– The first overseas memorial honoring over 10,000 North Korean defector victims stands tall in New Jersey.
– It will also serve as a symbolic catalyst for the democratization movement within North Korea.
New Jersey, July 17, 2025 – The ‘first overseas memorial for North Korean defector victims,’ honoring over 10,000 defectors who lost their lives on their perilous journey to freedom, will be erected in New Jersey, USA. Beyond a mere monument, it is a spiritual memorial for those who dreamed of freedom but ultimately could not even leave their names, and a powerful human rights message to the international community.
This memorial is based on the ‘North Korean Defectors’ Day Monument’ erected last year by the Ministry of Unification of the Republic of Korea at the Odusan Unification Observatory in Paju, and is the first such symbolic structure to be erected overseas. This meaningful project was spearheaded by President Ma Young-ae, who serves as a standing committee member of the National Unification Advisory Council and as the President of the International North Korea Human Rights Alliance (INHRA).
The memorial is designed as a sculpture combining the image of a North Korean defector risking their life to cross the barbed wire fence with a dove of peace, symbolizing hardship and hope, pain and liberation simultaneously. All production and installation costs were fully covered by President Ma’s personal funds, adding even greater significance to the initiative.
“This memorial is a spiritual tombstone for those who died nameless, and a landmark of freedom urging the international community to awaken to the restoration of human rights for the 25 million suffering compatriots in North Korea.”
President Ma Young-ae’s statement seemed to declare that this construction is not merely a commemoration, but a new beginning for the international human rights movement.
Indeed, this project faced numerous obstacles and delays over the past year, but finally came to fruition thanks to the full support and solidarity of the New York-New Jersey Association of Compatriots for National Salvation, local Korean associations, politicians, and public officials. This is expected to become a new spark of hope for the families of North Korean defector victims, who have been branded as ‘traitors,’ and will serve as a symbolic catalyst for the democratization movement within North Korea.
Meanwhile, the memorial unveiling ceremony will be held in two parts: an eve ceremony on July 16th and the main ceremony on July 17th. Officials from the Ministry of Unification of the Republic of Korea, members of the National Unification Advisory Council’s New York Chapter, local politicians, North Korean defector artists and activists, and members of the New York-New Jersey Association of Compatriots for National Salvation, among other dignitaries from various fields, will attend in large numbers to honor the souls of the North Korean defector victims and reaffirm the preciousness of freedom and human rights.
The erection of this memorial in New Jersey is merely the beginning. President Ma expressed her determination to “continue erecting second and third memorials in major U.S. cities, including Washington D.C., and in various countries overseas,” announcing that ‘spaces of remembrance’ to raise awareness of North Korea’s human rights atrocities will expand worldwide.
The world called them traitors, but they were great pilgrims on a journey toward freedom. And now, those who could not even leave their names will be eternally remembered beneath the New Jersey sky, within this monument of peace.
By Han River
