A Note of Gratitude and a Passing of the Torch
July 2, 2026
To the HanVoice community, our partners, and everyone who has stood alongside us in this work:
July 1 marks my last day as Board Chair and a Board Director of HanVoice.
Since the organization was founded in April 2007, I have been with HanVoice from the beginning. It has grown from a small aspirational group sitting in a bubble tea shop in Toronto in 2007 to something much larger. It is now Canada’s largest charity dedicated to North Korean human rights and refugees. HanVoice has over 200 members, 12 chapters, and a 10-member executive team that stretches from Seoul to Toronto.
Reflecting our growth over the past twenty years, HanVoice has helped transform the impossible into the possible. Whether it was bringing together stakeholders across the world to Canadian locations such as Whistler and Banff to talk about all challenges North Korea poses, or assembling a group of bright North Korean escapees and helping them walk the halls of Parliament, or creating a pilot private refugee sponsorship pathway that allowed North Korean escapees to find safety and a new home here in Canada. All of this happened because of the belief, persistence, and generosity of this entire community.
To our board, staff, chapter directors, and volunteers: thank you for all your hard work and heart that you have put into this task. To our donors and institutional partners: your continued confidence in HanVoice makes the impossible merely difficult.
Today, I am equally proud to announce that David Vella will assume the role of Board Chair, effective immediately. David is no stranger to HanVoice, having previously served as our Executive Director for Canada. I have every confidence that under his leadership, HanVoice will continue to grow its voice and its impact at a moment when that voice has never been more necessary. I will remain at HanVoice as a Special Advisor to help in any way that I can.
All things North Korea have trended in the opposite direction to what HanVoice is working towards. The urgency of the mission has only increased. HanVoice’s model, creating made-in-Canada solutions to the North Korean human rights crisis, is exactly what this moment demands. The work will go on, the hours will be spent, not because the goals are easy, but precisely because they are hard.
We hope you will continue with us on this journey!
Jack Kim
Outgoing Board Chair
HanVoice
HanVoice is an international charity based in Canada working to advance human rights in North Korea. HanVoice operationalizes its mission through refugee resettlement, human rights education, and policy development and advocacy.
