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Catacombs Seek Support for North Korea Refugees
By Serena Park, The Korea Herald, March 30, 2004
Like the Christians of old, a group of humanitarian activists meet regularly
in the Catacombs where they exchange information on human rights abuses
and try help North Korean refugees.
It is usually on Tuesday evenings when about 10-15 Koreans and Westerners
are drawn to this scruffy little gallery in southern Seoul. There they
diligently focus on hardships affecting refugees as well as efforts to
improve the lives of struggling North Koreans.
The Catacombs is a casual forum for activists who work for North Korean
refugees and they gather once a week to exchange information. It is led
by Tim Peters, an American missionary who has been involved in helping
North Korean refugees since 1998 through the Helping Hands Korea organization,
a Christian mission he founded 14 years ago.
Dr. Norbert Vollertsen (left) and Tim Peters are two of many activists
struggling to support NK human rights through the Catacombs forum.
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Among the faithful at the Catacombs, there are three people with horrific
stories to tell and who think human rights is something worth sacrificing
for. They have witnessed human rights abuses on a large scale in North
Korea and now they are keen for the South Korean public to be more informed
and active about helping their northern neighbors.
"I'm very puzzled," says Peters. "How can possibly the
world's worst human rights abuses occur only 50 kilometers from where
we are?"
Peters started his aid group in 1994, soon after he became aware of the
famine and starvation north of the border. He started by organizing the
Ton-a-Month Club, which collects donations to buy at least a ton of grain
to be sent to North Korea every month. He is also involved with fundraising
efforts to support the work of other human rights activists working in
China and to aid North Korean defectors in the South struggling to come
to terms with their new lives. His work touches the lives of many North
Koreans who have managed to reach the South safely but who remain in danger
of being found and being sent back to the North.
"While this shocking reality is continuing, South Koreans are forgetting
about what they can do to help these people," Peters said. "The
first thing is to get informed, get on the Internet, see the documentaries,
read the news, watch documentaries, or read whatever you can about the
refugee situation," he urged.
"From my experience, once the average South Korean gets properly
informed, he or she will be motivated and activated into some form of
action and will then mobilize with others to find ways to help,"
he said.
Group member Norbert Vollertsen is a German medical doctor and an activist
for North Korean human rights whose experiences during his 18 months in
North Korea have been featured in several international and foreign magazines
and he has also appeared on CNN, CBS and in Time magazine highlighting
abuses in the north and focusing on efforts to relieve human suffering.
For 18 months Vollertsen had access to North Korea as an emergency doctor
when he was involved in the Cap Anamur, a German NGO service providing
emergency doctors for humanitarian aid. He wanted to expose the atrocities
committed on civilians by highlighting the people suffering from depression,
burned out by insecurity and lacking food.
"I had been to a Holocaust museum in Washington D.C. and saw what
we Germans had done to Jewish people. I felt guilty and miserable in front
of many school children from all over the world. And I even wanted to
hide myself so that nobody would recognize that I was German," Vollertsen
said.
"As a German I think it is my duty to raise my voice and ask the
international police, the United Nations and Amnesty International to
investigate what's going on in North Korea, why there are so many people
who are afraid and why there are so many North Korean refugees."
He thinks the media is the best tool to change things. "I believe
in the power of media. Using the press is the best strategy. Whenever
I got discouraged by the work, I tried to have an interview with journalists
to recharge myself."
"Much more than politics, the media can create much more momentum
as it can stir the public so powerfully. That's why I prefer to talk to
journalists rather than politicians," he said.
Betsy Kawamura, a Japanese-American social activist who founded Emerging
World Film Forum, is another working towards the alleviation of human
suffering and trying to improve the lot of struggling North Koreans.
The Emerging World Film Forum is a non-profit foundation that helps emerging
countries gain access to mainstream film industry decision-makers by providing
experienced and promising film directors with financial assistance, promotion
expertise, distribution and international media exposure.
She has been involved in North Korean issues for the past three years.
It started after she watched a documentary on the miserable lives of North
Korean refugee children in China. "I was so awakened to see those
horrible scenes on the TV screen and decided to do something about it,"
she said.
As the motto of her foundation states: "Through film the world can
be informed, entertained and ultimately reconciled," Kawamura believes
in the unifying powers of film. She also stresses the importance of enticing
the younger generation of Koreans to consider North Korean issues.
"It's very important to draw attention from the young generation,"
she said. "I haven't seen many young people at a conference or a
forum regarding North Korean issues. Most young people seem to turn their
backs, saying it's not their business. Some might feel a certain level
of sympathy most of them but couldn't care less," Kawamura said.
"What is really needed is not a huge donation of money. Plenty of
things can be implemented by young people such as picketing in front of
the Chinese Embassy, completing some hands-on surveys, writing letters
to government offices and so on."
Kawamura believes popular culture could be the best tool available to
stamp the problems of North Korea on the world's consciousness. "It's
the easiest and the most efficient tool ever. Film, art, music any sorts.
It has the power to absorb people. Even something as mundane as the James
Bond film "Die Another Day" brought up the issue of North Korea
- and that's where the awareness starts.
Kawamura called for "more and more media exposure about the issue,"
stating that without recognition from the media, there is no movement
possible.
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