A letter from Art and Sue Kinsler in Korea
April 2011
“Jesus replied, ‘They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.’ ” (Matthew 14:16)
Dear friends near and far,
Greetings and thanks to you who have enabled us to serve 39 years in Korea!
North Korean Food Shortage
Joseph Hwang with a recently arrived malnourished boy at the Yukawon Orphanage.
On March 24 the United Nations released a report that three of their agencies had completed a needs assessment with the conclusion that 6 million persons — one-fourth of North Korea’s population — have an urgent need of international food aid. This was a verification of what Sue Kinsler had reported after her February 5-19 visit, and returning on the 30th from her March trip with two supporters, she could add more details. Reasons for this need are: insufficient harvests and financial resources in the North, the discontinuing of most outside food aid because of recent political tensions and disagreements over monitoring, floods in the North and recently inflated world food prices.
In March a plan was agreed upon and implemented to use funds given directly by the PC(USA) and the Presbyterian Church of Korea (PCK) in addition to other funds sent to support the Kinslers’ North Korea work — for a total of $57,000 for dried corn plus additional funds for cooking oil, cookies, sugar and soap shipped in early April to continue the 10 years of work feeding orphans and the disabled.
Visits for Planning and Monitoring
Sue Kinsler visited earlier than she expected to in February after a request came and the reason was to hear and respond to the looming food crisis as well as to monitor in February and March the condition and distribution of what had been sent. It was a cold winter in North Korea, where heating is usually lacking, with up to 3 ½ feet of snow along the East Coast of Korea, which brought damage to crops grown in plastic greenhouses.
The visiting team at the Sariwon Bakery Soymilk Plant, where food was recently sent, saw a sample of buns made for orphans.
Along with repeat visits to orphanages and schools in Sariwon and Wonsan, the team for the March 23-30 trip of Senior Deaconess Grace Rhee, Deacon Joseph Hwang and Sue were able to make the first visit to the Seongcheong School for the Hearing-Impaired in South Pyongan Province on March 26. Founded in 1959, this school with a dormitory has 156 students ages 8 to 16, 20 staff and 26 teachers. Kyeong-Sook Yoo has served there for 38 years as teacher and vice principal. Her father and two sisters graduated from the school and her hearing-impaired daughter presently attends. Sue and the others were glad to see that noodles, soymilk and bean curds are still staples in the school kitchen, resulting from a good use of the noodle machine and soymilk equipment given four years ago.
Students and school administrators say good-bye at the Seongcheong School; the writing above says, “Thank you Adored Father Kim Jung-Il, Great Leader.”
Discussions with the Korean Federation for the Protection of the Disabled (KFPD) gave the news that an office entitled ‘Korean Peoples’ Aid Committee for the Disabled and Orphans’ will be opened this April. Our North Korea work has been instrumental in raising the North’s consciousness about giving opportunity for the disabled as is shown by our projects making up one-third of this kind of work reported in publications. For the first time in 2010 the Worldwide Day of the Disabled was celebrated in North Korea on December 3 with the activities highlighted by music by the blind, a dance group of deaf persons and disabled competing in ping pong activities for which our missionary help had provided a facility, equipment and musical instruments.
Preparing for the 2012 Paralympics
Athletes are training in Pyongyang’s Sports and Arts Center, a project of our work with the disabled, to be able to represent North Korea in the 2012 Paralympics in London. In order for them to be familiarized with how such international events for those with disabilities are conducted, Sue Kinsler lead six KFPD leaders including the table tennis coach, Ms. Ri Bun-Hi, to the ParAsian Games in Guangzhou, China, last December. In addition to gaining understanding of events and procedures, they were able to meet with some leaders from South Korea’s associations for the disabled and share songs and experiences.
Channels for Helping North Korea
On the cover of the 2011 Mission Yearbook the North Korea work is shown in two children eating bread and soymilk, and this should have been linked to page 146. The story there left out in the process of editing the part in which Sue’s work was given the top amount of matching aid from the Unification Department in 2009, more than $500,000. Unfortunately at present North-South tensions prevent even visits to the North by ROK citizens. Another editing slip came when in our last mission connections letter the ECO number given was for Sue’s personal support. To help the North Korean needy, please use ECO number E051775 when sending funds to PC(USA), P.O. Box 643700, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700. Also funds directed for Kinsler North Korean work can be sent through the Outreach Foundation, 318 Seaboard Lane, Suite 205, Franklin, TN 37067-8289.
Although we are moving to Bothell, Washington, north of Seattle, by July 2011, Sue will continue the work of helping North Korea in retirement. She plans to make four or five trips a year to complete passing over her projects and relationships to South Korean churches although the 2010 PC(USA) Assembly voted that American Presbyterians would be full partners with the PCK in mission to North Korea.
As spring comes this year we hope for a thawing in relationships between North and South Korea and with other countries and that true peace can come to the peninsula while all of us serve and pray in the name of the Prince of Peace.
Serving Christ for you in Korea,
Art and Sue
The 2011 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 145
