Our Founder
"Live Righteously, Know Your Roots, Live in Harmony"
Yoon Han Bong (1947-2007)
Yoon toured and spoke about his experiences across North America, and led Korean youth-specific events on Korean history and the history of the pro-democracy movement. He began to organize the Korean immigrant community, starting with the founding of Young Koreans United and Korean Americans for Peace and Justice in 1984. These two organizations actively worked for overseas support and solidarity. He also founded "madangjips", or community centers for Korean immigrants to educate and serve one another. He founded community centers in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Toronto. He founded the Young Korean American Service and Education Center in New York in 1984, the precursor to the MinKwon Center for Community Action.
With the eventual abolition of the Yushin Constitution and the establishment of democratic rule, Yoon returned to South Korea for good in 1993. He helped found the May 18 Memorial Foundation, the Korea Future Research Center and the Korea Memorial Foundation. He passed away in 2007 at the age of 60, and in recognition of his life's work, the South Korean government posthumously conferred the Camellia Medal, Order of Civil Merit.

Gwangju Diary: Beyond Death, Beyond the Darkness of Age by Lee Jae-eui
March for May’s Martyrs: Biography of Yoon Han-bong by Hwang Kwang-woo