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Our team has been collectively supporting North Koreans escapees for over two decades.

Established in 2018 in the UK, Connect: North Korea was created from an emerged need to provide assistance to North Koreans who escaped an oppressive regime and were attempting to build a new life.

Connect: North Korea’s team has been supporting North Koreans for over two decades and we work to apply key learnings we have developed throughout this time, across the globe. Our mission is to assist North Korean communities realise their vision to heal, grow and live the life that they choose.

CORE TEAM

  • Michael Glendinning

    CEO

    Michael founded Connect: North Korea in 2018. He is also the founder of Korea Future, a Seoul and London-based human rights NGO. Michael has worked to support North Korean escapees since 2009.

  • Yejin Lee

    DIRECTOR

    As the Director of Connect: North Korea, Yejin is devoted to helping North Korean escapees and making the community better for all.

  • Denise Estrella

    DIGITAL FUNDRAISING & COMMUNICATIONS LEAD

    Denise is focused on spreading the message about Connect: North Korea and the work we do. She also works on creating interesting events to raise funds to further expand on our programs and assist more North Korean escapees around the world.

  • Catherine Dawkins

    PROGRAMME MANAGER

    Catherine works on developing and implementing our programmes. As part of her role she supports our students and works with partners to ensure high quality delivery of each programme. She also ensures that our Communications and Fundraising teams have the right content to raise awareness about the North Korean community.

  • Ilsang Moon

    SAFEGUARDING AND WELLBEING LEAD

    Ilsang supports and informs North Korean escapees about accessing our and other services. He also flags trends in community needs and critical cases to local services in order to build comprehensive support networks for North Korean escapees.

  • Sek

    COMMUNITY SUPPORT OFFICER

    Sek is responsible for ensuring North Korean escapees receive comprehensive support on the day-to-day barriers they face to building new lives.

  • Hyun Mi Lee

    COMMUNITY SUPPORT OFFICER

    Hyun Mi is responsible for ensuring North Korean escapees receive comprehensive support on the day-to-day barriers they face to building new lives.

  • Rose Kim

    COMMUNITY SUPPORT OFFICER

    Rose Kim supports North Korean escapees by connecting them with various different services to help their daily life and assist in the barriers they are facing.
BOARD MEMBERS
  • Jinhee Lee
    Jinhee is a senior marketing professional with over a decade of global marketing and professional service industry experience across a range of sectors, including FMCG, Tech, Retail, Aviation, Government and Advisory, in Asia and Europe. She studied BA in Business Administration and pursues continuous learning and development. Jinhee believes everyone on our beautiful planet deserves to have peace, safety and love.
  • Maggie Ahn
    Maggie has been a board trustee of CNK since 2019 and sits on the Communications Subcommittee. She comes from a background in analytics at media and technology companies and holds a degree in Politics Science from Yale and an MBA from INSEAD. Though Maggie originally hails from Texas, she has grown up hearing stories of narrow escapes from North Korea from close and distant family members and personally finds meaning in connecting with the largest community or North Koreans outside the Korean peninsula.
  • Mitra Motlagh
    Mitra has over 15 years of experience in international development and human rights. Most of her career was spent in the field working for the UN, in Africa, the Middle East and South-East Asia. Mitra also brings strong expertise in partnership development and fundraising, primarily with bilateral and institutional partners. She holds two Masters Degrees in International and Human Rights law and an MBA.
  • Richard Moreton
    Richard is a chartered accountant and has been a trustee since 2018. In addition to sitting on the board of trustees he is also a member of the Audit and Risk Committee. Richard’s background includes working as Senior Finance Manager where he runs day-to-day finance operations as well as successfully completing value-add finance projects such as implementation of a European-wide project Finance System and the centralisation of full accounting functions for European legal entities into one location.
  • Robin Walker
    Robin Walker is an experienced business leader who worked in the food sector in the UK and internationally for 40+ years as a senior executive working at C-suite level in several large coporates. He now has a portfolio of Charity and Non Executive Director roles to employ that wealth of experience for the benefit of others. He currently sits on the board of Berry Gardens Ltd as Deputy Chairman and on the boards of James Hutton Ltd, PizzaRossa Ltd and Shirlaws Group.
  • Vicky Nida
    Vicky joined the board in 2022. She is a fundraising professional with extensive experience of the human rights sector.
  • Perpetua Adar
    Perpetua joined the board in 2022. She is a human rights professional with extensive experience of international human rights law.