The Growing Army of North Korea Apologists in America

You might think that supporting North Korea would be a red line for even the most radical activists. Yet in recent years, a proliferation of pro-North Korean groups, growing acceptance within the wider radical milieu, and a steady stream of activist delegations abroad have done wonders for North Korea’s image on the broader Left. These new far-left groups portray totalitarian North Korea as one of the world’s most democratic countries. They call for South Korea’s “liberation” from the United States and sometimes work alongside other organizations to target U.S. military operations and installations abroad.

Though little known, these groups have maintained influence across South Korea, Japan, Canada, and the United States, with ties extending into American academia and the broader radical network supported by Shanghai-based tech billionaire Neville Roy Singham. The pro-North Korean network’s growing reach among American activists and transnational organizations poses threats to regional security and could weaken U.S. alliances in East Asia—often in ways that align with the strategic interests of the Chinese Communist Party.

Nodutdol (Korean for “stepping stone”)—a 501(c)(3) organization that advocates for a Marxist future on the Korean Peninsula and calls for “a world free of imperialism, and for Korea’s re/unification and national liberation”—sits at the center of this network. Nodutdol’s organizational history dates back to 1999, including years of sending delegations to North Korea, some led by CUNY professor Betsy Yoon, one of the organization’s directors and co-steward of its archives.

Nodutdol leaders view the 2020 George Floyd protests, as well as the rising popularity of Korean culture through K-pop and K-dramas, as the seeds of a new organizational mindset. “As organizers, we see it as our role to take that sort of like general cultural interest into the like history of resistance and anti-imperialist struggle,” Nodutdol’s Jamie Tyberg noted in an interview with Communist TikTok influencer (and Nuestra America convoy participant) Madeline Pendleton.

Nodutdol is not the only group in the pro-North Korea Left. Koreans 4 Decolonization has been particularly active on college campuses. Seattle’s Haebang Collective draws heavily from Nodutdol’s resources, as reflected in its political education materials. Nikkei Vancouver for Justice, a Canada-based organization, appears to collaborate more closely with the International League of Peoples’ Struggle—an international organization linked to the Communist Party of the Philippines—than with Nodutdol itself, though the organizations remain broadly aligned in their pro-North Korean political outlook.

This summer, pro-North Korean organizers stepped up their outreach efforts, sending delegations to both Japan and South Korea among other activities. The Japanese delegation, known as the Mount Tai Delegation, was composed of members from Koreans 4 Decolonization, Nikkei Vancouver for Justice, and the Haebang Collective. The delegation took its name from a famous Mao Zedong speech: “To die for the people is weightier than Mount Tai, but to work for the fascists and die for the exploiters and oppressors is lighter than a feather.”

Parts of the Mount Tai trip involved visits to schools affiliated with Chongryon, a pro-North Korean organization representing ethnically Korean residents of Japan. North Korea has directly funded Chongryon schools since 1956. Mount Tai delegation members openly acknowledged both that support and the schools’ ties to the DPRK. Independent reporting puts North Korea’s 2026 contributions to the schools at about $2 million.

During their visit, the Mount Tai Delegation toured the Chongryon-affiliated Saitama Joseon School, where members even taught an English class. According to the delegation, these schools provide a “liberatory education.” For many faculty members and students, these were the first Americans they had met.

Many faculty members regularly travel to the DPRK. One staff member, for example, had visited 19 times. Delegates claimed faculty could “debunk so much of what we don’t know in the U.S. about the DPRK.” The American delegates expressed admiration for the community effort required to keep these schools operating. They also praised what they viewed as the schools’ educational philosophy, arguing that “ideologically these schools really uplift a people’s education which leads you to have these kind of revolutionary associations.”

The Mount Tai delegation also spent much of its trip to Japan protesting. This included participating in the weekly Friday protest outside Japan’s Ministry of Education, where demonstrators continue to rally against Shinzo Abe’s decision to defund Chongryon schools. The delegation also joined a protest against closer cooperation between Japan and the Philippines, and another opposing the “militarization” of the Ryukyu Islands.

In addition, the delegation visited Camp Schwab, a U.S. Marine Corps base where local organizers hold protests several times a week. The delegation met with these organizers, then traveled with activists to several military installations, including Kadena Air Base and Marine Corps Air Station Futenma before returning to Broccoli House—a local organizing hub named for the surrounding forest, which locals say resembles broccoli—to learn more about their resistance to “the US military occupation.”

Nodutdol also recently led a delegation to South Korea, the Jaju Solidarity Brigade. Participants included members of Neville Roy Singham-funded organizations such as Code Pink, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and BreakThrough News, alongside the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), Bayan, Qiao Collective, the Fergie Chambers-funded news outlet Sovereign Media, Nodutdol director Betsy Yoon, and several other groups. While formal delegation report-backs are still forthcoming, social media posts have already provided some insight into the delegation and its activities.

Meredith Aby, an FRSO member and director of Women Against Military Madness, said that the delegation had conducted “actions” outside three military bases and one installation. Aby repeatedly insisted that she and her new comrades in Korea “are not interested in being part of a war on China.” She framed U.S. bases in South Korea as central to efforts to “control the region,” “target China,” and “get ready for a war on China.”

Speaking in South Korea, Rachel Domond, a PSL organizer and veteran of the Youth Brigade of the Nuestra América convoy, portrayed North Korea as a country harmed by U.S. sanctions and threatened by the presence of Camp Humphreys, the largest U.S. overseas military base. She also described Camp Humphreys as a “dagger in the heart of Asia pointed right at China,” misapplying a quote from U.S. General Xavier Brunson, who had used the phrase to describe South Korea’s strategic position from China’s perspective, not the base itself. Domond’s message culminated in a blunt demand: “The U.S. military needs to get the f*** out of Korea.”

The pro-North Korea movement in the United States, then, is committed to reducing American defensive might in the region—and by extension, strengthening its foes. Nodutdol and its allies offer a unique opportunity for American, Japanese, Filipino, and South Korean intelligence to cooperate and share intelligence. Considering that Shinzo Abe was the one who defunded the Chongryon schools, it’s not a stretch that Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s current minister and Abe’s protégé, would approve such a project.

For Seoul, the continued existence of these networks presents President Lee Jae Myung with a dilemma. How can he pursue a more amicable relationship and advance his policy of “peaceful coexistence” with North Korea while also confronting the political reality that certain activist groups are working to undermine his nation’s institutions and alliances in ways that ultimately benefit North Korean and Chinese strategic interests?

As the pro-North Korean bloc of activist groups expands and strengthens, the time has come to take meaningful action against it. In many ways, the situation mirrors the ongoing and lawful effort to dismantle the Singham Network and its affiliated organizations. Given Nodutdol’s proximity and access to the nodes of that network, the organization may already be under investigation. Either way, policymakers and lawmakers can no longer afford to ignore the questions surrounding these groups.