Tribute to Kim Seong Min
"Freedom, which is a life without which we would die, is our breath and value, our oath to take home."
--Kim Seong Min
Dear Friends:
I am sharing below the text of the tribute the Free North Korea Radio staff is now broadcasting to North Korea to remember our dear friend, Kim Seong Min. Also, included below are links to recent articles about his amazing legacy from the New York Times and Chosun Ilbo. I promised him before he left us for Heaven that we would honor his memory by continuing his work for North Korea's freedom.
Until They Are Free: Acta Non Verba,
Suzanne
Free North Korea Radio's Broadcast to North Korea
Obituary of Kim Seong-Min
- Dear people of North Korea who have listened to Free North Korea Radio for over 20 years, it is with a heavy heart that Free North Korea Radio announces the passing of Kim Seong-Min, the founder of Free North Korea Radio, a pioneer and elder brother figure in the struggle for freedom, democracy, and human rights in North Korea, and a steadfast friend of North Korean defectors living in South Korea. Free North Korea Radio Chairman Kim Seong-Min, a North Korean defector, poet, and human rights activist who led private radio broadcasts to North Korea for over 20 years and served as a leader in the North Korean democratization movement in South Korea, passed away on September 12th at 1:05 p.m. at a hospital in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, after a battle with lung cancer and cancer that had metastasized to his liver.
He was 63 years old. Born in Huichon, Chagang Province, in 1962, the son of lyric poet Kim Sun-Seok, Kim Seong-Min graduated from the Department of Language and Literature at Kim Hyung-Jik Teachers' College. From 1992 to 1995, he worked as a writer for the North Korean People's Army Art and Propaganda Corps before defecting to South Korea in February 1999. He founded and served as president of Baekdu Halla Committee, the first civilian defector movement in South Korean history. He then served as president of the North Korean Defectors' Association in 2003 and 2004, leading the association to become an organization dedicated to North Korea’s democratization, human rights, and the protection of defectors' rights.
In April 2004, he founded Free North Korea Radio, an internet broadcasting station for North Korea, and since December 2005, he has been broadcasting shortwave radio programs to North Korean people, spreading the message of freedom and democracy. The voice of truth that Free North Korea Radio sent to the people of North Korea was so influential that the Anti-Imperialist People's Front, a North Korean organization against South Korea, responded with a bomb threat and demanded the broadcast be halted. North Korea's hereditary dictatorship did not hesitate to resort to terrorism, intimidation, and threats to block the progress of Free North Korea Radio, and even deployed physical attacks through pro-North Korean forces within South Korea. However, as the pressure from the North Korean dictatorship intensified, Chairman Kim Seong-Min's love for the North Korean people grew stronger, and he grew into a leader at the forefront of the North Korea’s freedom, democracy, and human rights movement. Chairman Kim Seong-Min fostered international solidarity among South Korea, the United States, and Japan to promote freedom, democracy, and human rights in North Korea, and to broadcast Free North Korea Radio to the North Korean people.
Since 2004, for 20 years, he has co-hosted North Korea Freedom Week, traveling back and forth between South Korea and the United States, with Suzanne Scholte, president of the Defense Forum Foundation in the United States. He has also participated in various North Korean human rights events, including U.S. Congressional hearings and debates, raising awareness of the plight of North Koreans. Chairman Kim Seong-Min's activities laid the foundation for enacting North Korean human rights laws in many countries, starting with the United States.
Chairman Kim Seong-Min was also a poet. In June, he published a poetry collection, "A Soldier's Autobiography," pouring all his energy into his final days. This is Chairman Kim Seong-min's poem, "On Rice: In a labyrinthine cauldron, a handful of barley is stirred. It is rice traded for his sister's chastity. What if he is a father who starved his child to death? Rubbing his stinging eyes, he raises the evening smoke. Some people advocate for the preservation of rice. I don't understand why rice, above all else, must survive.” Furthermore, in Chairman Kim Seong-Min's poem "A North Korean Defector's Prayer," he writes, "Please let there be no more people who insist that South Korea is a less livable country than North Korea, a dark land where, before even wiping away the tears shed over their starving children, they were forced to fight for the victory of socialism and engage in a blind competition of loyalty." In his poem "Freedom," he writes, "Freedom, which is a life without which we would die, is our breath and value, our oath to take home."
Chairman Kim Seong-Min received numerous awards, including the Grand Prize at the Reporters Without Borders Media Award in 2008, the Asian Democracy and Human Rights Award from the Taiwan Endowment for Democracy in 2009, the North Korean Human Rights Award from the Lawyers for Human Rights and Reunification of the Korean Peninsula in 2019, and the Dongbaek Medal of Civil Merit in 2024. Chairman Kim Seong-Min is the first North Korean defector to receive the Dongbaek Medal for his contributions to supporting the resettlement of North Korean defectors. Chairman Kim Seong-Min, who loved and cherished the people of North Korea and his listeners, remained heartbroken for the North Korean people suffering under the oppression of the North Korean leader's dictatorship until the very end of his life.
His final moments were marked by his utmost colleague, Suzanne Scholte, president of the U.S. Defense Forum Foundation; Tsutomu Nishioka, chairman of the Association for the Rescue of Japanese Abductees by North Korea; staff members of Free North Korea Radio; and his bereaved family. Furthermore, numerous media outlets, including Yonhap News, Chosun Ilbo, Monthly Chosun, JoongAng Ilbo, and Dong-A Ilbo in South Korea, and the Sankei Shimbun in Japan, mourned his passing. Prominent figures in South Korean politics and civil society visited Chairman Kim Seong-Min's funeral to offer their condolences, along with leaders of North Korean defector human rights organizations that have worked tirelessly for the democratization and human rights of North Korea. Numerous North Korean defectors living in South Korea also paid their respects at Chairman Kim Seong-Min's funeral. Chairman Kim Seong-Min's funeral was held on September 14, 2025, and in accordance with his wishes, he was buried in the public cemetery in Ganghwa-gun, Incheon, overlooking North Korea.
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Kim Seongmin, Defector Who Pierced North Korea by Radio, Dies at 63
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/world/asia/kim-seongmin-dead.html?campaign_id=301&emc=edit_ypgu_20250914&instance_id=162534&nl=your-places:-global-update®i_id=179120246&segment_id=205901&user_id=71e0fdf8e39ac97a9e534c282767605d
Kim Seong-min, North Korean rights pioneer, dies
https://www.chosun.com/english/national-en/2025/09/15/474YK6HTO5DDNBH7QNAJ5VA7YI/?outputType=native