Nanum & Ieum Foundation (headed by Chairman Yong-Dam Kim, a former Chief Justice), a community service foundation formed by Shin & Kim, has won a community service prize in ‘2018 Korea Legal Awards’ with its support programs for North Korean defectors.

This prize is a recognition of the support programs for North Korean defectors operated by the foundation. Starting with a college student leadership development program in August 2014, Nanum & Ieum Foundation has been supporting college students from North Korea.

Attorneys of Shin & Kim, as the mentors of the refugee college students, have been providing educational and emotional support, not to mention the tuition support Shin & Kim provides them every year. Until last year, a total of 11 students have each received a financial support of KRW 4,800,000 per year. Shin & Kim also sponsors Yeomyung School, an alternative school for North Korean defectors, through Nanum & Ieum Foundation.

Shin & Kim provides free legal consulting service and performs public interest litigations for North Korean defectors. Attorneys of Shin & Kim visit the Seoul Southern Hana Center once a month and teach them about the legal institutions of South Korea,  the legal status of North Korean defectors and family relation laws, the Labor Standards Act and other laws for everyday life in South Korea. Through the Business Start-up Idea Competition, Shin & Kim provides winners with a cash prize and  unsecured, non-guaranteed seed money for starting business in order to help them become financially independent.

Yoo-Jin Seo, an attorney at Nanum & Ieum Foundation, said “The number of North Korean defectors increased sharply since 2000 but they are having economic hardships because they have difficulty finding jobs in Korea” and “Their children, now at schooling age, face difficulties assimilating into the South Korean society as they face barriers created by differences in language, culture and education levels.” “Our programs,” she said, “are aimed at addressing economic obstacles for the students by providing scholarships, etc., and helping them grow as future leaders of our nation in moving towards reunification by making them mentors of their friends and younger students, not simple beneficiaries of our programs.”

‘2018 Korea Legal Awards’ was co-hosted by Moneytoday Newspaper and the Korea In-house Counsel Association, and co-managed by Naver and sponsored by the Seoul Bar Association, the Korean Chamber of Commerce and the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board. The award ceremony was held at a meeting room of the Korean Chamber of Commerce at 2:00 PM on March 6, 2018.