within this declaration, Free Joseon enumerated nine accusations against the Kim regime in North Korea. These ranged from accusations of torture and

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

to failures to provide food for the people of North Korea. By virtue of these accusations, Free Joseon declared the Kim regime an illegitimate government and proclaimed itself to be the true representative government of the people of North Korea: "We declare on this day the establishment of Free Joseon, a

provisional government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revoluti ...

preparing the foundations for a future nation built upon respect for principles of

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

and

humanitarianism Humanitarianism is an ideology centered on the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotion ...

, holding sacred a manifest dignity for every woman, man, and child. We declare this entity the sole legitimate representative of the Korean people of the north." The declaration continues on by calling upon resistance to the Kim regime of those who currently live under its rule and for Koreans abroad to lend their support to Free Joseon.

Activities

On 15 March 2019, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' reported that Free Joseon was involved in the 22 February incident at North Korea's embassy in Madrid. Spanish media claimed 2 participants in the raid were linked to the CIA. The group's activities have included numerous defections of North Koreans escaping the country and their embassies abroad. These include the former North Korean ambassador to Italy, Jo Song Gil. It is also reported that the incident at the North Korean embassy in Madrid in 2019 may have been a botched defection effort disguised as a staged kidnapping, rather than an alleged raid. On 18 April 2019, the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

arrested Free Joseon member Christopher Ahn and raided the apartment of member Adrian Hong. On 30 June 2019, Free Joseon released a statement on the 2019 Koreas–United States DMZ Summit, in which

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

met with

Kim Jong-un Kim Jong Un (born 8 January 1983 or 1984) is a North Korean politician and dictator who has served as supreme leader of North Korea since 2011 and general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is the third son of Kim ...

and symbolically stepped across the border into North Korea at the

Korean Demilitarized Zone The Korean Demilitarized Zone () is a heavily militarized strip of land running across the Korea, Korean Peninsula near the 38th parallel north. The demilitarized zone (DMZ) is a border barrier that divides the peninsula roughly in half. It wa ...

. The statement was critical of the true intent of the North Korean regime in reopening dialogue with the United States on the issue of denuclearisation, stating "Millions starved to death, hundreds of thousands of citizens in

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

s, and hundreds of foreigners kidnapped and assassinated will attest that, unfortunately, the regime in

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

has never acted in good faith and only seeks to stall while it continues to proliferate

weapons of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a Biological agent, biological, chemical weapon, chemical, Radiological weapon, radiological, nuclear weapon, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill or significantly harm many people or cause great dam ...

and commit mass atrocities. Regretfully, these empty gestures by the Kim regime serve only to deceive the world and empower an immoral criminal regime".Eric Shawn
President Trump, Kim Jong-un...and Otto Warmbier
America's Newsroom. Fox News Channel. June 30, 2019.

References

External links

* * Resistance movements North Korean democracy movements Organizations for North Korean defectors Anti-communist organizations {{NorthKorea-stub

Mission

Activities

See also

References

External links