By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Rev. Park One-ho, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of the Lord located in Jamsil, Seoul, received an unexpected note of gratitude from a high-ranking North Korean health ministry official two weeks ago.
Park told The Korea Times that the North Korean appreciated his church for sending tuberculosis vaccines worth 10 million won (about $7,800) every year through international group Zero Tuberculosis (Zero TB) and asked him in a polite manner to commit more to saving countless North Korean children dying of the treatable disease in the northern part of Gangwon Province.
The case drew attention because the official from the communist state suppressing the freedom of religion faxed a letter in person to the South Korean church leader, encouraging him to do more to make a difference for ailing children in the North.
``I was very surprised after receiving the letter. People I know in the Presbyterian church community here said it might be the first time that a South Korean pastor has received that kind of official note from a North Korean official since the Korean War,'' Park said.
Kim Sang-hwan, a pastor who currently serves as secretary-general of Zero TB, indicated that religious organizations could play a role in melting frozen inter-Korean relations with humanitarian assistance that comes with no strings attached.
Kim told The Korea Times that he felt warmth and was treated nicely when he met with North Koreans while distributing vaccines. He visited the North four times last year alone.
Some critics, however, question the North's intent, contending that it resells the medical products for cash and is simply trying to curry favor.
They question the role that religious groups can play in changing North Korea in a profound manner.
Kim insisted there were few loopholes through which the North can misuse vaccines.
The 62-year-old pastor emphasized that his organization, which sends vaccines that can save about 70,000 lives there annually, don't provide any cash and that all items are medical products. He also said his organization monitors accurately to check if the vaccines go to children and if there is any progress in their health conditions.
``Let's suppose that you are a parent of a child dying of tuberculosis, which is treatable. While you were in agony, someone approached you and gave a life-saving pill so the baby could become healthy. You would never forget the person for the rest your life. I think North Koreans are grateful to us because we do this because of compassion for life, not because of political gains or any other earthly compensation,'' Kim said.
Lee Jong-joo, vice spokeswoman of the Ministry of Unification, said in a telephone interview with The Korea Times that she could not confirm whether the North Korean health ministry official's direct letter to the South Korean pastor was an unusual or unprecedented act.
``I understand Seoul-based religious groups that are engaged in humanitarian assistance to the North communicate with the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation very often. But I don't know if that kind of contact happens frequently between the North's health ministry and international humanitarian organizations,'' she said.
Two official channels exist in the North for external humanitarian assistance. South Korean civic groups, including religious organizations, work with the KCRC, while international organizations do business with the health ministry.
Amid escalating tensions, conservatives and liberals locked horns over which side is ultimately responsible for the security instability in Northeast Asia.
A conservative scholar recently sparked controversy after he called former President Kim Dae-jung, an architect of the Sunshine Policy of engagement, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's battered wife.
Professor Kim In-kyu of Hallym University contended the carrot-oriented policy failed to stop North Korea's development of nuclear weapons.
Doves, on the other hand, accused President Lee Myung-bak of escalating security tensions, claiming Lee's hardline policy toward the North encouraged the communist state to accelerate the development of nuclear weapons.
Despite the opposing arguments, both the conservative reciprocity-based North Korea approach and the liberal Sunshine Policy have apparently failed to stop the North's quest for a nuclear program.
While frustrations prevail on the diplomatic front, strong fraternity between South Korea's religious organizations and North Korea appear, in some small way, to be helping sooth tensions on the Korean Peninsula.