Title: Interfaith delegation sees North Korea famine firsthand
Date: December 12, 1997
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: news@cm.disciples.org
97b-67
INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- Three-and-one-half days in a suffering nation certainly is not enough time to make one an expert on it. Yet it was all the time the Rev. Johnny Wray needed to see that North Korea "is teetering on the edge of a major humanitarian crisis."
He was part of an interfaith delegation which journeyed in November to the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea to learn firsthand about the hunger crisis. In turn, he and other relief agency representatives hope to "make a faithful witness . . . about an appropriate and just response" to their respective church groups.
Wray is administrative director of Week of Compassion, the relief and development ministry of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
While a series of natural disasters has ruined North Korea's grain crops and weakened other food supplies, the situation "is not yet the kind of famine we have seen in recent years in Somalia and other parts of Africa," said Wray. North Korea's hunger problem has been more appropriately called a "famine in slow motion."
The current harvest, while seriously below normal, along with grain donations from other countries, reportedly has stabilized the situation. Another major disaster coupled with a decline in outside assistance, however, "could well send the country over the edge."
While in North Korea the interfaith group met with leaders of the Korean Christians Federation, which is a Church World Service partner.
"Our solidarity with them (KCF) is vital," Wray said. While a small player in North Korea and in the national hunger crisis, the Disciples' and CWS' partnership with the organization can strengthen its role and witness in the country, he added.
Church World Service already has provided nearly $2.5 million in aid there over the last two years. This includes a recent 1,200-metric-ton corn shipment, along with antibiotics, clothing and a $200,000 donation to UNICEF for blankets.
Disciples, through Week of Compassion, have provided more than $50,000 in support of these humanitarian efforts over the past three years.
Yet for all of these and other attempts to alleviate hunger, another kind of want exists -- "a famine of understanding, trust, awareness," Wray said. "Will the family of nations respond?
"Will the church find a way to be faithful to the gospel, amidst all the global politics and machinations, in this isolated outpost at the corner of the world?"
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