Korean American Sharing Movement (KASM) was founded on March 1, 1997 as a non-profit organization to carry out relief and charity programs to help victims of natural and man-made disasters in and outside the United States. KASM was founded as a direct response to the humanitarian crisis in North Korea in the mid-1990s, but has not limited itself to working only in North Korea.
From 1997 to 2002, KASM raised approximately US$700,000 as well as in-kind donations from the caring supporters in the Washington capital and Baltimore areas and beyond, and helped relieve hardships among those famine victims. In the fiscal year 2001, KASM sent to North Korea, either by sending KASM members or via other channels provided by fellow NGOs and civil groups, over US$500,000 of aid in the form of food, medicine, sneakers, clothing, and agricultural products. KASM also runs a pilot project of bread factory to feed hungry children in an orphanage in the Rajin-Sonbong district. KASM works closely with other NGOs to provide development assistance to North Korea, including the fields of technical and vocational education.
In the recent years KASM has expanded the scope of our activities to include an advocacy role for alienated Koreans in and outside the United States. KASM voiced its concern on the conditions of the North Korean refugees in China as well as the cash payment to demobilized child soldiers. KASM also played an active role in successfully requesting the Fairfax Public School system hire a full-time Korean-speaking registrar.
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