--- title: "How to Help North Korean People in 2026 (What Actually Works) | Save North Korea" description: "Concrete ways to help North Koreans in 2026: fund a $3,000 rescue, send USB drives, tutor refugees online, support documentation groups, and press governments." url: "https://savenorthkorea.org/learn/how-to-help-north-koreans" language: en translations: en: https://savenorthkorea.org/learn/how-to-help-north-koreans ko: https://savenorthkorea.org/ko/learn/how-to-help-north-koreans ja: https://savenorthkorea.org/ja/learn/how-to-help-north-koreans zh-Hans: https://savenorthkorea.org/zh/learn/how-to-help-north-koreans --- [Learn](https://savenorthkorea.org/learn) · [By Cladius Dedeler](https://savenorthkorea.org/about) · 6 min read · Updated 5 Oct 2026 # How to help North Korean people [한국어](https://savenorthkorea.org/ko/learn/how-to-help-north-koreans)[日本語](https://savenorthkorea.org/ja/learn/how-to-help-north-koreans)[中文](https://savenorthkorea.org/zh/learn/how-to-help-north-koreans) [Photo via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:070401%5FPanmunjeom3.jpg) You can't fix North Korea from your laptop. But you can get one specific person out, put one specific USB drive into the country, or keep one small documentation group alive for another year. And most of the groups doing this are tiny, and 2025 was their worst funding year in a long time, so a bit of money or time probably goes further here than in most causes. - [**Fund a rescue** \~$3,000 per person ](#rescue) - [**Send information in** Mail an old USB drive ](#information) - [**Help escapees** An hour a week of tutoring ](#escapees) - [**Keep the evidence** Fund documentation groups ](#evidence) - [**Use your voice** Call your representatives ](#voice) ## Fund a rescue (about $3,000) Most people who escape cross into China first. There they have no legal status, and if they're caught they get sent back to face prison or worse. Getting from northern China to safety in Southeast Asia is a roughly 3,000-mile trip through brokers and safe houses. **\~$3,000** to fund one rescue Liberty in North Korea **1,400+** people rescued by LiNK so far LiNK, 2026 [Liberty in North Korea](https://savenorthkorea.org/organizations#liberty-in-north-korea) funds these trips. It's getting harder though: LiNK's 2025 report says China's biometric checkpoints and AI surveillance make every route slower and more expensive. - [ **Liberty in North Korea** Donate to a rescue ↗ ](https://libertyinnorthkorea.org/donate) - [ **Crossing Borders** Website ↗ ](https://crossingbordersnk.org) ## Send information in Outside information is how North Koreans find out their government is lying to them. [Flash Drives for Freedom](https://savenorthkorea.org/organizations#flash-drives-for-freedom) (run by the Human Rights Foundation) takes donated USB drives, wipes them, loads them with films, Korean Wikipedia, news etc., and partner groups get them into the country. It's still running in 2026, with over 140,000 drives donated or pledged. Mailing a few old drives takes like ten minutes. Radio matters too, and it got hit hardest. Radio Free Asia's Korean service closed in July 2025 after US funding was cut, and South Korea ended its own broadcasts. Groups like [Unification Media Group](https://savenorthkorea.org/organizations#unification-media-group) still broadcast and really need support. - [ **Flash Drives for Freedom** Mail your old USB drives ↗ ](https://flashdrivesforfreedom.org) - [**U** **Unification Media Group** Website ↗ ](https://uni-media.net) ## Help escapees who already made it 34,538 North Koreans had reached South Korea by the end of 2025 (224 arrived that year, mostly women). Starting over is hard: a new version of your own language, English, job hunting, trauma, and family left behind. You can tutor English online through [Freedom Speakers International](https://savenorthkorea.org/organizations#fsi) (formerly TNKR) or volunteer with [PSCORE](https://savenorthkorea.org/organizations#pscore) in Seoul. If you speak English and can do an hour a week, this is one of the most direct things you can do (and you actually get to know the person you're helping). - [ **Freedom Speakers International** Volunteer to tutor ↗ ](https://lovefsi.org) - [ **PSCORE** Volunteer as a tutor ↗ ](https://www.pscore.org) ## Keep the evidence One day there'll probably be trials, truth commissions and families looking for graves. Groups like [NKDB](https://savenorthkorea.org/organizations#nkdb) , [TJWG](https://savenorthkorea.org/organizations#tjwg) and [Korea Future](https://savenorthkorea.org/organizations#korea-future) interview escapees and map prisons and execution sites now, so that record exists when it's needed. Several of them lost US grants in 2025. - [ **NKDB** Website ↗ ](https://en.nkdb.org) - [**T** **Transitional Justice Working Group** Website ↗ ](https://en.tjwg.org) - [ **Korea Future** Website ↗ ](https://www.koreafuture.org) ## Use your voice - Ask your representatives to fund broadcasting into North Korea and to restore support for human rights groups. - Push for pressure on China to stop sending escapees back (it sent back an estimated 500-600 people in October 2023 alone). - Share escapee stories and books (our [library](https://savenorthkorea.org/library) has a list). Most people's picture of North Korea is memes, so one good book recommendation does more than you'd expect. ## If you have a specific skill - **Developers and data people:** this site is open source. Add data, fix facts, build tools on [GitHub](https://github.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea). - **Korean speakers:** translation is a constant bottleneck for documentation groups and media projects. - **Writers and creators:** good English content on North Korea is weirdly rare. Search "how to free North Korea" and see how little comes up. ## Be careful with Aid that goes through the regime with no monitoring, and groups that won't say what they actually do or what it costs. Ask for numbers. The good ones publish them. **tldr:** - Cheapest: mail an old USB drive to Flash Drives for Freedom. Most direct: \~$3,000 funds a full rescue through LiNK. - If you speak English, an hour a week tutoring an escapee is real, personal help. - These groups are small and lost a lot of funding in 2025, so small amounts matter. ## Quick answers How much does it cost to rescue a North Korean refugee? Liberty in North Korea says a rescue from China to safety costs about $3,000\. The organization has helped more than 1,400 people escape. Can I send USB drives to North Korea? Not directly, but you can mail used USB drives to Flash Drives for Freedom, a Human Rights Foundation project. They wipe the drives, load them with outside content and partner groups get them into North Korea. How many North Korean defectors live in South Korea? About 34,500\. South Korea’s Unification Ministry counted 34,538 arrivals in total by the end of 2025, including 224 who arrived in 2025. **Want to do something about it?** Fund a rescue, send information in, or support the people documenting abuses. Takes about ten minutes to start. [See what you can do](https://savenorthkorea.org/act) ## Sources - [**Liberty in North Korea: refugee rescues** libertyinnorthkorea.org ↗ ](https://libertyinnorthkorea.org/refugee-rescues) - [**Liberty in North Korea 2025 annual report** libertyinnorthkorea.org ↗ ](https://libertyinnorthkorea.org/blog/helping-north-korean-people-win-their-freedom-liberty-in-north-koreas-2025-annual-report) - [**Flash Drives for Freedom** flashdrivesforfreedom.org ↗ ](https://flashdrivesforfreedom.org/) - [**Korea Times: 224 North Korean defectors entered South Korea in 2025** koreatimes.co.kr ↗ ](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/foreignaffairs/northkorea/20260120/224-n-korean-defectors-enter-s-korea-in-2025) - [**NBC News: 600 North Koreans deported from China have 'vanished' (TJWG, Dec 2023)** nbcnews.com ↗ ](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/north-koreans-deported-china-vanished-rcna128280) - [**LiNK: crisis for North Korean human rights NGOs** libertyinnorthkorea.org ↗ ](https://libertyinnorthkorea.org/blog/crisis-for-north-korean-human-rights-ngos-urgent-support-needed) ## Keep reading - [ **Three students flew drones into North Korea. South Korea prosecuted them.** Four drone flights into North Korea, prison camps and Starlink dreams, intelligence money, and a treason-style charge a court threw out. 9 min read ](https://savenorthkorea.org/learn/north-korea-drone-activists) - [ **How can North Korea be freed?** Five ways the regime could end or open up, roughly how likely each one is, and which ones normal people can actually push on. 8 min read ](https://savenorthkorea.org/learn/how-can-north-korea-be-freed) - [ **Is it possible to free North Korea?** Why the regime has lasted since 1948, the cracks that are already there, and what history says about "permanent" dictatorships. 6 min read ](https://savenorthkorea.org/learn/is-it-possible-to-free-north-korea)