Message from the President
Dongcheon Foundation is a public interest foundation which
was established in 2009 to systematically, professionally, and continuously
implement the orientation of the Bae, Kim, and Lee LLC (BKL) towards public
interest, which it has pursued as one of its core values since its establishment.
Dongcheon has conducted public interest lawyering through
legal aid, policy reform, research on public interest law, and legislative
support, in order to advocate basic human rights of people with disabilities,
North Korean settlers, refugees, migrants, women and youth, to improve welfare of
social minorities, and to support revitalization of social enterprises. In
particular, Dongcheon established the Dongcheon Legal Center for NPOs in 2016
to provide legal support to nonprofit organizations by operating NPO Legal
Support Group Training Program for lawyers and providing NPO Legal Consulting Checklist. In 2023, Dongcheon has established the Dongcheon Housing Justice Center to provide systematic legal aid and conduct comprehensive research, aiming to promote housing rights for vulnerable social groups.
In addition, Dongcheon has engaged in various social
contribution programs such as BKL Public Interest/Human Rights Activist Awards,
support for public interest organizations,
Contest on Proposals for Public Interest/Human Rights Activity Program for
prospective lawyers, and scholarship programs. Dongcheon’s success is built on cooperation with
lawyers of BKL and BKL Pro Bono Committee which was established in 2001.
Now, Dongcheon will take a step further, and strengthen communication with other public interest organizations and activists, and strive to develop and expand sustainable legal support and social contribution programs in order to become a hub for public interest activities in our society. Dongcheon, with a sense of duty to promote lawyers’ social responsibility through public interest activities, will make every effort to make our society a place where all members live in harmony.
Thank you.
President of Dongcheon Foundation, Yonghyeon Kang