INTERVIEW From Korean language classes to disaster relief, one woman's mission in Fukushima
Chung Hyun-suk, founded Fukukan Net, a Fukushima-based nonprofit organization promoting cultural exchanges between Korea and Japan, poses during an interview with The Korea Times in Fukushima, Japan, Sept. 28. Korea Times photo by Park Ji-won
Founder of Korean nonprofit finds her place in Japan through community sharing
FUKUSHIMA, Japan — For years, Chung Hyun-suk, a Korean living in Fukushima, Japan, devoted herself to teaching Korean language and culture, building ties between local residents and her home country. But the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan in 2011 transformed her mission from cultural exchange to disaster relief and, eventually, community welfare.
Chung, 65, founded Fukukan Net, a nonprofit organization promoting cultural exchanges, between Korea and Japan in 2001, when opportunities to learn Korean language and culture in Fukushima were limited.
The organization thrived amid the first Korean wave in the early 2000s, buoyed by the popularity of the hit drama "Winter Sonata." At its peak, its Korean language program attracted some 400 students, while Chung continued funding much of its activities out of her own pocket alongside her work as a university lecturer.
But everything changed on March 11, 2011, when the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami devastated the region.
"Every day, refugees flooded in and people were dying from the tsunami, including students I taught. I had to do something for the people there because I was still alive," Chung recalled during a Sept. 28 interview with The Korea Times.
According to the Fukushima Prefectural Government, the disaster claimed 4,182 lives in the region, while destroying some 15,600 homes and partially damaging another 87,368. The earthquake and tsunami also triggered a nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, releasing radioactive material into the environment and forcing some 165,000 people to evacuate.
Volunteers with Fukukan Net prepare meals for survivors of the Great East Japan Earthquake in Fukushima in this 2012 file photo. Courtesy of Fukukan Net
Although Chung had no experience in disaster relief, she drew on the networks and resources she had built through years of cultural exchange to help survivors.
“I learned that evacuees were getting tired of surviving on just bread and onigiri (Japanese rice balls) day after day. That's when I realized exactly what our organization could do the best — cook fresh Korean food and bring it straight to the shelters,” she said.
At first, some 38 local women gathered to prepare the food for as many as 2,500 people at a time over several months.
"Mothers have unimaginable power when it comes to protecting and raising children. The shelters don’t accept a small amount of food due to fairness in distribution,” Chung said.
“So we worked through the entire night to prepare food for all. For example, we chopped 700 kilograms of cucumber kimchi overnight. Frying Korean green onion pancakes, or 'pajeon,' in the summer heat was exhausting … But that was the one thing we could do.”
As word quickly spread about the hot Korean meals, requests began pouring in from evacuation shelters across the region.
While Chung distributed food, she witnessed traumatized survivors — having lost loved ones — staring blankly at television screens in the shelters, stripped of hope. She soon realized that food alone could not address the emotional toll of the disaster.
"We began distributing K-pop and Korean drama content to the survivors. We started handing them out to the survivors who had lost their families in the tsunami. They found so much comfort in watching them," Chung said.
Volunteers with Fukukan Net prepare Korean food for a cultural exchange program in Fukushima, Japan, Sept. 28. Korea Times photo by Park Ji-won
The relief work also exposed Chung to another challenge facing the community.
While delivering Korean lunch boxes to disaster-stricken areas, she encountered people with disabilities, a widely marginalized group that was particularly vulnerable in the wake of the catastrophe. This led her to pivot the organization’s direction into welfare in 2022.
"When a major disaster strikes, your eyes are drawn to the places that get overlooked — the communities that receive the least help. Seeing the gaps in the welfare system of Japan, a rich, developed country, at such critical moments made me question things,” she said.
Looking back, Chung said the trust she developed with Fukushima residents had been the driving force behind her continued work. Initially, however, that trust was far from guaranteed.
"They placed their most trust in a foreign woman working on her own. At first, most people questioned why a Korean was getting involved in local relief efforts," she said.
"To overcome that skepticism, I took on every single task I could, doing whatever needed to be done. In the end, it was the local residents who stood by me and gave me the strength to keep going."
Chung now hopes to continue improving support for people with disabilities while helping counter the negative perceptions of Fukushima that have persisted since the nuclear disaster.
After more than two decades of living and working in the region, she said her sense of belonging has come to transcend nationality.
"I now find myself as a Fukushima person. It matters so much more to me than whether someone is Japanese or Korean. Rather than obsessing over nationality, I believe true value lies in doing whatever you can for the place where you live and the community you love," she said.