Yeo Myung School

Our Mission

Despite the lack of funding for education from the South Korean, Chinese, and North Korean governments for young North Korean escapees, Yeomyung School works to provide education, protection, and guidance to our students to help them adapt to democratic society.

The Need

Yeomyung School works to help North Korean escapee students, but the school lacks funding because the only funding comes from the South Korea unity department and private funders. Much funding and cooperation are needed to operate the school because the students attend without paying tuition.

The Solution

Yeomyung School provides specialized education for North Korean escapee students to help them with the emotional wounds from their detrimental past. They also offer classes that focus on learning Korean for students who were born in China and programs related to culture and the unity of Korea.

Our Impact

Yeomyung School has built a socially-integrated school model for refugees and lower-class students in Korea. Since 2004, the school has provided a customized education from specialized teachers, a dormitory, and counseling services that help both the mind and the heart for the students.

Students at Yeomyung School who were born in North Korea are predominantly from the lower-class of North Korea, and many of them lost their family after leaving North Korea, which has led to a big gap in their education.

Students at Yeomyung School who were born in China were born between a North Korea escapee mother and Chinese father. The North Korea escapee mother fled China to South Korea after the delivery of their child. Many of these students who were born in China have experienced poverty and abandonment by their father from a young age, which has led them to experience emotional deficits. By the time of their teenage years, the children go to South Korea to stay with their mom, but they have a language barrier. Through Yeomyung School, the children are able to talk to their parents, help them adapt to South Korea, and, moreover, help with the unity of South and North Korea.

Yeomyung School was meant to move to a new school building in 2021, but the relocation did not take place due to severe opposition from local residents at the planned relocation site. Even though the school has experienced difficulty regularly due to discrimination against North Korea escapee students, this experience was an opportunity to recognize and reflect the current state of human rights and discrimination in Korean society. These students have experienced great difficulty in their lives that they did not choose, and what they really need is love, guidance, and support.

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