URGENT APPEAL FOR YOUR DONATIONS DURING THIS HARSH WINTER
December 9, 1997

You have undoubtedly all followed recent reports showing an increasingly
worsening situation in North Korea. There is now  a dire shortage of food
supplies   compounded with  difficulties in distribution. Fuel shortages
and limited vehicles have placed a significant limit on what can be
distributed in the more remote regions. Certain areas are more fortunate
than others. Isolated  areas which hard to reach by truck or rail are hard
hit while  the ports or capital  populations remains  relatively well fed.

Children and the elderly are the most vulnerable. They are in the process
of experiencing a slow starvation whose effects won't  be evident for some
time when their bodies will  be stunted and their health impaired. We must
not permit such a situation to occur  if it is in our power to alleviate
such suffering.

The medical system in North Korea is  in partial paralysis,  despite the
efforts of dedicated doctors and nurses, many of whom I have met and
observed (having spent nine days in a hospital there myself last April),
due to the   severe shortage of basic pharmaceuticals and  functioning
medical equipment.

Basic drugs, such antibiotics are desperately needed and may mean the
difference between life and death.

In the coming weeks I am mounting a renewed  appeal to collect  fresh funds
to personally purchase and again deliver food, pharmaceuticals and medical
equipment. These  will be personally shipped by me from Niigata, Japan (or
sourced in neighboring countries outside Japan) on the North Korean vessel,
Mangyongbong, to Wonsan, North Korea. This ship leaves about every ten days
and only takes one and a half days to reach Wonsan which is three hours by
car from Pyongyang. As soon as the ship lands in Wonsan the goods will be
off loaded, trucked to Pyongyang and I aim to be there (with  one of my
family) to personally monitor the distribution to a designated area and
hospital. The locale we have chosen is Huichon, 92 kilometers north of
Pyongyang where severe cases of malnutrition exist. We have visited this
city twice and are familiar with the situation, the hospital, the doctors
and the needy.  These donations will not be diverted elsewhere. If you
contribute to this campaign you will know exactly where your donation is
going and how it will help the people who will gratefully accept them.

If the appeal is successful and the supply is sufficient we further aim to
make a distribution in Sinuiju, near the China border across the Yalu
River, which we also visited and where vast rice fields were permanently
destroyed from the floods. Those fields   now remain covered, like a
desert, by mountains of sand.

Our  distribution, as before,  will be documented with photos and videos,
shown on this Home page. Donors' names will also be listed on this Home
Page and publicly presented to the Flood Damage Rehabilitation Committee
members and to the recipients.

We have also finally been granted permission by the U.S. Treasury
Department (which previously blocked our U.S. bank account) to open an
account for the purpose of collecting funds for this humanitarian cause.
U.S. dollar checks can now be made out to "North Korean Flood Appeal" and
sent to:

North Korean Flood Appeal
Attn.: Bernard Krisher
P.O. Box 2716 GPO
New York, N.Y. 10116

or to:

North Korean Flood Appeal
Attn.: Bernard Krisher
4-1-7-605 Hiroo
Shibuya-ku
Tokyo, Japan (150

Funds may also be wired to our bank accounts in Japan, South Korea and
Australia:

In Japan:
        Account Name: North Korea Flood Relief
        Account Number: 748849 (Futsu Yokin)
        Hiroo Garden Hills Branch
        Bank: Sumitomo Bank

In South Korea:
        Account Name: Hope Worldwide, Korea
        Account Number 371-05-012315
        Branch: Kangnam Choongang
        Bank: Shinhan Bank

In Australia:
        Account Name: North Korean Flood Relief
        Account number:  06-2903-1011-9582
        Bank: Commonwealth Bank of Australia
        Account Address: ANU Branch, ACT 0200, Canberra