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Tim Peters, an American missionary based in Seoul,
has been helping North Korean refugees in China who face a life
of uncertainty after fleeing their homeland. |
Refugees in China Get a
Helping Hand
By Andrew Carroll, Korea Times, January 20, 2004
What is it that makes a person reach out
to someone they've never met before to lend a helping
hand? What is it that makes a person aid others despite
the presence of peril?
There are, of course, a number of answers - charity,
goodwill, common humanity to name a few - and it's a
combination of these mixed with a sense of brotherhood
that is leading groups of mostly South Koreans to northeastern
China to help North Korean refugees.
While it may be a Korean issue for the most part, there
are others involved. One of them is Tim Peters, an American
missionary playing a key role in getting the word out
about what is going on and getting aid and support to
those that need it most.
Peters has been involved with helping North Korean refugees
since 1998 through Helping Hands Korea, a Christian
mission he founded 14 years ago.
Peters first contact with North Korea came in 1996 when
news of the famine north of the border led him to start
up a project called the Ton-a-Month Club, which, as
the name implies, involved collecting enough donations
to buy at least a ton of grain to be sent to the North
every month.
As he explains it, the transportation channels at the
time were very limited and in 1998 Peters headed to
the Chinese border area to see if there was a more effective
way to get the aid to North Korea.
During these fact-finding trips he came face-to-face
with the grim reality of the plight of North Korean
refugees hiding out in China. It changed his life and
the direction of his work.
``The more vital and shocking lesson was that there
were North Koreans that we could help right at our feet
and that was the refugees, children who were begging
in the streets of Changchun, Shenyang and Yanji,'' Peters
said. ``It occurred to me that here are North Koreans
who are desperately in need. They're terribly fearful
that the Chinese security people are going to pick them
up at any point.''
From that point on the focus of Helping Hands Korea
was firmly placed on refugees. While the Ton-a-Month
Club continues, Peters says the greater amount of his
efforts is spent helping the underground railroad for
getting North Koreans out of China.
Like its namesake, there are people on the ground putting
their lives on the line to help the refugees. But these
are not the only people involved as the underground
railroad also requires financial support to help shelter
the refugees and get them out of the country. This is
where Peters steps in.
''I'm more of a coordinator trying to match resources
with the field people who are the real heroes in this
endeavor,'' Peters explains.
The funds and resources Peters raises allow the activists
working in China to continue their work and improve
the conditions for the North Koreans looking to get
out despite the lack of support from governments, including
that of South Korea.
Even after escaping from North Korea the refugees are
in a very precarious situation. The Chinese government
does not recognize them as refugees but instead refers
to them as economic migrants thus denying them the right
to asylum and the protections guaranteed under the United
Nations’ Refugee Convention, which China has signed.
Few agree with China’s interpretation of the issue
and in October U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud
Lubbers said that North Koreans hiding in China, estimated
to be as many as 300,000, were likely refugees by formal
definition and said their plight was “a serious
concern.”
Still, the rounding up of North Koreans goes on and,
under an agreement between the two countries, they are
repatriated, where they face various punishments including
internment in a prison camp and torture.
The situation horrifies and disgusts Peters.
“It's a shocking reality and it's continuing and
it tends to be a convenient reality for many South Koreans
to forget about,” he said. “But the fact
of the matter is that somebody has to remember, a group
of somebodies has to remember, and continue to do what
we can to help these people because running from North
Korea to China is only like a half freedom. It's not
even a half freedom.''
Already austere, the conditions are only getting tougher
in the border area as Peters says the Chinese government
has endeavored to cool off the warm welcome provided
for years by ethnic Koreans to their brethren from across
the border.
Facing fines and other penalties imposed by the government,
Peters says the refugees can no longer rely on the Chosonjok¡
to protect them. As a result the refugees now have to
travel several days without making contact and that
means no handouts as well. Already weakened by years
of food shortages the chances of avoiding capture are
dropping.
However, Peters and others like him remain undaunted
and are stepping up their efforts as a flood of refugees
is expected with winter setting in and the Tumen River,
which acts as the border between North Korea and China,
freezing up making it easier to cross.
There are breakthroughs and the plans continue to go
ahead.
“In the last month we have arranged for the sheltering
of 120 new refugees in China,” Peters said. ”So
my plan is simply to continue, especially in the cold
bitter months, to shelter those who need our help.”
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