Saturday, February 15, 2003

While 'peace' groups like A.N.S.W.E.R. and Not in our Name rally and fawn over murderers like Castro, Arafat, Saddam and Kim Il Jong, Christian groups are risking thier lives to save people from the the horrors of North Korea.

In recent years, Christian advocacy groups -- sponsored mainly by Koreans living in the United States, Japan and South Korea -- have set up a chain of safe houses and orphanages to smuggle North Koreans into China.

The underground railroad has enabled tens of thousands of refugees, many of whom are fleeing food shortages and the problems of the failing government of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, to reach South Korea via nations bordering China, such as Russia, Mongolia, Burma and Laos.

In recent months, however, refugee activists have encountered stiff resistance from Chinese authorities, who are offering rewards of $362 to those who turn refugees in. They are also jailing those who help refugees and fining them as much as $3,600.

Last year, Chinese police tracked down South Korean Rev. Chun Ki Won as he led 12 North Koreans near the Mongolian border. He was jailed for seven months,

tried and expelled after paying a $6,000 fine.

Police nabbed the Revs. Choi Bong Il and Joseph Choi, the latter a U.S. citizen, last year; both are still in jail. They belong to a Seoul-based group called Durihana, or "two become one," which was founded in 1999 to prepare "public opinion for a unified Korea under the reign of God, based on the Christian spirit."

Other missionaries have disappeared in North Korea and China, with their fate depending on secret negotiations and large ransoms, church sources say.

I wonder how many of the people at the 'anti=war' protests today will be here:

A protest in San Francisco calling for China to release jailed South Korean activists and North Korean refugees is scheduled for 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Sunday in Chinatown's Portsmouth Square. For more information, contact Daniel Yoo at (650) 483-0850 or djyoo@yahoo.com.

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