Ms. Que Banh<p>A group of <a href="https://beige.party/tags/NorthKoreanDefectors" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NorthKoreanDefectors</span></a> has resettled in <a href="https://beige.party/tags/Canada" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Canada</span></a> through <a href="https://beige.party/tags/PrivateSponsorship" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PrivateSponsorship</span></a> for the first time, a Canada-based <a href="https://beige.party/tags/HumanRights" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>HumanRights</span></a> org. announced Wednesday.</p><p><a href="https://beige.party/tags/HanVoice" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>HanVoice</span></a> said that the <a href="https://beige.party/tags/defectors" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>defectors</span></a> arrived at <a href="https://beige.party/tags/Toronto" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Toronto</span></a> Pearson Airport, where they were greeted by <a href="https://beige.party/tags/Canadian" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Canadian</span></a> sponsor groups holding welcome signs.</p><p>While HanVoice did not disclose the identities or genders of the defectors, media reports suggest they are all women who fled <a href="https://beige.party/tags/NorthKorea" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NorthKorea</span></a> before the COVID-19 pandemic and had been staying in a Southeast Asian country.</p><p>Canada now joins the U.S. and South Korea as the third country to legally accept North Korean defectors for <a href="https://beige.party/tags/resettlement" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>resettlement</span></a>.</p><p>HanVoice launched its private sponsorship program for North Korean defectors in Oct. 2021, focusing on women and children, whom they describe as “the most vulnerable population of defectors.”</p><p>“Canada is the only country to resettle North Korean <a href="https://beige.party/tags/refugees" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>refugees</span></a> using a private sponsorship model, a ‘made-in-Canada’ community-led approach that has been copied around the world,” HanVoice previously said. </p><p><a href="https://www.nknews.org/2024/08/first-north-koreans-resettle-in-canada-as-part-of-new-pilot-project/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">nknews.org/2024/08/first-north</span><span class="invisible">-koreans-resettle-in-canada-as-part-of-new-pilot-project/</span></a></p><p><a href="https://beige.party/tags/AsianMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AsianMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://beige.party/tags/WelcomeRefugees" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WelcomeRefugees</span></a> <a href="https://beige.party/tags/Korean" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Korean</span></a></p>