<P> NAKASEC was founded in 1994 by local community centers to project a national progressive voice and promote the full participation of Korean Americans as a part of a greater goal of building a national movement for social change . NAKASEC was one of the major players in the Korean American community during the restoration movement after the welfare reform of 1996 through the "Fix' 96 Campaign" and continues to be active in the immigration reform debate . </P> <P> KRC along with other centers in Seattle, Washington, DC, Houston and other cities, were established in the early 1980s by political activists who escaped South Korea after Chun Doo - hwan's military leadership crushed the Gwangju People's Uprising in May 1980 . From the onset, the center set as its goals the delivery of social services, community education, rights advocacy, and preservation and enrichment of traditional cultures and work on identity . During the 1980s, it focused its advocacy in solidarity work with the democratization movement of South Korea, exposing grave human rights violations committed by the Chun regime . Because of its open challenge to the then dictatorial state of South Korea, KRC was a target of covert repression and kidnap attempts by the KCIA and the Korean Consulate . </P> <P> With the Los Angeles Civil Unrest of 1992 and the anti-immigrant wave that swept across California with Proposition 187 in 1994, KRC steered its direction to issues of the Korean American community in Los Angeles, particularly around political education, civil rights and the defense of immigrant rights . In 1994, KRC and other sister centers across the United States, including YKASEC in New York City and KRCC in Chicago, founded the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC, 미주 한인 봉사 교육 단체 협의회), a national civil rights organization with a progressive Korean American agenda . </P> <P> Under the leadership of NAKASEC, centers fought against Proposition 187, held community education on issues of race, and formed a broad coalition in the Korean American community against the Welfare Reform of 1996 . Through a community fundraiser involving thousands of individuals, a full - page ad was posted in the Washington Post in 1997 demanding the president to end the attack on immigrants, and a campaign to restore welfare benefits for immigrants was launched in the late 90's, winning back various benefits for lawful permanent residents and other immigrants . Many Korean American seniors became politicized during this struggle for benefits . </P>

National korean american service & education consortium (nakasec)