Donations to the Internet Campaign to Help North Korean
Flood Victims
Donations to the Internet Campaign to Help North Korean
Flood Victims
Please click here for reports from our second donation trip to North Korea, March 1996
The following mail updates were received from 96.9.17 - 96.10.6
9/16/96
Dear Mr. Tilman (tilman@berlin.snafu.de):
No. I have never had any contact with Sun Myung Moon. Are you referring to the "Rev. Moon" who heads the unification church? I am not shy about anything I do. I just didn't mention his name on the net because I don't want to get anyone in trouble who is scared of the National Security Law. That is the reason many concerned South Koreans either don't send donations to the flood victims or if they do so, do so anonymously. The person in question is not well-known, at least to me. I never heard of him before nor of his small conglomerate. But the brochures his staff gave me indicate he has about five enterprises, including a university, such that he has enough funds to make a sizeable contribution to help some starving people, if he wished to do so. I am quite angry that he wasted my valuable time during a busy trip to neither show up to meet me when that was the intention of his messages and that he walked away from any donation. That was the point of mentioning him in my message.
Are you concerned enough to be willing to make a small contribution toward the purchase of rice which I will distribute in my third trip?
Bernard Krisher
>You say:
>"The President of a large manufacturing group in South Korea (who was born in North Korea and has relatives in Kaesong), who also owns a university, read about my activities in a Korean newspaper and sent several admiring faxes to me urgently wishing to meet me on my next trip to Seoul and indicating he would provide a generous donation to the flood victims."
>Are you talking about convicted felon Sun Myung Moon ? Am I correct that you are somewhat shy of mentioning that link ?
>Tilman
10/6
I apologize for not replying sooner but I have just returned from a trip to Cambodia where I am building a free hospital for the poor.
I would like to know more about your campaign before deciding on the use of our pictures. Where are you buying the rice? When will you ship it, who will be at the other end to receive and distribute kt? Have you already collected money and are you ready to ship the rice.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Bernard Krisher
>Dear Mr Krisher,
>Thanks for Your reply concerning transport of grain. We have recieved an offer from a local transport firm of $4.500/20 foot ctr C&F Nampo (from Gothenburg, Sweden), and we do not have to buy the ctr.
>Can we use some of You published pictures (on Internet) in the up coming campain here in Sweden and Norway? If ok, we would like to use some in a Norwegian TV-channel (TV7) as soon as possible. Of cource we would tell who is the source.
>//
>Stefan Blomberg
>Ryttarstigen 15, SE 618 30 KOLMARDEN, SWEDEN Tel (46) 011-397420/home, (46) 011-392470/office, (46) 010-6937376/mobile Fax (46) 011-398041, E-mail sgt@algonet.se
9/14/96
To: Mr. Kurt Owens
China has made some substantial contributions but of course do not fulfill all the needs. They have a severe rice shortage themselves and for a while prohibited rice exports but recently provided some rice. Their limitations are based on their own food shortage problems, not political reasons.
You can ask the World Food Program hqs. in Rome for statistics on donor nations, also check data bases like Nexis or Dow Jones, punching in such key words as NORTH KOREA AND CHINA AND FLOOD AND AID. Copyright restrictions prohibit me from disseminating media stories such as these on the net. The net itself is not a very good source for gathering information. It is a bazaar of informative and often irrelevant news but more like a bazaar than an archive.
Would you like to help my project with a contribution toward the purchase of rice for my next trip in October?
Best regards,
Bernard Krisher
....... You Wrote .........
>I have no problem with helping the people of North Korea. Your goals are praise worthy. My question is what the country and people of China are doing to alleviate these problems? They are, after all, N. Koreas' natural ally, and the largest country on earth, as well as being geographicaly proximate. I have not been able to find anything about this on the net.
>Thanks K. Owens
>k.owens1@ix.netcom.com
Bernard Krisher
4-1-7-605 Hiroo
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (150)
Tel: +81-3-3486-4337
Fax: +81-3-3486-6789
Mobile: +81-30-08-88493
(In Tokyo) 030-08-88493
Internet: bernie@media.mit.edu
MCI MAI: Bernard Krisher 215-2204
(This section includes updated correspondence to 9/10/96)
Dear Wally,
Thank you very much for your message.
I will be visiting South Korea at the end of the month to speak to a group about donating to the North Korean flood victims.
On my home page I advocate civil disobedience if people wish to follow their conscience to provide food to starving people. There is a higher law than civil. law if it involve saving people from death. Under the Nuremberg Laws it is a crime to follow orders or a law if it results in the death of innocent people. Therefore people should be willing to go to jail, if necessary, if they break a law that is against a higher law of one's religion or God.
I plan another trip to the North in late September or October. My goal is $100,000. I will personally deliver rice right into people's rice bags in the areas where a famine is imminent. If your community wishes to donate $5,000 or $10,000 toward the purchase of rice for my campaign (at only $250 a ton) you can be publicly identified on the Net, in the media, in my videoed speech in front the people who will receive your rice and in official letters of acknowledgment by the Flood Damage Rehabilitation Committee in North Korea.
Any publicity you can give this project in Canada would be greatly appreciated. (There is the text of a front page story which appeared about my project in the Christian Science Monitor omn my Home page).
Best regards,
Bernard Krisher
>Hi,
>I am Wally in Ottawa. I have received your info on North Korea Relief effort through Robin.
>Robin e-mailed me saying that you have been to hospital. I am very sorry to hear that. I do hope that you get well soon quickly. My best wishes to you. Keep up the good work. I was glad to hear, also, that you will be making another trip to North Korea in October with another major efforts.
>I have been doing some work here with the church organizations. The world council of churches in Geneva has been busy, too. Their goal of 3.2 million dollar US has been getting very close to be met.
>You may already know, but South Korean Government has been very concerned about internet web pages for North Korea and has been veyr active in finding the way to stop informing South Koreans. They have not been successful as yet from what I can gather. They are trying very hard to stop any web site dealing with North Korea in any light except the negative ones.
>In the meantime, I do hope that you get well.
>Take care!
Bernard Krisher
4-1-7-605 Hiroo
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (150)
Tel: +81-3-3486-4337
Fax: +81-3-3486-6789
Mobile: +81-30-08-88493
(In Tokyo) 030-08-88493
Internet: bernie@media.mit.edu
8/24/96
Dear Mr. Feldman,
Thank you for your kind message. I am not a company but a volunteer organization helping North Korean flood victims avert a famine. All our funds go into purchasing rice to feed hungry people.
While I am not in a position to purchase flood control equipment--the flood has already occurred and the crops destroyed--I am curious about your invention or product and would be interested in getting more details.
Best regards,
Bernard Krisher
Chairman
Internet Appeal to Help North Korean Flood Victims
>Date:22 august 1996
>Page:1
>From:B.Feldman
>To:Bernard Krister
>Re: STRUGGLE AGAINST FLOOD
>Dear Sir!
>I was pleased to find your address in Internet. Principial work leads of your company are interested for me.I have several proposals,connecting with water resources control.In particular,I have a proposal, relating to struggle against flood problem.Of course,it is difficult, it is impossible to overcome large flood, but it is possible to create the inexpensive, mobile equipment,which may become ease in the struggle against flood and provide a defence of local regions.
IIn my option, this method may be useful and this equipment may be salable. >If this information represents interest for you, your company or another companies, report to me, please.
YYour, sencerely.
>Dr.Feldman B.
>Honoured Inventor of Russian Federation. Prizeman of USSR State Prize.
>e-mail: bll21379@infolink.net.il
>(bi:elel) fax:(972)-3-6317943
Bernard Krisher
4-1-7-605 Hiroo
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (150)
Tel: +81-3-3486-4337
Fax: +81-3-3486-6789
Mobile: +81-30-08-88493
(In Tokyo) 030-08-88493
Internet: bernie@media.mit.edu
Dear Mr. Kim
Thank you for your message. I have already seen the article in the Chosun Ilbo and I have read a translation. I am not upset at all about this article because it brings attention to my Home Page and to my campaign which is non-political and humanitarian.
This is a signed article and not the editorial of the newspaper. Korea enjoys a free press and in the marketplace of ideas it is assumed there are many opinions. The value of this article is that while the author focuses on the perception of South Koreans' views of what the causes of the famine are, which I don't dispute one way or the other, it also publicizes my campaign, about which I trust many Koreans feel torn. They are torn between the law which forbids contact with North Korea and their instinct not to let their brethren, maybe a close relative over there, suffer. You cannot imagine how many anonymous messages of support from (South) Koreans I receive thanking me for my work. My approach is strictly humanitarian.
Furthermore, I feel averting a famine in the North contributes to the stability of the region. Whatever the cause of the famine (and it may well include mismanagement, poor agricultural planning, the inefficiency of a "communist" system, etc., the indisputable fact is that people are starving, malnourished children may be dying and in a case like this we must adhere to a higher, natural law and save such people from their fate even if it contravenes existing laws of contact. Natural law orders us not to permit innocent, civilians from dying, even in war. The U.S. provided emergency food aid to Communist Ethiopia and the Soviet Union at the height of the cold war. The Judeo-Christian humanitarian instincts of Americans superseded any other considerations. The Nuremberg Trials confirmed this by holding Germans accountable, still today, 50 years after the war and with no statute of limitations, for obeying orders to kill people when such orders contravened natural laws.
Obeying a law that causes innocent death is no defense against punishment. Laws in many countries also recognize conscientious objectors. The author of the Chosun Ilbo article is inaccurate in his remarks about the U.N. continuing sanctions against Iraq, thus allowing people to starve. He is not up-to-date. Those sanctions specifically permit limited amounts of oil sales by Iraq to specifically avoid famine and epidemics. This is a big flaw in his argument.
Civil disobedience as expounded by John Locke and St. Thomas Aquinas , and put in practice by Gandhi. Martin Luther King and Mandela, is neither violent nor does it aim to overthrow the system, It just opposes an unjust law and those who disobey that law do it in full knowledge that they must be ready to be punished for it, potentially by being jailed. One may break a law under such circumstances in the expectation that the act will subsequently be judged as having been in the interest of creating a better society, the perpetrator will be acquitted and eventually respcted by society. Like Kim Young Sam & Kim Dae Jung who challenged the Park & Chun Doo Hwhan regimes for *their* unjust laws prohibiting dissent. Both were prepared to disobey and be punidshed, Kim Dae Jung more dedicated.
In the 1960s and 1970s I was a member of a small band of foreign correspondents who kept the flame of Korean democracy alive. I frequently visited Kim Young Sam and Kim Dae Jung, encouraged them while they were under house arrest and printed my interviews with them in Newsweek. I believe in a small way this contributed to the democratization of Korea. At the time this infuriated the government--and the newspapers, such as Chosun Ilbo, prodded by the in-house KCIA "shadow editors," followed the government line and did not hesitate to attack people like me. I am quite used to be being attacked for prevailing unpopular ideas which eventually become the accepted policy. I am confident that what I am doing now is right, and will eventually become prevailing policy as well, the Chosun Ilbo's criticism notwithstanding. I therefore welcome the article by Mr. Kim Han-gwang. He has drawn attention to my Home Page and may indirectly gain me support from other sectors who otherwise might not have known about it.
YOU WROTE:
>Dear Mr. Krisher,
>In the past newspaper named the Chosun-ilbo , I read an article(the 20th Aug.) about you. It
>was very unpleasant for me to see such an article. In that article a reporter said that your
>actions for N. Koreans in the Internet especially about your message of civil disobediance are "hypocritical" from beginning to end. I am very sorry to let you know this fact. As you know, the newspaper Chosun-ilbo is the most
>conservative in S. Korea. Although the situation of S. Korean media is as this, we will open
>our symposium as scheduled.
>We have already bought your airplane tickets. (1 from Seoul to Tokyo by KAL with the date
>of 31th Aug. + another 1 open ticket from Tokyo to Seoul) About your arrival and stay in Seoul, I would like to know something as follows.
>1. When(at what time accurately) will you arrive in Kimpo airport? At that time, we will
>wait for you in the airport.
>2. Do you have an another plan to meet another person(for example reporter) in Seoul in 29th
>Aug?
>3. During your stay in Seoul, what kind of schedules except attending in our symposium do
>you have? If so, I want to know how can we help you. We are now searching for the translator and the technician to handle video. Maybe in a few
>days we will be heard good news.
>Please ask me whatever you want to know. Thank you.
>Best regards,
>Kim Namil
Bernard Krisher
4-1-7-605 Hiroo
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (150)
Tel: +81-3-3486-4337
Fax: +81-3-3486-6789
Mobile: +81-30-08-88493
(In Tokyo) 030-08-88493
Internet: bernie@media.mit.edu
August 24, 1996
To: Mr. Bryan Millard
My deep thanks go out to you again for your warm generosity and support of my project to help the North Korean flood victims. Your $100 will be added to the fund now gathering for my next rice donation trip scheduled for October.
My warmest regards to you and God Bless You.
Bernard Krisher
Bernard Krisher
4-1-7-605 Hiroo
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (150)
Tel: +81-3-3486-4337
Fax: +81-3-3486-6789
Mobile: +81-30-08-88493
(In Tokyo) 030-08-88493
Internet: bernie@media.mit.edu
8/26/96
Dear Mr. Brooks
Thank you for your message.
I hope you will be moved to make a contribution toward the purchase of more rice for my next distribution visit to North Korea in October.
To answer your questions as best I can:
There are no public opinion polls in North Korea and I do not speak the language. I believe, however, under difficult circumstances the government is trying to feed its people as best it can given the vast destruction of crops and sparse donations so far in relation to need. The rice storage in four civilian warehouses I visited on my last trip in dispersed areas, shows a uniformity of a well organized operation and distribution system. Not a kernel of rice seems to be lost. The people appear to have a "kibbutz" attitude toward their problems having been nurtured on "self reliance" all these years. Their spirits are upbeat wherever I went. Their attitude was: "we'll try to face the situation the best we can but we are grateful for all the foreign donations of food you can provide. Please bring more the next time."
Yes the government will eagerly accept foreign donations of food--rice and maize (corn) is their most desired staple. They are immensely grateful when such food is provided without strings. It is an opportunity we should not miss. I was told numerous times: "you are a good friend... a friend in need is a friend indeed."
The government is not trying to hide facts of outside help. Its publications report the arrival of ships and the role the UN and World Food Program is playing, as well as the arrival of a U.S. ship (bringing rice) the other day."
These people are facing a serious famine. A second flood has just devastated even more ground. If you are concerned, please ask your friends to join in making a contribution which will purchase rice delivered directly to hungry civilians by me on my next trip in October. I assume you have seen photos of my prior distributions on my Internet Home page.
Best regards,
Bernard Krisher
>Mr. Krisher,
>Congratulations on your marvelous work helping the North Koreans. I have been
>watching this terrible situation for many months now. Not from just a purely academic
>view. I am a United States Army Officer. Would really be interested in your views on
>the North Korean people and their current relationship with their government. Do the
>people trust that government will get them through the crisis? Will the government
>continue to let "the west" in to help the people? Is the government trying to hide facts
>concerning the outside help? Thank You. Randy Brooks
Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 13:16:40 -0400 (EDT)
9/10/96
Dear Steve,
Thank you for your message. We have not yet concretely negotiated the train project to Pyongyang. Some North Koreans actually advised me against it saying it was not secure, Very little that goes through those trains arrives. The Russian Mafia steals it all along the way. I also have not been able to get an estimate from the French Railways yet.
If you can ship a container to Yokohama or Kobe, Japan, I could transship it for you on a ship that goes from these ports twice a month to Nampo, the North Korean port and that takes five days. If you were to ship it soon it would get there in time. The transshipping cost might be around $3,000 or so. If you go this route I can get you exact estimates and perhaps some Koreans here might help subsidize part of it. You would not get the containers back, however.
Let me know if I can help you.
If you collect funds for rice I can include it in my next distribution there and give you full credit and publicity. It would be at $250 per ton including the transportation to North Korea. I will be going there in October/November hopefully with $100,000 worth of rice which I will distribute directly to the civilian population.
Best regards,
Bernard Krisher
>Dear Sir,
>I have with big interest studied Your campain for the flood victims of Korea.
>Last week we had a meeting with the North Korean Embassy in Stockholm and they asked
>Very best regards,
>Stefan Blomberg
The following is letters added previous to the above 960912 update...
E-MAIL TO NIP A FALSE RUMOR IN THE BUD
A response to the following message to Mr. Steve Linton will appear
on this page when it is received.
Tokyo 2/28/96
To: Steve Linton (eugenebell@aol.com)
Dear Steve,
I just heard tonight from someone you met on the plane to
Pyongyang that you understood I was being funded by the Chosen Soren (the
Japan-based pro-North Korean Association of Korean Residents). This is very
disturbing as it is absolutely untrue and destructive to the humanitarian,
non-political nature of my efforts to bring rice to the starving flood
victims in North Korea.
No one is funding me nor have I have received even one yen in
contributions from any pro-North Koreans I know of except anonymous
contributions coming into our Tokyo Internet Campaign bank account through
an appeal on our behalf which appeared in the Asahi Shimbun and netted over
1.5 million yen in numerous mostly small contributions. Other contributors
have been church groups, some Japanese business people, Wyeth-Eisai (A
powdered milk manufacturer) neighbors in the Garden Hills complex and
donors from all over the world who have sent in funds after seeing our Home
Page. These have included students at Seoul National University, a producer
from the KBS network in South Korea, Christian and Buddhist leaders in
South Korea, even the last surviving member of the Lee Dynasty, Kyu Lee,
who contributed $250 to feed 75 people for one month (i.e. the amount
necessary to buy one ton of rice from Thailand through a Swiss trading
company). They have ranged from a croupier in an Estoril casino to a
student in Alaska. Our project is absolutely transparent. I would like
to track down this false information as soon as possible and appreciate if
you could tell me where you heard it, why you are spreading it without
checking with me and who else is promulgating it so I can nip it in the
bud.
Best regards,
Bernard Krisher
>Date: Mon, 4 Mar 1996 08:39:15 +0900 >To: >From:bernie@media.mit.edu (Bernie Krisher)
>Subject:Re: Chosen Soren
>You WROTE
>Dear Bernie,
Sorry for the misunderstanding. Your friend was so positive about your
program I ASKED him if he was helping you or not. No harm intended.
SL
MY REPLY
To: Mr. Steve Linton
Dear Steve,
My friend, Mr. Kim, is not a Chosen Soren official. He left that
organization many years ago. He is an independent interpreter
(and >commentator) and has a healthy *capitalist* translation business. He
voluntarily translates the UN, WFP and other key reports on our Home Page
into Japanese for the benefit of our Japanese surfers.
Many people are positive about our program because of its purely
humanitarian objectives.
Best regards,
Bernie Krisher
LETTER TO WINSTON LORD:
January 26, 1996
Mr. Winston Lord
Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs Department of State
Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. Lord,
You may remember me when I met you at the Embassy in Beijing on the way back from a trip to Pyongyang in 1990. I am a former Newsweek Tokyo bureau chief and established an NGO in Cambodia four years ago to help in various projects there including the p
ublication of The Cambodia Daily, a non profit newspaper. Recently I have turned my attention to providing relief for the North Korean flood victims and launched a Home Page on the Internet for this purpose. The access number is:
http://race.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~mrosin/flood/index.html
(this replaces the site at http://shrine.cyber.ad.jp/mrosin/flood for faster access)
I went to North Korea in November to distribute clothes, blankets shoes and powdered milk directly to flood victims in the rural areas. Documentation and photos of this trip appear on the home page.
I had opened bank accounts in Washington (Crestar Bank) and in Tokyo to receive contributions from the public but discovered just prior to my departure for Pyongyang, when I wanted to withdraw the funds from the bank that the bank informed me they had
been ordered by the Treasury Department to block the account. I had received no formal notice. These funds would have purchased powdered milk for infants, many of whom are suffering from malnutrition.
I have written three letters to a Mr. Newcomb at Treasury requesting permission to send humanitarian relief to North Korea and to unblock this account, including two registered letters, but there has been no response. I visited the State Department to
try to discuss this with the officials in the Korean section but was unable to arrange an appointment with the director of the Section and a lower level official listened patiently but was noncommittal. There appeared to be no sympathy for the flood victi
ms nor my efforts to retrieve my own deposit in the bank and whatever contributions may have been deposited.
I cannot comprehend such an attitude on the part of my government that has a long humanitarian tradition. People like me should be encouraged not regarded as law breakers.
I understand that the United States is beginning to realize the serious situation in North Korea. I am returning to North Korea again in late February when I will personally distribute rice to the villages again with funds collected over the Internet a
nd from generous donors in Japan and also from Seoul National University students and faculty, and from church groups there.
I would like to request your cooperation in helping obtain the permission from the United States government to use the funds from this account and other donations to help feed the victims, particularly children, in these areas. A number of potential Am
erican donors are withholding contributions until I receive such permission. My deadline for ordering rice from abroad is February 10. Your cooperation in helping me attain the necessary permissions and unblocking the account is greatly appreciated.
You may fax me at: +81-3-3486-6789.
Best regards,
Bernard Krisher
RESPONSE FROM THE STATE DEPARTMENT:
United States Department of State
Washington, DC 20520
February 15, 1996
Mr. Bernard Krisher
4-1-7-605 Hiroo
Shibuya-ky, Tokyo (150), Japan
Dear Mr. Krisher:
Winston Lord has asked me to reply to your letter of January 26 concerning funds for humanitarian relief in North Korea.
My staff has kept me abreast of your work. When you visited last year, I had a prior engagement which
prevented our meeting. However, I was confident that others in the office who are more familiar with
humanitarian aid procedures than I am would give you the advice you sought.
Our office has worked very closely with the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Commerce Department's Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) regarding donations to North Korea for humanitarian purposes. BXA regulates
exports of U.S. origin goods and technology; OFAC regulates all other transactions. Our general approach
has been to liberalize licensing policies to facilitate such assistance either in the form of humanitarian goods directly to North Korea or of funds to specified
international organizations engaged in North Korea relief efforts. However, all such assistance must be provided in accordance with U.S. Law. As a standard practice, we refer all potential donors t OFAC or BXA
so that proper licenses are obtained. We referred your daughter to OFAC in summer 1995 for advice concerning your plans to solicit contributions for North
Korea via the Internet. We also sent a copy of the OFAC regulations to her by fax.
Your inquiries raise two types of issues -- (i) those dealing with the licensing of future activities and (ii)
those relating to possible legal problems,ms arising out of your activities to date. On the licensing issue, the State Department plays a role in reviewing your request
for a license to provide humanitarian aid to the DPRK. Upon completion of our review, we will advise the Treasury Department concerning our position. OFAC will notify you of the terms and conditions of any license issued. However, you should not antici
pate approval of direct contributions of cash to North Korea.
In regard to the review of actions you have already taken, the State Department plays no advisory
role. This review for compliance wit U.S. law will be handled by OFAC officials.
I hope this information has been helpful to you.
Sincerely,
David G. Brown
Director
Office of Korean Affairs
February 17, 1996
To: Mr. David G. Brown
Director
Office of Korean Affairs
United States Department of State
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Mr. Brown:
Thank you for your response of February 15 to my fax to Winston Lord dated January 26.
Thank you also for the clarifications.
As you know I have sent three letters, two of which were certified or registered, to Mr. Newcomb, who I was told
is the responsible person at the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. I wrote him based on what your Department advised my daughter to relay to me. However I have received no response. A call to his office last year
confirmed however that my communications had been received in the office but the staff was too busy with other requests to respond. I then wrote again but there still has not
been any response yet.
I have not contacted the Commerce Department's Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) because I do not reside in the U.S. and have not yet nor do I plan to export
any U.S.-origin goods nor technology to North Korea. The main problem is famine and the focus of my concern is getting rice to the civilians in the flood-affected areas. The
cheapest rice is available in Asia. It is also more economical to transport rice within Asia.
In the absence of a response from the Treasury Department within a reasonable time and clear alternate guidance from State, and given that this is an emergency situation where people are on the verge of famine, I could not wait to see people starve to
get permission which might come too late
to halt the starvation. One is expected to respond to an SOS call on the high seas without questioning who is on the ship. I therefore sought guidance from President Carter's former National Security advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski. Dr. Brzezinski
met me and informally reasoned that as I was not running this activity in the United States but acting as a messenger for Japanese yen donations, this would not likely fall under the jurisdiction
of The U.S. Treasury. I have also been a permanent resident of Japan for more than 30 years.
I have not spent any U.S. funds yet nor sent any products made in the U.S. nor from the U.S. to North Korea. So far all the goods shipped have been used clothing, blankets and shoes from Japanese donors and shipped from Japan consigned to me and picked
up by me at the port of Wonsan to be then distributed personlly by me to civilians in the rural areas. The funds collected and spent have been in yen deposited into a Japanese bank and withdrawn in yen from the Japanese bank to purchase powdered
milk and shoes.
We now plan to use new yen received to purchase rice coming from Thailand or China. The distribution will be similar.
I believe, Dr. Brzezinski's advice is based on a knowledge of the U.S. laws and he did not discourage me from this activity. I am a survivor of the Holocaust and I know how many of us 50 years later can never forget people who found a way to help Jews,
trapped in Germany, to survive. It is primarily this experience and
the memory that nine of my father's siblings perished in concentration camps and only we luckily survived, which has
motivated me to help these people similarly trapped. I have personally met many of the flood victims in November in the
villages when their "kitchen pantries" still had a small supply of food but is now quickly running out without hope of adequate replenishment. I hope the U.S. government can recognize activities such as mine and encourage rather than hamper or delay ap
proval of the necessary papers which would unblock funds in a U.S. bank
or utilization of American contributions for the rice orders.
I would also be gratified if I received the U.S. government's blessing of such activities and a godsend before I depart on my next trip in early March. Regarding licenses in the use of U.S. dollar funds to purchase food, I am requesting such permission
may be conditional that all my donations in North Korea be limited to my personal distribution directly to groups of civilian farmers in the flood areas and that I provide videoed evidence. Those are also the conditions I impose upon myself.
I have a clear conscience that I am acting both the way God would wish me to act while remaining cognizant of the U.S. laws. I have neither sent any American products to North Korea nor sent "American" dollars to North Korea.
I am requesting however the American government consents to utilizing such dollars which have been deposited in the blocked Crestar account from Americans, or non-Americans
overseas, to purchase powdered milk (infant formula) for shipment to North Korea from Japan or China. These particular
funds would be used only for such a purpose.
I understand the Treasury Department likely would not be concerned about the purchase of rice where Japanese yen, collected from Japanese donors in Japan , is used.
I commend the American government's contribution of $2 million for the flood victims and hope the public and private sector can now work jointly to avert a famine which will cause severe suffering to innocent civilians.
Finally I wish to stress again that all of the Internet campaign's donations go directly to the civilian population in
North Korea. On my previous trip and subsequent trips I have and I will personally supervise and participate in the distribution of rice and other donations to the civilian populations in the villages in the flood affected areas (Unpa, Rinsan, Sinuiju,
etc.).
All such distribution will be documented by still and videos taken by my son who is accompanying me as a cameraman. They will be provided free to TV stations which wish to show
them and the stills, along with my daily reports, will appear on our Internet HomePage. This project has full transparency
and can be tracked everywhere in the world on real time.
I feel it is one of the best uses of the Internet in the new era of free and unfettered information in the shrunken world we now inhabit.
Sincerely yours,
Bernard Krisher
2/18
Some letters from the Net...
(Correspondence updated February 13, 1996)
>Subject:Re: North Korean Relief
>
>1/20/96
>
>Dear Mr. Kimball:
>
> I will get back to you on medicine. Is this direct from
>pharmaceutical companies? In what quantities. Is the expitration date
>beyond one year? As soon as I have that information I will inquire
>directly with thre health authorities in North Korea and get back to you.
>For the medicine we might be able to get some assistance in shipping
>it--even by air.
>
> On the hospital beds and stretchers, they might be too heavy. Can
>you tell me again the quantity and source. I know of an NGO in Michigan,
>International Aid, which is shipping such material to North Korea and
>might put you in touch with them, if you wish. The may have a budget for
>shipping.
>
> Again on computers and copying machines. Are they new? old? what
>makes, what vintage and condition. Laptops are heavy desktops? There might
>be an export problem with the computers which come under a COCOM category
>but if needed would be a good contribution to Cambodia where such strict
>export restrictions do not exist.
>
> If you can provide me with a few more details I will be able to
>draw a map.
>
> Many thanks and very best regards,
>
>Bernard Krisher
>
>You wrote:
>
>
>>Dear Mr. Krisher
>>A large list of available equipment was given to me last week. It includes
>>hospital beds, stretchers, centrifuges, computers, copiers, pulsoximeters,
>>infusion pumps, syringe pumps, and insufflators. Some of this equipment
>>might not be applicable. I am working on medicine now. It would help to
know
>>what type of medicine is most needed (antibiotics etc...)
>>Again, shipping these things even to Japan is still a problem. I currently do
>>not have the resources to even get them out of the U.S. If you have any
>>ideas please let me know.
>>Sincerely,
>> Ted Kimball
>>P.S. I have no problem with you putting my correspondence on your home
page.
>
Tokyo, January 20, 1996
Dear Sir:
I have just received this clipping from your paper and that is why
I am urgently writing you now and trust you will publish this letter or
check with me if you choose to run an abbreviated version:
...
I was quoted, but not fully, giving readers the opposite meaning,
in the article you shortened from The Washington Post on your front page
(December 21), "Seoul, Jittery, Sees a Menace in North" by Kevin Sullivan.
I launched an Internet campaign to help the 500,000 flood victims in North
Korea threatened by famine (http://shrine.cyber.ad.jp/mrosin/flood). [Note- New Site resides at
http://race.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~mrosin/flood/index.html]
I
visited three of the damaged areas in November and donated relief goods
directly to the victims. I am continuing my campaign focused on donating
rice, this time, to the same people now facing famine, on my next trip in
February.
Your deletion, however, of an essential paragraph of the quote
which appeared in the original article in the Washington Post has given
the impression that I disputed the accurate reports of the The
International Red Cross and the World Food Program experts which describe
the serious food shortage and imminent famine there. My own views confirm
this in the complete quote.
Potential donors to my campaign, particularly in Europe, where the
Trib is widely circulated, who have seen my appeal on the Internet have
written me that they see no need to contribute since I myself was quoted in
your paper as saying the people are well fed. This is not the case. In the
complete quote I added many of the villages I visited only had a very short
supply of rice left and by now could be without food.
I trust, both in the interest of accuracy, and to prevent the
starving population from not receiving aid from people who may have been
misled, that you publish the complete text of my quote below:
> At least one report out of Pyongyang paints a much less
> bleak picture of the food supply than a report released this week by
> the United Nations. While the serious damage inflicted by last
> summer's floods is indisputable, one person who recently toured the
> worst-hit areas said they are recovering quickly.
> "I did not see any hunger or malnutrition when I was there,"
> said Bernard Krisher, an American who lives in Tokyo and spent two
> weeks in North Korea in late November delivering $25,000 worth of
> relief supplies he raised through an appeal on the Internet.
> Krisher said that in the worst-hit areas, including Sinuiju
> on the Chinese border, people still had food, electricity and
> heating fuel and were in good spirits. He said most people who had
> been living in schools or other temporary shelters since the floods
> have moved back into their rebuilt homes. Nearly all the homes he
> saw had a single overhead light bulb and a black-and-white
> television set, he said.
> The daily ration of rice had been cut since the floods from
> 36 ounces to about 17 ounces, about two big cupped handfuls, he
> said. While that is a small allotment, it is only slightly less than
> the 18 ounces that the United Nations considers the minimum daily
> adult requirement.
> Although Krisher said he saw nothing immediately dire, he
> added that food stocks are limited. In some places, he said, there
> was only enough rice in warehouses to last a month. Without
> continued foreign aid, the situation could become much more
> desperate, he said.
The final two paragraphs (which you omitted) is key to what I told
Mr. Sullivan and he faithfully quoted it in his story which appeared in the
Washington and other U.S. newspapers. Your copy editor, however, chose to
cut this essential portion and thus distorted my observation. I hope you
will run the entire quote in order to set the situation right.
I welcome further donations from the public to increase the amount
of rice I plan to order by February 15 to be shipped to Nampo port,
consigned to me, where I will fetch it and truck it directly to villages
for personal distribution which the North Korean government has already
approved, as in November. This assures that no food brought in by me will
be diverted to other purposes. One metric ton of rice costs $250 which will
feed 75 persons for one month.
Sincerely yours,
Bernard Krisher
Some letters from the Net...
(Updated January 23, 1996)
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 96 21:29:36 -0800 aRE YOU STILL SENDING DONATIONS OF ITEMS TO kOREA?
I live north of Seattle and would drop a small donation of
clothes, food, etc to a drop off point in Seattle if you are still
doing this.
Cathy
Date: Sun Jan 14 18:00:19 1996 Hi Bernie.
I saw an article in the Korean papers, mentioning that you were
back in Korea for another speech; they carried several of the
pictures you must have provided. It was a fairly sympathetic
piece.
We are trying to mobilize the Korean-American community as much
as we can. The National Council of Churches (NCCC-USA) has
increased their campaign to $500,000 from $100,000. They have sent
initial materials in terms of rice and medicine.
Please let me know when exactly you will be entering Japan
again. I have someone in our organization who may have an
opportunity to enter DPRK in early February.
Hope you are in good health.
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 08:32:18
+0900 Dear Paul,
Thanks for your message.
I got back to Tokyo on Saturday night after two days in Seoul
where I spoke to a church group which donated $7,500 toward my
campaign to purchase rice which I will order for delivery to Nampo
port in February and personally directly distribute to flood
victims with photo and video documentation to the donors and I
will announce the donors' names and organizations at the time of
the presentation and on the Internet Home page. A group of Seoul
National University students and professors also brought me
unexpectedly $1,300 to my hotel. A KBS producer who interviewed me
for a documentary on my project, which will be aired in a couple
of weeks, gave me 200,000 won out of his wallet, etc. It was a
very heartwarming visit.
I would be pleased to receive some donations from the U.S. and
deliver them directly to the flood areas on their behalf.
Best regards,
Bernie Krisher
PS Could you please tell me which paoper you saw which ran the
article on me and the date? Thanks.
Hi Bernie.
I saw an article in the Korean papers, mentioning that you were
back in Korea for another speech; they carried several of the
pictures you must have provided. It was a fairly sympathetic
piece.
We are trying to mobilize the Korean-American community as much
as we can. The National Council of Churches (NCCC-USA) has
increased their campaign to $500,000 from $100,000. They have sent
initial materials in terms of rice and medicine.
Please let me know when exactly you will be entering Japan
again. I have someone in our organization who may have an
opportunity to enter DPRK in early February.
Hope you are in good health.
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 1996 15:31:29 +0900 1/4/95
To: Mr. Ryan Kinkaid
It is a fact that 500,000 persons lost homes, property and
considerable stored rice in the flood affected areas. The whole
population therefore is short of rice and that is a national
problem. The World Food Program and UNDP have issued reports and
appeals, some of which appear on our home page. I think we can
trust those UN reports.
One WFP reppret has just appeared. It is not yet on our Home
Page. If you call their New York office they can fax it to you
Our campaign is focused on the 500,000 flood victims and the
donatiions we receive and the rice I will purchase with such
donations next month will be personally delivered by me to the
victims with photo and videoed evidence. You can be sure that such
rice will go directly into the mouth of those victims and their
children, facing famine and malnutrition. I have already completed
such a campaign and the photos are also available for your view on
our Home Page . I trust you have seen them. The same will be
repeated next month.
This is a non-political, humanitarian campaign, just as I have
been helping Cambodia for the past three years. Please trust me
and give us your support.
Warmest regards,
Bernard Krisher
You wrote:
I am just wondering. What if that food aid is used as the
military purpose? Could we afford one more war? Did you know that
about 15% (not so accurate)of the total rice in North Korea is
reserved as the military rice which is equivalent to the amount
that can feed whole North Koreans for three months.
It looks bad. And, it sounds bad. But one thing we have to know
is that things have been bad for a long time in North Korea.
I wish we all do our best to seek out the truth. I believe that
information can be easily misled by various people including North
Korean officials.
Why don't we try to find out the truth first. Let's get the
accurate figure before we do anything...
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 1996 15:23:53
+0900 1/14/96
To: Mr. Kimball:
I've just returned to Tokyo after stopping in Seoul where I
gave some talks, had TV and newspaper interviews and am in the
process of garnering support for my North Korean rice purchase
campaign.
If you could tell me what medical equipment and other donations
might be available (specific items) I would be pleased to run them
through the flood damage rehabilitation authorities in North Korea
and let you know what is needed/wanted. Also, if it is shipped to
me in Japan (Yokohama or Niigata) I will be able to get them to
North Korea from here, probably at no or little additional cost.
Just the cost of loading onto the other ship. Finally if they are
consigned to me I will reship them, consigned to me, pick them up
at the port in North Korea and personally deliver them directly on
your or whoever's behalf to an appropriate hospital/clinic/village
and prove photographically and videoed evidence how they were
delivered, received and credited to the donor publicly. I have
established this type of relationship now with the North Koreans
and may be the only person to be able to verify donations this way
and provide the evidence.
Best regards,
Bernie Krisher
PS May I run your comminications on our Internet Home Page?
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 1996 11:02:42 -0800 Dear Bernie:
I read your noble and humanitarian works at Korea Daily
(Hankook Ilbo) publsihed in Los Angeles. You have my utmost
respect on your heart warming works.
I am Korean American living in Los Angeles area for last 30
years. I am eager to participate your project in some capacity. I
am sure many Korean American in US, other US citizen and South
Korean will participate this project if we can inform or educate
them.
Your web site help line listed Japan and Europe but USA and
South Korea are not listed. I assume there is good reason. Are
there any way US citizen and South Korean can participate this
project legally? I am well aware of that US, North Korea and South
Korea do not have formal diplomatic relatiohnship yet.
Please advise me what I can do. I am awaiting your reply.
Regards,
Michael Chon
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 08:13:25
+0900
1/16/96
Dear Mr. Dias
Thank you very much for your generous donation. It will buy
rice to feed 30 persons for one month.
It is a shame that you will have to pay $80 in tax. There must
be a way for you not to pay that if it is for charity.
An alternative would be (if you have not yet transferred the
fund) for you to send a U.S. dollar check in the mail, made out to
Internet Appeal for N. K. Flood Victims or send a $100 U.S. dollar
bill by registered mail to me at:
Bernard Krisher A receipt will be sent to you once the funds are received in
any of the ways in which you have chosen to send them.
While we were in Portugal in 1940, I also stayed for two weeks
in Cascais next to Estoril with a family. Her name, I think, was
Nina Pimentel. She was beautiful and thought I was cute when she
met me and my family in Curia during our stay. But I am afraid she
is no longer alive.
I also have friends in Anadia, Jose Luis Rodrigues and his son,
Jose Manuel, who just graduated from the law department of Coimbra
University, also where his father and late grandfather, Jose
Rodrigues, studied.
I read you have just had an election and I hope the result was
a good one for Portugal.
Thanks again.
Warmest regards,
Bernard Krisher
Estoril, Portugal 15 Jan. 1996 I liked very much your words about Portugal and the Portuguese
people.
Today I order my Bank to transfer to the North Korea flood
reliefe account with number 74889 in Sumitomo Bank - Tokyo. I give
order to put 100 USD in this account, is not much but I don4t have
chance to give more in this moment, and I have to pay 80 USD in
taxes to the Portuguese Bank. I like go with the volunteers in
Paris train, but I think is not possible because I am work( I work
in Casino Estoril with "croupier") and I dont have free time
necessary to go. I wait for more news about this campaign.
Paulo Dias
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 18:51:34
+0900 January 16, 1996
Dear Dharm:
Thank you very much for your kind message. The publicity on the
radio station will be welcome.
I am returning to North Korea next month and will be
distributing rice directly to the flood victims in the villages
who face a harsh winter and famine. $250 will buy one ton of rice
which can feed 75 people for one month. If you can mention this on
your broadcasts and encourage listeners to send donations--checks
made out to Internet Appeal for North Korean Flood Victims and
mailed to me at:
Bernard Krisher it would be greatly appreciated.
All the best,
Bernie Krisher
X-Personal_name: Dharm Dear Bernie,
I just read your article about the flood victim relief program.
I work at the local college radio station and will do my best to
broadcast your info. If you have any comments, questions, or
suggestions, please contact me as soon as possible. As I am a poor
student and married with kids, I can't give directly materially. I
wish I could be the volunteer to take stuff there! I am very
interested in North Korea, as my wife studied dance there (she's
from Buryatia in the former Soviet Union). Drop me a line if you
think there's anything else I can do. Thanks, and keep up the good
work,
Dharm
From: HicksDeb@wfp.org Dear Mr. Krisher,
Just to let you know that your fax concerning the Home Page on
the Internet to help the North Korean flood victims was received
late today.
It should have gone directly to Mr. Francis Mwanza, the acting
Director of Public Affairs, but because it came in on the fax
machine of the Operational Policy and Support Division, I had a
chance to see it first.
I have been following the operation and situation in North
Korea very closely, and giving as much support as I could to Mr.
Trevor Page in his work, so it was most useful to take the
information in your fax and access your Home Page, which I read
with great interest (having read about it in the Herald Tribune
some time ago). Not only will your fax be passed on right away
tomorrow morning to Mr. Mwanza, to the desk officer (Mr. Georgio
Maragliano), and to Mr. Page, who arrived in Rome today, but I
have printed out your Home Page to attach to the fax. (Mr. Mwanza
can of course access you easily, but some of my other colleagues
are a little behind us when it comes to using the Internet).
I am sending in a separate message a copy of the message we
received by e-mail from the American Red Cross a few weeks ago.
Perhaps you are already in contact, but if not, Mr. Tom Baker
sounds like a useful contact point in AmCross.
We have received a few more donations for the WFP operation,
but I will let the desk officer or Mr. Mwanza or Mr. Page up-date
you on those. The general picture of donor paralysis which you
describe so well has not much changed.
Along with many other people here at WFP headquarters, I am
determined that we should continue to bring as much attention as
we can to the North Korean situation, no matter how unpopular the
operation is with donors.
My colleagues will be in touch with you about your request
soon. I will be away for a week, but if you need to follow up by
e-mail, use mwanza@wfp.org.
Best regards,
Deborah Hicks
Emergency Support Unit, WFP Rome
HicksDeb@wfp.org
From: HicksDeb@wfp.org
Mr Krisher - as I describe in my previous message, this might
be a
uuseful contact person for you, if you are not already in
communication.
- Deborah Hicks
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 16:45:16 -0500
** High Priority **
Greetings from Washington, DC!
AmCross is currently working closely with the Federation in
Geneva to pressure the U.S. Government into making a more
substantial contribution towards the UN and Red Cross appeals for
North Korea. Because of increasing press coverage, the Clinton
Administration is placing a greater emphasis on a response. At the
same time, the State Department fears a congressional backlash
unless precise indicators of malnutrition, famine and so forth are
presented.
If you have such information and can provide it to me here, I
will present it to State and USAID. Title II food is being
discussed now, so any information you have would be greatly
appreciated.
In addition, AmCross will be leading an advocacy push on North
Korea in January. This will likely involve congressional
testimony. At that time, WFP participation would be welcomed.
Should you have any questions or comments, please feel free to
contact me here, via e-mail, or snail mail at:
American Red Cross Phone +202 728 66 00 Many thanks and kind regards,
Thomas Baker
PHRP
Tokyo, January 20, 1996
Dear Sir:
I have just received this clipping from your paper and that is
why I am urgently writing you now and trust you will publish this
letter or check with me if you choose to run an abbreviated
version:
...
I was quoted, but not fully, giving readers the opposite
meaning, in the article you shortened from The Washington Post on
your front page (December 21), "Seoul, Jittery, Sees a Menace in
North" by Kevin Sullivan. I launched an Internet campaign to help
the 500,000 flood victims in North Korea threatened by famine
(http://shrine.cyber.ad.jp/mrosin/flood).
[Note- New Site resides at
http://race.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~mrosin/flood/index.html]
I visited three of the
damaged areas in November and donated relief goods directly to the
victims. I am continuing my campaign focused on donating rice,
this time, to the same people now facing famine, on my next trip
in February.
Your deletion, however, of an essential paragraph of the quote
which appeared in the original article in the Washington Post has
given the impression that I disputed the accurate reports of the
The International Red Cross and the World Food Program experts
which describe the serious food shortage and imminent famine
there. My own views confirm this in the complete quote.
Potential donors to my campaign, particularly in Europe, where
the Trib is widely circulated, who have seen my appeal on the
Internet have written me that they see no need to contribute since
I myself was quoted in your paper as saying the people are well
fed. This is not the case. In the complete quote I added many of
the villages I visited only had a very short supply of rice left
and by now could be without food.
I trust, both in the interest of accuracy, and to prevent the
starving population from not receiving aid from people who may
have been misled, that you publish the complete text of my quote
below:
At least one report out of Pyongyang paints a much less bleak
picture of the food supply than a report released this week by the
United Nations. While the serious damage inflicted by last
summer's floods is indisputable, one person who recently toured
the worst-hit areas said they are recovering quickly.
""I did not see any hunger or malnutrition when I was there,"
said Bernard Krisher, an American who lives in Tokyo and spent two
weeks in North Korea in late November delivering $25,000 worth of
relief supplies he raised through an appeal on the Internet.
KKrisher said that in the worst-hit areas, including Sinuiju on
the Chinese border, people still had food, electricity and heating
fuel and were in good spirits. He said most people who had been
living in schools or other temporary shelters since the floods
have moved back into their rebuilt homes. Nearly all the homes he
saw had a single overhead light bulb and a black-and-white
television set, he said.
The daily ration of rice had been cut since the floods from 36
ounces to about 17 ounces, about two big cupped handfuls, he said.
While that is a small allotment, it is only slightly less than the
18 ounces that the United Nations considers the minimum daily
adult requirement.
Although Krisher said he saw nothing immediately dire, he added
that food stocks are limited. In some places, he said, there was
only enough rice in warehouses to last a month. Without continued
foreign aid, the situation could become much more desperate, he
said.
The final two paragraphs (which you omitted) is key to what I
told Mr. Sullivan and he faithfully quoted it in his story which
appeared in the Washington and other U.S. newspapers. Your copy
editor, however, chose to cut this essential portion and thus
distorted my observation. I hope you will run the entire quote in
order to set the situation right.
I welcome further donations from the public to increase the
amount of rice I plan to order by February 15 to be shipped to
Nampo port, consigned to me, where I will fetch it and truck it
directly to villages for personal distribution which the North
Korean government has already approved, as in November. This
assures that no food brought in by me will be diverted to other
purposes. One metric ton of rice costs $250 which will feed 75
persons for one month.
Sincerely yours,
Bernard Krisher
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 00:04:19
+0900 1/20/96
Dear Mr. Kimball:
I will get back to you on medicine. Is this direct from
pharmaceutical companies? In what quantities. Is the expitration
date beyond one year? As soon as I have that information I will
inquire directly with thre health authorities in North Korea and
get back to you. For the medicine we might be able to get some
assistance in shipping it--even by air.
On the hospital beds and stretchers, they might be too heavy.
Can you tell me again the quantity and source. I know of an NGO in
Michigan, International Aid, which is shipping such material to
North Korea and might put you in touch with them, if you wish. The
may have a budget for shipping.
Again on computers and copying machines. Are they new? old?
what makes, what vintage and condition. Laptops are heavy
desktops? There might be an export problem with the computers
which come under a COCOM category but if needed would be a good
contribution to Cambodia where such strict export restrictions do
not exist.
If you can provide me with a few more details I will be able to
draw a map.
Many thanks and very best regards,
Bernard Krisher
You wrote:
Dear Mr. Krisher
A large list of available equipment was given to me last week.
It includes hospital beds, stretchers, centrifuges, computers,
copiers, pulsoximeters, infusion pumps, syringe pumps, and
insufflators. Some of this equipment might not be applicable. I am
working on medicine now. It would help to know what type of
medicine is most needed (antibiotics etc...) Again, shipping these
things even to Japan is still a problem. I currently do not have
the resources to even get them out of the U.S. If you have any
ideas please let me know.
Sincerely,
Ted Kimball
P.S. I have no problem with you putting my correspondence on
your home page.
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 00:30:47 +0900 Tokyo 1/20/96
Dear Cathy Papp
Thank you for your generous concern for the North Korean flood
victims. The clothing and powdered milk drive originated out of
Tokyo because the two countries are near and there is a ship that
regularly travels between Japan and North Korea and we are able to
load donations onto it without cost. Right now from everywhere
else in the world we are collecting cash donations with which I
will purchase rice (at $250 a ton which feeds 75 persons for one
month) and I will distribute it personally, directly to the flood
victims in the villages next month or in early March.
Cash contributions for rice purchases are welcome and can be
sent to me by check to Tokyo, see address below, made out to:
"Internet Appeal for North Korean Flood Victims," to me, or sent
by bank transfer the Sumitomo Bank Hiroo Garden Hills branch,
Tokyo, Account number 748838. The account name is North Korean
Flood Victim Appeal (or Kita Chosen Suigai Kyuen).
You wrote:
aRE YOU STILL SENDING DONATIONS OF ITEMS TO kOREA?
I live north of Seattle and would drop a small donation of
clothes, food, etc to a drop off point in Seattle if you are still
doing this.
Cathy
I'm sorry, Bernard, but I won't be able to help at this time. I
have little money.... but would have been able to give things I
already own. Maybe sometime in the future I will be better off and
could help. Thanks for your speedy reply.
Cathy
Goldi
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 01:23:21
+0900 Tokyo, January 20, 1996
To: Mr. Tom Baker
Dear Mr. Baker:
I launched a Home Page on the Internet a few months ago:
Internet Appeal for North Korean Flood Victims
(http://shrine.cyber.ad.jp/mrosin/flood) [Note- New Site resides at
http://race.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~mrosin/flood/index.html]
and would welcome any
reports or data you might have to be included and updated in it.
If these can be sent by e-mail I will be very happy to put them on
the page (in the REPORTS section, right away). We seem to have
many hits these days.
I would also like to seek your advice on how to elicit a
response from Treasury. I opened an account at the Crestsar bank
in Washington DC to collect donations for my relief activities but
the Treasury Department blocked it without even notifying me. I
discovered this in November when I wanted to withdraw the
contributions to purchase infant formula powdered milk for
distribution directly to nurseries in the flood-affected areas in
North Korea (November 13-23) but could not remove these funds.
I have witten to a Mr. Newcomb at Treasury three times, twice
by registered mail to inquire about this but have received no
response.
Your advice on this and information as to which Congressmen or
Senators might be good contacts for support of this project, would
be greatly appreciated.
I met Mr. Calvi of the Red Cross or Crescent while I was in
Pyongyang in November and he told me he was buying rice through
the Korean Cereals Corp. I am contemplating a similar purchase for
my next donation trip next month. Do you have any input on that?
Is Mr. Calvi back in Europe? Do you know where I could contact
him? Is there a new Red Cross rep in Pyongyang? Do you know what
the IRC or Crescent is contributing there now in the way of food
and where is it being purchased and at what price?
Many questions but a response to any or all of them would be
greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your cooperation and best regards,
Bernard Krisher
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 00:26:58 +0900
To:Ron Conway rconway@direct.ca
From:bernie@media.mit.edu (Bernie Krisher)
Subject:Re: North Korean Flood Victims
Dear Mr. Falconer,
Thank you very much for writing me about your interest in
helping the Korean people in their reconstruction after the
floods.
Unfortunately for you North Korea feels it is able to repair
the damage and handle the construction and medical care by itself.
What it cannot buy itself, however, is replenishing the shortage
of rice caused by the floods. Not only were the rice paddies badly
destroyed but much of the storage of rice in the damaged areas
were wiped out. Therefore my program and that of the relief
organizations is simply to provide rice so the population does not
starve.
I will place your letter on our Internet Home page and I am
sure the people of North Korea, particularly the flood victims,
will be moved by your humanitarian instincts.
Warmest regards,
Bernard Krisher
Dear Mr. Krisher
I am a 27 year old college student and Korea-phile. I have been
studying the Korean language in my spare time for 2 years.
Although I have no money to donate, I would very much like to
contribute to the crisis in some way. Are there any organiza-
tions who are sending volunteers to North Korea? Before going back
to college I spent several years as a laborer in construc- tion. I
would be willing to donate my time indefinately to aid in the
reconstruction of homes and roads.
Please tell me if it would be possible for me to do this and
who I should contact.
Sincerely, Lee Falconer
British Columbia, Canada
rconway@direct.ca
Dear Mr. Krisher
I am writing the letter on behalf of Korean American groups in Los
Angeles. They asked me to find out that you visit to California in
near future. They want to have a seminar with you. So, if you plan
to, please let me know. However, you should not make schedule
because of that.
I am not going to be reach through the e-mail from Dec. 21 to Jan.
16. I will be in my parent house in Los Angeles (310-542-3518).
I always thank you for your help. "HAPPY HOLIDAY."
Very truly yours,
youn jae kim
REPLY:
Dear Mr. Kim,
I will be in the States (East coast) around January 3 to 9. I
could schedule a day before the third or around the 9th to meet
with such groups if they are serious in supporting the North
Korean flood victims. The situation is grave. A famine may occur
in February/March if rice is not forthcoming there soon. I am trying
to collect donations to buy rice in near buy countries at $250 a
ton which will feed one person in the flood area for 74 days. I
will deliver the rice personally in February and document
receipt by those people through photos and videos. If these groups
are ready to join my campaign and raise at least $10,000, I will
stop by, give a talk, answer questions, show my videos of the
November distributions, etc. Recently I've been giving one talk
after another, including one in Seoul which gained extensive TV
coverage but no one donated anything. It is very discouraging that
the Korean community is so slow and laid back.
Best regards,
Bernard Krisher
To: Mr. John Fischer
Please let me know where you sent your contributions and the
amount so we can enter it into our records.
It may difficult to establish a pen pal system in North Korea. One
factor is that not too many people speak English; another is the
cost of postage, a third is that there is little tradition yet of
international contacts in that country by average people.
However, I will pass your letter on to the Flood Rehabilitation
Committee and suggest that possibly an English-language student of
Kim Il Sung University might be interested.
Could you tell me something about yourself? Your age, your job and
your interests. I will pass it on but I can't guarantee the
result.
If you look at our Home Page again you will find a recent report
(and photos) of my distribution visit to North Korea. Your
contribution will be added to rice donations on the next visit and
similar verification will appear on the Internet Home page.
It would be convenient if you could provide me with an e-mail
address for future replies.
Best regard,
Bernard Krisher
>I have contributed to your campaign for flood relief. Is there
any
John Fischer
From chan@computize.com Fri Dec 15 00:31:31 1995
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 1995 23:19:27 -0600
Not a bit political, just a whole humanitarian! I believe you and
thank you.
Reply:
12/1/95
To: Chahn Kim
The Internet Appeal for the North Korean Flood Victims is a
humanitarian, not a political project. You are free not to support
it but I am also not obliged to provide you with explanations as
you are not a contributor. You have the right not to support
such assistance and I do not have any obligation to answer your
questions. All information about the project, my direct delivery
of the donations to the victims, photos and an upcoming text of
articles on the trip for the media already appears or will shortly
appear on the home page. We also took videos and if you have
an opportunity to see them when they are shown publicly, you may
"look into their eyes."
I do not intend to e-mail any material to news groups. You may
access it on our Home Page.
I wish to remind you this is a humanitarian project to help people
who have short supply of rice left for their survival and it is
not political in nature.
Best regards,
Bernard Krisher
From INTLAID@aol.com Tue Nov 21 13:13:57 1995
Greetings to you, Bernie. It was nice to meet you in Pyongyang.
I appreciated learning of the important work in which you are
involved bringing humanitarian assistance to people affected by
floods in the DPRK.
As promised, please note below a summary of International Aid's
involvement there:
1. Personally delivered $30,000 of medicine to three clinics in
Pyongyang (and surrounding areas) during our 11/12-18 visit.
2. Shipping a 40' sea container of blankets, powdered milk, medicine
and medical equipment worth $220,000 in route by December.
3. Have committed to locating up to five additional containers of
bulk food items and other medical supplies, value estimated at
$500,000.
When you do your e-mail update on North Korea, I would
appreciate International Aid, Inc. being included.
When you are traveling next in the Chicago area, please do plan
to visit with us. I am interested in further discussions on your
hospital and collaboration in Cambodia.
All the best to you.
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 1995 02:20:35 +0900
Tokyo 125/95
To: Mr. Ralph Plumb
Dear Ralph,
I will be in the States again in early January. I have to be in
New York the morning of January 5 and plan to leave New York
around the 9th or 10th. It would be possible for me to stop off in
Chicago on the 3rd, coming in from Tokyo and move on to New
York on the evening of the 4th or very early on the 5th. Would it
be convenient to meet you then and talk about Cambodia and North
Korea? I am planning another trip to North Korea in late
January/early February with more donations-particularly rice as a
famine seems imminent if no further international donations are on
the horizon. I trust you have seen that WFP is threatening to move
out because lack of international support. The rice supply for the
flood areas will thus be depleted by February. We may witness
another Somalia on our hands.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Bernie Krisher
From Tjkimball@aol.com Wed Dec 13 02:06:10 1995
Dear Mr. Krisher
Sincerely,
Dr. Edward J. Kimball M.D.
Dear Dr. Kimball,
I was very gratified to receive your letter and generous offer to
help the North Korean Flood victims to the extent you propose.
If you will look at our home page again, especially the section on
my North Korean trip you will find a report and photos which may
more dramatically keep you up to date on the situation there.
Today's newspapers also spotlight the increasing food shortage
and threatening famine.
I don't think the North Koreans are ready to accept any volunteer
doctors or non-international-organization-related long-term
volunteers but working through Medecins sans Frontieres or coming
with a half or million dollar health package might do the trick.
I will provide you with the name of the chief representative of
Medecins sans Frontieres in Phnom Penh whom you may wish to
contact directly by fax, and cc:me.
Dr. Herve Isambert
TEL: 850-2-381-2802
I also plan to be in the States from January 4 for about
a week and could meet you in New York if you wish to discuss
specifics.
I will be traveling to North Korea again, probably late
January/early February and would be pleased to take any donations
along which you might be able to assemble and personally
distribute on your behalf directly to recipients with video/photo
verification and letters of acknowledgment and thanks from the Flood
Rehabilitation Committee.
Best regards,
Bernard Krisher
RE: KYOTO PROJECT
Dec. 3, 1995
To: Mr. Robert Kowalczyk
Thank you very much for your very thoughtful message and I commend
you on the worthy project you have undertaken. I hope you will
understand if I am unable to help you with it, other than adding
your letter to the "donor's" (for lack of another category)
section of our HomePage so others may become informed of it. I am
totally focused on helping the flood victims themselves to keep
warm and fed through the winter. Other activities on behalf of
either Koreas, or both, must be left to others. I am also
devoting much time to helping Cambodia in its reconstruction and
rehabilitation. While it is tempting to become involved in more
and more projects, there is also the danger of spreading oneself
too thin.
All the best,
Bernard Krisher
In reply to:
>From kyo794journl@twics.com Sun Dec 3 04:49:42 1995 (John
Einarsen)
Dear Mr. Krisher,
I am writing to you in connection with the "One Korea / One World"
project that is scheduled for London in September of next year.
Having read your report on the project to aid flood victims in
North Korea in the December 1st issue of The Japan Times, I
realize that our goals may coincide and hope that we will be able
to communicate and assist each other in making steps towards those
goals.
Allow me to briefly introduce myself. I am an associate professor
of Kinki University (British-American Literature, English
education) and the director of Journey East. I first arrived in
Asia as a Peace Corps volunteer to Korea in 1969 and in that
capacity taught English at the college level in Seoul until 1972. Since
that time I have been teaching at universities in Japan. My great
affection for Korea and its people led to the publication of
Morning Calm: A Photographic Journey Through the Korean Countryside
in 1977, which was a black and white photographic document
on life in rural Korea. Beginning in 1992, I frequently traveled
to Russia with John Einarsen, editor of Kyoto Journal, in order to
produce a four-part series of articles that contained interviews
and photographs of Moscovites entitled Voices From Moscow
(Kyoto Journals Nos. 20-23). This involvement with Russia and its
transition led to the establishment of the first Journey East
project which was held in Moscow in September of 1993. Currently
I am living in Kyoto with my Korean wife (Myong Hee Kim) and my
daughter, Kimberlye.
Before proceeding any further, I'd like to input some general
information about Journey East and the coming London project:
JOURNEY EAST is a private, non-profit, multi-national association
of contemporary visual artists and traditional performers from
Japan, Korea, the People's Republic of China, and Russia. The
purpose of this association is to foster international understanding
and cooperation while presenting an insight into East Asian
culture through exhibitions
of contemporary art and traditional music and dance. Participating
artists of Journey East
contribute their efforts and talent to the belief that true
international understanding can
best be achieved through a synthesis of the creative energies of
the human spirit.
Since Journey East is a non-profit organization, money earned from
the performances or sale of works is not permitted.
"One Korea One World"
Journey East is now planning for a "One Korea One World" program
of a concert, exhibition and lectures to be held at the Barbican
Centre (London), the University of London and Oxford University
from September 9th to 30th, 1996.
The main purpose of the project is to promote peaceful
reunification of the Korean peninsula through the fine arts.
The concert is scheduled for the main auditorium of the Barbican
Centre on September 13th. A Japanese shakuhachi soloist will open
the concert followed by a Russian folk singer and a Chinese biwa
musician. Each of these three performances will be relatively
brief and will act as both a prelude to and support for the
main part of the concert - a joint performance by traditional
musicians and dancers from northern and southern Korea.
An exhibition of contemporary art by leading Korean artists from
around the world will be held in the concourse exhibition hall of
the Barbican Centre from September 9th to 30th. Two Korean artists
will be invited from each of the following areas: southern
Korea, northern Korea, Japan, Europe and the United States. A
reception party for all participating artists, musicians and
performers will be held in the exhibition hall following the
concert on September 13th.
Lectures on Korean traditional music and traditional and modern
art are being planned at Oxford University and the University of
London in conjunction with the events at the Barbican Centre.
Journey East is a non-political, non-profit organization.
Therefore, all Korean members of the London program will be
referred to as "Korean" without reference to which half of the
Korean peninsula, or which country outside the peninsula, they are
now residing in. Every effort shall be made in order to insure complete
balance and mutual respect among all members of the Journey East
program. Furthermore, other than transportation, accommodations
and expenses, none of the participating members of the London
program will receive remuneration, nor will the sale of art work
be allowed. Any funds generated by the event will be used for the
support of a unified Korean art movement and to further the cause
of peaceful Korean re-unification.
Journey East is now considering plans for future programs to be
held in Tokyo (1997) and Pyongyang and Seoul (1998).
"One Korea One World"
General Information
* The Barbican Centre, home of the London Symphony Orchestra and
Royal Shakespeare Company, is one of the most important and
prestigious venues for the fine arts in Europe.
* An invitation from both the University of London and Oxford
University will be offered to all participating artists and
musicians for participation in the event.
* Dr. Pak Youngsook, Korean art historian of the University of
London, and Ms. Ann Jones, Visual Arts Manager of the Barbican
Centre, have agreed to curate the exhibition of Korean
contemporary artists for the concourse exhibition hall.
* Professor Hwang Byung-ki, internationally known kayagum composer
and performer of Ewha Women's University, has agreed to co-direct
the concert. Professor Hwang and Professor Sung Dong-Chun of
Pyongyang have previously co-directed joint concerts in Pyongyang
and Seoul. It has been suggested that the groups Pyongyang
Minjok Umakdan and Seoul Chuntong Umakdan be used for the London
concert as they were in the previous events.
* The following artists have agreed to participate in the
exhibition: Mr. Paik Nam Jun (New York), Mr. Cho Duck Hyun
(Seoul), Madame Bang Hai Ja (Paris), Mr. Son Ah Yoo (Kyoto) and
Ms. Kim Myong Hee (Kyoto). Additional artists are now being
considered and contacted.
* Dr. Keith Howard, Professor of Korean Studies (Traditional
Music) at the University of London, and Dr. James B. Lewis,
Professor of Korean Studies at Oxford University, have agreed to
arrange a lecture series at each of their respective institutions.
* The Journey East office in Kyoto is arranging for a large group
of Korean residents in Japan to travel to London in support of the
event. The current goal is to work with both of the Korean
residents associations (north and south) to assemble a balanced
group of 500 whose birthplaces are in both the southern and
northern parts of the peninsula.
* Journey East is interested in hearing from any and all
non-political sponsors and supporters of the event.
As is written, the main purpose of the London program is to bring
together Koreans artists, musicians and performers from both the
northern and southern part of the peninsula (and from around the
world) to share their artistic spirits in a non-political act
of cooperation that would be one small, yet symbolic, step
towards the eventual re-unificiation of the country.
At this point, with so little time remaining to prepare for the
event, our main concern is the participation of the northern
artists. Towards this end we have been discussing the event with
the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan in Tokyo. Most
recently a meeting was held with Mr. Nam Sung U, the deputy
director of the International Affairs Bureau of the Association
and Dr. Pak Youngsook of the University of London. Dr. Pak
emphasized the "vital meaning" of the project to Mr. Nam while
adding that on four previous occasions scholars from the north had
attended academic conferences in London through the invitation of
the university. Dr. Pak offered such invitations to the artists
and musicians for the coming event.
The meeting seemed to activate an interest in the project on the
part of the association and Journey East is now preparing the
background papers for a formal proposal which the association has
promised to send to Pyongyang.
The other major concern is obviously time. The Barbican Centre has
generously allowed us until the end of February for the signing of
the contract for the event. However, there are many other
considerations that need to be decided before this deadline.
Therefore, we need to assemble a strong group of non-political
forces as soon as possible to create the necessary momentum that
will make the plan a reality. Which is the reason for contacting
you.
From what you have written in the Japan Times article, it is
obvious that you have a deep concern for the Korean people and are
non-political in your assessment of the realities of the current
situation. Furthermore, I believe that you have been able to
establish trust due to your sincere approach to the problems at
hand. I greatly appreciate and respect both of these qualities
which are unfortunately so rare in today's world. I hope that you
understand that Journey East shares your concern and hopes to
emulate your approach.
Aside from the information contained here, there are many other
aspects of the project which brighten our prospects for success.
Among these are the most recent development of dedicating the
event to the memory of Mr. Yun I-Sang (famed Korean modern compo
ser who strived for unification in his life and his work, who is
revered by Koreans in both the north and the south, and who passed
away last month in Berlin), the establishment of a Journey East
fund raising office in Kyoto in January managed by two memb
ers who have excellent records of gathering the necessary funds,
the quickly growing list of supporters and volunteers in Japan,
Korea and England, and the recently received request from the BBC
for more information concerning the event.
With all this in mind, I think you can understand both the
potential scale and significance of our project. We hope that you
will be able to assist us in reaching our goal and perhaps
combining it with yours.
I would appreciate any advice or assistance that you might be able
to offer while appreciating your recent sincere efforts on behalf
of Korea.
Robert Kowalczyk
I can be reached by telephone or fax at 075-771-1949. The best
time to fax is early morning or late evening for the time being
(until the Journey East office opens in January). Alternatively, I
can be contacted through Myong Hee Kim at Studio December 075
-213-4862 (daytime) Or, if need be, via John Einarsen's E-mail
address: kyo794journl@twics.com
Subject: wagner student in 12/1/95
Dear Mr. Bernie Krisher
Greetings. My name is Youn Jae Kim. I'm a graduate student at
Wagner School of Public Policy and Management at NYU. I'm working
with Rev. Paul Kim, Executive Director of Korea Church Coalition
for peace, justice, and reunification of Korea (KCC).
First of all, as a person who's born and grew up in Korea and
educated in the U.S., I would like to send my deepest appreciation
for your effort to help North Korean Flood Victims through the
Internet Appeal which I got a lot of useful information.
KCC has organized a committee for the issue and appealed to Korean
chruch community in the state. However, as you already know, since
the U.S. does not have a diplomatic relation with DPRK, it's very
complex and difficult to send cash donation to DPRK. Th
erefore, KCC is asking the following:
1. If KCC sends money to UN WFP, is KCC able to purchase rice over
there? (You mentioned about that in your third report of Nov. 20)
2. If KCC sends collected goods to you or Nigata, can you help
to send to Wonsan in NK?
3. If KCC wants to buy powdered milk in Japan, how much it
costs?
4. Based on you sixth report of Nov. 23, you took videotapes.
Can you send any outcome of tapes to KCC through express mail? We
want to show Korean churches in the state.
We wish to finish first collection by end of December and send all
goods and money by Jan. 96. Of course, a group of chrch
representatives will visit to DPRK by the time these are arrived.
Please, send me your response as soon as possible. All KCC pasters
are desperately waiting from you.
Thank you very much. Keep in touch.
Truly yours,
&
Dear Mike Leader:
Thanks for your note. I have just returned from 11 days in
North
Korea where I personally distributed our donations to the flood
victims. I
will go again in January/February. Watch the Home Page for my
diary, report
and pix. I hope you'll trust the project. Best regards,
Bernard Krisher
>I strongly want to help the poeple in North Korea, But I am
afraid that
I've just returned from an 11-day trip to North Korea to
distribute
donations to the flood victims. I'll add some photos and diary
entries on
the Home Page. And I'm writing a report for Chosun Monthly.
I hope you will find a way to help generate donations for my next
trip in
January/February. Best regards,
Bernard Krisher
>Dear Bernie,
>
>I hope that your jeorney would be a very fruitful and pleasent
one. It was
>unfortunate that I did not hear your further elaboration of
your criticism
>about South being unbrotherly on this issue. I guess you're
not in a mood
>for being too much political today. I like that. It is
always nice to
>communicate each other not exposing any direct or obvious
personal political
>extremes but just gentle indirect gestures. I will look
forward to reading
>your report that you promised. By the way, I would like to
ask to you do
>one big favor. When you have a chance to PERSONALLY
distribute their
>needies, please try to SEE the people through their eyes, not
hear from
>thier mouths. Then you'll know what's really causing their
greefs and sorrows.
>
>Sincerely,
Chahn Kim (chan@rizer.computize.com)
>
Dear Mr. Parekh,
Thank you for your kind message. I have just returned from
an
11-day trip to North Korea where I donated the generous gifts in
cash and
kind donated by surfers of the Internet and others.
My time is consumed almost entirely by the activities to
help the
flood victims and my projects in Cambodia aimed at the
reconstruction and
rehabilitation of that country. Please forgive me if I am unable
to respond
to you on a matter not related to this humanitarian project. Good
luck in
your research on North Korea.
Best regards,
Bernard Krisher
>To whom it may concern:
>
> Hi, my name is Anand Parekh, and I am a college
student at the
>University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. I recently read about the
internet
>campaign to assist North Korea because of the recent flooding
in that
>country. I found this very interesting because currently, I
am involved
>in a research project for an international security affairs
class taught
>by Dr. Raymond Tanter, a former staffmember of the National
Security
>Council.
>
> Basically, I am writing a paper on why the application
of U.S.
>deterrence policies against North Korea may have caused and be
causing
>the latter to be even more isolated and threatened. Thus, I
am writing a
>critique on classical deterrence's emphasis on rational
actors. Using
>prospect theory, a psychological theory that posits that
deterrence is
>likely to fail against risk averse countries, I want to show
how North
>Korea is trapped in a "basement of fear" and has turned to
things such as
>nuclear proliferation and the staunch defense of its ideology.
I am
>simply inferring as to why North Korea behaves that way it
does.
>
> I understand that deterrence is used to dissuade
someone from
> carrying out a proscribed action. I believe that by placing
troops in
>South Korea, also possibly nuclear weapons, and providing
military and
>economic assistance to S.K., the U.S. displays this
"dissuasion." I think
>the proscribed action in this case refers to North Korean
desires to
>legitimize itself, unify Korea, and extend communistic rule.
>
> Due to your stature and your knowledge of foreing
affairs, I was
>basically wondering what your views were on this subject and
how you feel
> about the use of deterrence in the case of North Korea. I
would appreciate
>it if you could write back at your earliest convenience about
this
>matter. The next couple of days would be great. I would
greatly
>appreciate it.
>
>Thank you.
>
>Anand Parekh
>701 E. University
>Ann Arbor, MI 48109
>(313)-764-2671
Massachusetts Institute of Technology creates PLUM Disaster
Simulation
System
The MIT media lab has an experimental consortium on News in the
Future.
Part of the research is done by a group which has created PLUM
that takes
a disaster (flood, earthquake, typhoon) story and augments the
facts in
it to explain the flood/disaster in terms of the readers' home
town. PLUM
has taken the information from our home page of several articles
including Kevin Sullivan's story in the Washington Post. One can
click on
various facts he mentions in the story and the reader receives the
data
as it would apply to his/her home town.
For example if you click on the 500,000 homeless people and then
click
your home town (i.e. Boston, Helsinki) you would learn that
everyone in
the city would be homeless, etc.
Plum is at:
http://www.media.mit.edu/people/elo/north-korea.html
One Million Yen of Powedered Milk Purchased for North Korean
Children
(This is a transcription of the receipt)
Wyeth-Eisai Co., Ltd.
November 2, 1995
TO: Mr. BERNARD KRISHER
INTERNET APPEAL FOR
NORTH KOREAN FLOOD VICTIMS
R E C E I P T
WE DULY RECEIVED THE AMOUNT OF
YEN 1,000,000. -
FOR THE PAYMENT OF 70 CAES. F6B 950G
WYETH-EISAI CO., LTD.
(signed)
A. ASAHI, FINANCE DEPT.
DONATION TRIP TO NORTH KOREA SET FOR NOVEMBER 11.
November 3, 1995
Bernard Krisher, the chairman of the Internet Appeal for North
Korean Flood Victims, will take the donations we have received so
far on a North Korean ship which leaves Niigata (Japan) to Wonson
(North Korea) on November 11. He will deliver these offering
s on your behalf to the devastated areas where 500,000 persons are
reported homeless. The donations include some 500 boxes of clean,
used winter clothes, blankets, and daily necessities. The Hotel
Okura, for example, donated 100 blankets. Cash donations have
exceeded $10,000 with which powdered milk was purchased, to be
given to children suffering from malnutrition.
Further cash donations are welcome so that more powdered milk and
also instant rahmen may be purchased. Please contact Bernard
Krisher at--
bernie@media.mit.edu or phone in Japan to +81-3-3486-4337 for
info.
A report of the trip and donations will appear on this Home Page
after his return.
PRIVATE DONATION FROM A KYOTO U. RESEARCHER
To: bernie@media.mit.edu
[Note- New Site resides at http://race.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~mrosin/flood/index.html]
25 October 1995
To whom it may concern
I transferred 3,000 japanese yen (about 30 US$) to Sumitomo Bank
Hiroo Garden Hills Branch
Sincerely yours
--
Koichi UNAMI
MESSAGE FROM AN INTERNET USER IN SOUTH KOREA
15 Oct 95
I'm poor in English. but I am forced to write letter In Korea,
some people are make effort to collect money for North Korea Most
of the Korean didn't know the damage in North Korea. I found the
fact by your campaign. I felt very sad. because I can only know
North Korea' damage by Internet. In Korea, Most of jourals
ignored it.
Now we try to help North Korea. And The unification of S/N Korea
will be closer.
I appreciate your effort for Korea.
OUR REPLY
Thank you very much for your sincere letter. Do you know if there
is any donation program in South Korea for the North Korean flood
victims? Have you seen our full Home Page on the World Wide Web.
I am collecting clean, used warm winter clothing and blankets in
Tokyo for the flood victims. And the children, suffering from
malnutrition, also need powdered milk and drugs against the spread
of measles and diarrhea. Is there a way to collect donations
in South Korea and get them to Japan?
I will take everything I have collected to North Korea next month
on a ship from the Japanese port of Niigata to Wonson and
personally verify the donations are distributed to the victims and
then report back on the Internet.
Best regards,
Bernard Krisher
REQUEST TO U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT FOR EXPORT LICENSE TO NORTH
KOREA
October 15, 1995
Dear Mr. Newcombe:
I am concerned about the serious situation in North Korea
following one of the worst floods in their history. Malnutrition
is rampant among children, there is a danger of the spread of
measles and a diarrhea epidemic, according to U.N. reports. A
harsh winter can disable a large part of the affected population
estimated at 100,000 homeless families.
I have therefore established a donation movement in Japan and
later in Europe (where a train can go directly to North Korea
through Moscow) to collect warm clothing, blankets, powdered milk,
canned food and pharmaceuticals.
I have established a bank account in Japan and the U.S. for
donations which will be used to pay for transportation of these
donations and if enough funds remain, to purchase pharmaceuticals,
probably in China, nearer to the scene of the floods.
Would you please provide me with an emergency permit to accomplish
this mission of mercy.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely yours,
Bernard Krisher
SELIG HARRISON REPORTS FROM NORTH KOREA TO OUR INTERNET PAGE
(CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE)
October 5, 1995
Conversation with foreign policy workers and North Korean
officials during my September 19-26 visit to Pyongyang and Kaesong
made clear to me that the flood damage is genuine and that the
amount of assistance requested by the U.N. is the minimum needed.
North Korean officials expressed concern that the food problem
"would get worse during November and December. They warmly
welcomed foreign help, including American food aid, expressing the
hope that the initial U. S. donation of $25,000 would be
increased.
The frank attitude of officials and the willingness of the
government to permit foreign relief workers to monitor
distribution in the countryside reflects a new readiness on the
part of the North Korean people for increased contact with the
outside world.
A greater and positive response from the U. S., Japan and other
non-Communist countries is not only desirable in humanitarian
terms but would help to set the stage for more constructive North
Korean relations with the international community.
Selig Harrison
***TEXT OF PRESS RELEASE SEEKING DONATION OF CLOTHES***
North Korean Flood Victim Relief Campaign 4-1-7-605 Hiroo,
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo (150) Phone: +81-3-3486-4337 FAX:
+81-3-3486-6789
FOR: IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 2, 1955
U.N. OFFICIAL IN PYONGYANG APPEALS TO TOKYO GROUP FOR WINTER
CLOTHES & POWDERED MILK TO HELP HOMELESS FLOOD VICTIMS
An urgent appeal has gone out by the UNDP representative in
Pyongyang, G. Faruq Achikzad, through the Internet, to a
Tokyo-based volunteer group assisting North Korean flood victims,
to donate clean warm winter clothes, blankets, shoes and also
powdered milk to impede growing malnutrition in children among the 500,000
Koreans hit by the worst floods in the country's history.
The group in turn is calling on the public to search their closets
for used clothing and mail or deliver it to the campaign
headquarters at 4-1-7-605 Hiroo, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo. (Hiroo Garden
Hills, L Bldg. #605).
The Tokyo volunteer group, headed by former Newsweek bureau chief
Bernard Krisher, established a Home page on the Internet to aid
North Korean flood victims which is attracting donations from all
over the world and is also being used to post messages from
non-profit relief organizations such as North Korean Flood Damage
commission and the UNDP.
The geographical proximity of Japan to North Korea makes the warm
winter clothes movement practical since the donations can be
shipped quickly and economically through a regular vessel leaving
Niigata once a week for the North Korean port of Wonson. Mr. Krisher
plans to accompany the first shipment himself to North
Korea.
Since July, torrential rains have continued to ravage much of
North Korea. A United Nations assessment mission has concluded
that the flooding is affecting more than 100,000 families (or
500,000 persons) and caused severe crop and industrial damage.
Mr. Achikzad, whose U.N. team has visited the sites of the most
severely affected flood damaged areas and personally distributed
drugs, blankets and daily necessities to the victims from among
the foreign donations the UNDP has received, said he was impressed
with the disciplined, well-organized and fair distribution
system established by the North Korean authorities.
He confirmed a 12-member medical team of the French organization,
Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), had arrived in
Pyongyang to aid victims directly at three sites with their
equipment and donations.
He also declared "there definitely was no cholera" in North Korea
but "certain cases of diarrhea and respiratory problems" for which
drugs were needed and powdered milk was essential for the children
suffering from malnutrition. The shortages, he noted, were
compounded by infrastructural problem as plants manufacturing
certain drugs and food products as well as electrical facilities
had been destroyed by the floods. Donations from Switzerland and
Italy, including construction materials and engineers were
being flown into North Korea through Berlin on a North Korean
plane with the UN footing the fuel bill of $30,000.
"The floods in North Korea affected one fourth of the country and
left half a million persons homeless who now face a harsh winter,
malnutrition, and the potential spread of measles and dysentery."
says Krisher who has been to North Korea three times. "This
disaster is as severe as Kobe but because North Korea is
isolated and does not have diplomatic relations with many
countries, the calamity has been under-reported while politics
have stood in the way of the usual international relief which is
offered when disasters of this nature hit a country."
The U.N. relief target for $15.7 million in emergency aid has been
slow in reaching its objective which is a reason the Internet
campaign was established by Krisher and a group of Tokyo-based
volunteers. The Home page which contains frequent updated news
on the relief activities, includes a map of the affected areas,
e-mail from donors and messages from the North Korean flood damage
authorities, may be accessed at:
http://shrine.cyber.ad.jp/mrosin/flood
[Note- New Site resides at http://race.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~mrosin/flood/index.html]
Donations of clean used warm winter clothes, blankets, cloth, and
shoes may be delivered in person or by mail in cardboard boxes
(with the list of enclosed items written on the cover of the box)
to:
Bernard Krisher
Hiroo Garden Hills
4-1-7-605 Hiroo (L Bldg)
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo (150)
Tel: (03) 3486-4337
Fax: (03) 3486-6789
Internet: bernie@media.mit.edu
These will be shipped to North Korea and personally delivered by
Mr. Krisher who will provide donors with a receipt and
verification of the distribution.
***TEXT of APPEAL for POWDERED MILK***
Japan Relief for Cambodia
The CAMBODIA DAILY
*4-1-7-605 Hiroo, Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo (150)
Tel: 81-3-3486-4337 Fax: 81-3-3486-6789
*No. 50B, Street 240 (Behind the Royal Palace)
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Tel: 855-23-26602 Fax: 855-23-26573
BERNARD KRISHER
Chairman and Publisher
Tokyo October 2, 1995
Mr. Akira Ohno
President
Morinaga Milk Industry
5-33-1 Shiba
Minato-ku, Tokyo
cc: sent to Mr. Sumio Katayame
President
Snow Brand Milk Products
13 Honchio-cho
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
cc: to Mr. Hisashi Nakayama
President
Meiji Milk Products
20-3-6 Kyobashi
Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Dear Mr. .......
There is a desperate need for powdered milk in North Korea to
avert the critical expansion of malnutrition among the children of
100,000 homeless Koreans families hit by the worst floods in the
country's history. The United Nations representative in Pyongyang,
Mr. Faruq Achikzad, has asked me through the Internet Home
Page, which I launched, to help the flood victims, for powdered
milk (and other supplies) and I, in turn am appealing to you for a
donation of your product, which I would personally deliver
to North Korea and donate through the UNDP office there which has
been authorized to make direct distributions to the children.
I am a former long-term Newsweek Tokyo bureau chief and advisor to
several major Japanese publishing companies. I am also involved in
voluntary activities to help Cambodia in its reconstruction and
rehabilitation. These activities are supported by the Council for
Better Corporate Citizenship (CBCC) of the Keidanren.
As a journalist I traveled to North Korea three times and am in
contact with the Flood Damage authorities there as well as the
U.N. representative in Pyongyang. They have both requested me to
help them with relief activities on behalf of the flood victims
. The need for powdered milk, to avert growing malnutrition among
the children, is very urgent and I in turn appeal to you for your
generous support.
Sincerely yours,
Bernard Krisher
PROPOSAL TO BENETTON TO ASSIST IN COLLECTING AND TRANSPORTING
WINTER CLOTHES FOR FLOOD VICTIMS
FROM EUROPE BY TRAIN FROM PARIS TO PYONGYANG
Tokyo, September 26, 1995
To: Mrs. Paola Illocente
Director,
Public Relations Dept.
Benetton
Italy
FAX: +39-422-4499-30
Dear Mrs. Illocente:
I am a former Tokyo bureau chief for Newsweek, publisher of a
non-profit daily newspaper in Phnom Penh called The Cambodia
Daily, and active in volunteer efforts to help in the
reconstruction and rehabilitation of Cambodia. I have also been
concerned recently about the lack of international concern in the plight of
500,000 North Koreans, according to a U.N. investigative team, who
have been left homeless following the worst floods in that
country's history and now face malnutrition, disease and the
effects of an upcoming harsh, freezing winter.
I opened up a Home Page on the Internet a few days ago
(http://shrine.cyber.ad.jp/mrosin/flood) [Note- New Site resides at
http://race.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~mrosin/flood/index.html]
to gain international
support for these flood victims. This effort has been reported on
CNN, The Washington Post, Herald Tribune, Kyodo, AFP, in a number
of Japanese newspapers and the Financial Times is preparing a feature
for next Monday. The North Korean government has been in contact
with me and gratefully welcomed this Internet link. The donations
we receive will be delivered to and distributed by the UNDP
representatives in North Korea I have also been invited to bring
in some of the donations and plan to ascertain that they are
properly distributed to those in need.
If you access our Home page you will gain a better idea of the
project.
I recall the very admirable and successful campaign Benetton
conducted a year or two ago in collecting old clothes for the
poor.
I would like to appeal to you to again conduct a campaign in
Europe to collect such warm winter clothes and blankets and then
work with me to put them on a train (with one or two reps) which
would deliver the goods directly to the affected area, the provi
nce of Sinuiji on the Sino-North Korean border or take them
further into North Korea. There is actually the possibility of
such a train route: (any European
city)-Paris-Moscow-Khabarovsk-Shenyang-Dandong-Sinuiji-Pyongyang.
It would be a very dramatic, eff
ective and humanitarian exercise to take one or more box cars
filled with clothes and blankets right to the flood victims.
I believe your company would be the ideal sponsor for such a
humanitarian drive over one or two months. The project would
involve a large collection drive of clothes within Europe,
assemble them in Paris put them in box cars in Paris and send them
with se
veral passengers (to avoid theft through Russia) to the delivery
points. From my communications with the North Koreans, they have
agreed to such a campaign and delivery route and I am in the
process of talking to the Chinese Embassy here in Tokyo to have
them facilitate any customs problems or red tape when the train
goes through China.
If such a train materializes I would suggest two passengers to
accompany the donations from Paris and would meet the train in
Shenyang (China) where it links to the Beijing-Sinuiju-Pyongyang
train and we would all enter North Korea together. I have taken
this train into North Korea from Beijing three times and am
familiar with it. I would be able to facilitate all the
formalities without much problem and assist in the publicity,
including providing you a gateway through the Internet onto our
pages.
I hope you will look upon this suggestion positively.
For your background, I am faxing you
(1) the first four pages of our Home page on Relief for the Flood
victims.
(2) several articles from the media which mentions this project.
(3) an article about my activities in Cambodia from The Columbia
Journalism Review
(4) correspondence about this project with officials of the North
Korean government.
I look forward to your positive response.
Best regards,
Bernard Krisher
FAX: +81-3-3486-6789
AN INTERNET RESPONSE FROM SOUTH KOREA
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 1995 18:20:44 +0900
I read your activities regarding NK's damage by the Summer storm
in a Korea newspaper, Segye Ilbo.
You let the world know NK was severely damaged during the stormy
season and the people undergo food shortage badly.
I work for KOTRA, a government agency to promote trade, in Seoul.
I now take charge of forwarding 150,000 tons of rice to NK, and
very interested in your activities and NK's current situation as
well.
If you have much information or data, please send it to me.
And please let me know your Homepage URL for me to reach via
email.
My email address is xxxxx@xxxxxxxxx
Thanks.
Ji H Lee
APPEAL TO TOKYO NEIGHBORS FOR CLOTHING DONATIONS
Bernard Krisher
4-1-7-605 Hiroo, Shibuyaku, Tokyo Tel: 3486-4337, Fax:
81-3-3486-6789
October 2, 1995
Dear Hiroo Garden Hills Neighbor:
I live in L-605 and like you, am aggravated by the tons of junk
mail from pizza shops, real estate agents and massage parlors
which flood our mailbox every day.
However, I hope you won't mind this urgent message from a neighbor
requesting an emergency request for donations of your clean, used
warm winter clothes to be sent to the 500,000 homeless North
Koreans hit by the worst floods in their country's history.
As a former Newsweek correspondent, I traveled to North Korea
three times and have been in contact with the Flood Damage
authorities there as well as the U.N. representative in Pyongyang,
Mr. Faruq Achikzad. They have both appealed to me to help them
with
relief activities on behalf of the flood victims. I have
established a Home Page on the Internet for this relief campaign
and am receiving a good feedback from all over the world. The need
for clothes, before the harsh winter reaches this vast homeless p
opulation, is very urgent and I am moved to appeal to you, my
neighbors, as well, for your kind donations.
We will welcome clean used blankets, clothes, cloth, shoes as well
as pots and pans. Our local dry cleaning shop, Nikko at Nishi
Azabu, 4-3-8 (Tel: 3400-6717) has agreed, for this charity, to
clean such clothes and blankets, unpressed, for about half the
normal price.
Please deliver your donations in cardboard boxes to us at L
Building #605. You may call in English or Japanese at 3486-4337 or
fax 3486-6789 for further information.
When we have collected a large enough quantity, these donations
will be trucked to Niigata and sent to North Korea on the once a
week ship that leaves from there for the port of Wonsan. I or a
member of my family plans to go to North Korea with the first
shipment of clothes and return with a receipt and verification,
which has been offered to me by the North Korean authorities, that
your donations were properly distributed to the needy.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Bernard Krisher
Akiko Krisher
From XXXX@naples.net Sat Sep 30 01:46:33 1995
Hi.
I would like to help....
But via check???
Can U please send me address and to whom I should make the payment
to???
TIA
P.S. please send reply to "nfn01539@gator.naples.net"
OUR RESPONSE:
Thank you very much for your warm response to our appeal. A U.S.
dollar check (preferably on a U.S. bank, to save service charges)
may be made out to:
*Fund for North Korean Flood Victims Relief*
and mailed to:
North Korean Flood Victims Relief
Your contribution will be used toward the of purchase blankets,
drugs and powdered milk and the direct distribution to flood
victims will be verified by us.
Your noble contribution will be warmly appreciated by the victims
who will face a less harsh winter ahead thanks to you.
Best regards,
Bernard Krisher
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 1995 10:45:16 -0400
To: bernie@media.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Relief for North Korean Flood Victims
Dear Mr. Krisher
:
Thank you for the information, re; web site for flood relief to
the DPRK.
We will add some general information after reviewing the present
content.
Efforts such as this are, indeed, urgently required to both assist
in a general humanitarian way to this crisis and also to bring the
world into contact with the people of North Korea.
Congratulations on this fine initiative.
Sincerely yours, Edward R. Widmer
September 27, 1995
Dear Bernie,
Best of luck on a most admirable effort. We've posted the info in
Nautilus Institute's NAPSNet Daily Report. Don't hestitate to
contact us if we may be of further service.
Best regards,
Steve Noerper
Nautilus Institute/Washington Desk
(202) 387-3004, fax (202) 387-3010
New York, September 24, 1995
Bernie,
Your North Korea appeal was forceful, and alarming. Everyday I'm
at my local coffee shop with Capucino and scone, and the North
Korea Flood is news to me. I'll mail you a small check. But
mostly, I felt the surge of energy and engagement that seems to be
your trademark.
Best,
Tom Beller
(Novelist)
To: Steve
From: bernie@media.mit.edu (Bernie Krisher)
Subject: Re: Korea flood
>I'm from Sweden and is involved in a Swedish campain of raising funds for the situation in Korea. We will soon start with a campain in the churches and in media,
>etc. Currently one person from the Swedish parliament is visiting Korea to inspect
>and report back to us.
>us to help them with one thing specially (besides the incredible need for food/rice).
>They asked if we could supply with Swedish/Scandinavian "barli". They want to saw
>barli late October/early November to be able to get a harvest before next rice-season
>starting April/May.
>It looks as sending it by boat would be impossible because of the 6-8 weeks of shipping time. But using the trans-Sibirian railway would maybe be possible.
>I have seen Your plans of sending goods that way from Paris, and I wounder how it
>worked and how much it did cost? Do You have any specific advice for such a way of
>shipping?
>Ryttarstigen 15, SE 618 30 Kolmarden, Sweden Tel +46-11-392470, +46-10-6937376, Fax 46+11-398041 E-mail sgt@algonet.se
5/21
Dear Erika,
Thank you very much for your continued interest and support. I
recently returned from a second donation trip, mostly rice, and the details
are on my home page: Internet Appeal for North Korean Flood Victims
(http://shrine.cyber.ad.jp/mrosin/flood). I collected $65,000 and purchased
260 tons of rice which will feed 19,500 persons for one month. The rice was
delivered directly to the flood victims.
I have begun another campaign for another rice-purchasing trip for
end of June/July and seeking continuing contributions. Your support would
be greatly appreciated.
Best regards,
Bernie Krisher
>Hi Bernie,
>
>I wrote to you earlier this year and you responded. We were unable to
>contribute at the time. Now we are wondering if there is still a need
>for help for the flood victims. How is the food situation? Do they
>still need more food aid? Are you still involved in helping out?
>Could you please get in touch with me soon?
>
>Thank you very much, and I respect and admire the work you do.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Erika Sommers
5/16/96
Dear Mr. Krum:
Thank you for your message which should have been addressed to me at
bernie@media.mit.edu
Matt Rosin, to whom you sent the message helps me to maintain the
page but I provide the content. I transmitted the urgent WFP report you
referred to and a press release to Matt some days ago and assume he has put
it on the page. I will check with him today and try to get it onto the page
as soon as possible if it isn't there yet.
Yes, the situation is very serious and I am organizing a new
campaign to raise $100,000 for a new rice order and visit there again in
June/July. Any ideas in helping me realize this or any support you may be
able to give would be greatly appreciated.
I assume you have seen our page and read my reports of previous
trips and photos documenting that donations have reached their
destinations.
Are you with the State Department?
Best regards,
Bernard Krisher
>Mr. Rosin: I checked out your web site. Looks great!!! Since the flood,
>NK is evidently
>experiencing a much more serious structural food problem. The World Food
>Program
>is appealing for 470,000 MT worth of food, enough to feed 10 million
>people for six
>months. That's a lot.
>
>Just curious if you are maintaining your web site.
>
>Please get back to me to let me know if you received this.
>
>Keep up the good work!!!!
>-------------------------------------
>Name: Donald M. Krum
>E-mail: ACdkrumm@us-state.osis.gov
>05/16/96
>13:49:16
>-------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 May 1996 23:24:39 GMT +10
Subject: Re: Flood Victims
Dear Mr Krisher,
I'm sorry to inform you that I cannot guarantee to collect
more than $20,000 for your invitation in Australia In this stage.
Instead, our group who want to join with me will let Korean ethinc and
Australian people know about the North Korean Flood Victims. For your
reference, I recently open the account for money collection. I wish
you advertise this account number on your INTERNET and names of
person who donate money for them.
The Bank Account details are
Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Account Name: North Korea Flood Relief
A/C: 06-2903-1011-9582
With Best Regards,
---
PS.
Please confirm me of whether you agree my suggestion mentioned above.
If yes, I will send you all of donated money.
Date: 24 Apr 96 07:29:15 EDT
Subject: Internet Campaign to Help North Korean Flood Victims
Bernie and Joseph,
It was great speaking with Joseph by phone earlier this month, and thanks for
your E-mail, Bernie. I'm glad you got my T.T. through your Tokyo bank okay. As
I said earlier, I haven't been quite the same since my trip up to the North
Korean border, and I very much wanted to do something to help.
As I told Joseph, I and a friend from Shenzhen, China flew up to Dandong
(across from the Sinuiju border) on April 4, and spent several days there,
trying to experience as much of North Korea from there as we could without being
able to go in. (American passports cannot currently get a tourist visa to get
in, and PRC China citizens needed 10 days to process the paper work.)
I have been living in China for the past 10 years, have been to South Korea
several times, and took the Panmunjom tour from Seoul this past February. I
have been wanting to go to North Korea for many years, so we took our Easter
break to go up and get as close as we could.
The timing was ironic, because the same day we arrived, the news over CNN in our
hotel room was that some armed North Korean troops had made an incursion into
the Panmunjom DMZ, and Pyongyang had announced that they no longer recognized
the 1953 peace accord. (But the analysis was that some political posturing
from Pyongyang was going on to coincide with the elections in Seoul and the
Clinton trip to Cheju, and it was not a genuine military provocation.)
From our hotel room, overlooking the Yalu River, we could look across to the
Sinuiju shoreline on the North Korea side, and it was unnaturally ghostly over
there, with very few lights visible in the twilight. We changed channels, and
watched with great interest the Pyongyang TV channel that could be picked up
from Dandong. It was very much socialist-state TV, much like China's used to be
in the early '80's.
We went to a number of little Korean restaurants and pubs in Dandong, and talked
with the ethnic Korean proprietors about their experiences across the border,
and those of their relatives still in North Korea. It was grim, they said, with
people not having enough to eat, nor enough electricity to turn on the lights at
night. Some people had sneaked over from Sinuiju, risking being caught, to ask
for food or a full meal, and then gone back over again. They said, that 10
years ago, their relatives were better off than they were. But now things had
changed, and China had prospered, and North Korea was not in good shape.
Having enjoyed a Manchurian-style bulgogi dinner as we chatted with the family
that ran the little restaurant, we asked where local Koreans went in the
evening for a few beers. The proprietor recommended a North Korean-run
nightclub, with karaoke and dancing, and showed us how to get there.
A couple of people were singing Korean folk songs, and there was an animated
group at the next table, laughing, drinking beer, and taking turns for a spin on
the dance floor. One man in particular---an animated, bussinessman-type in his
forties, who had doffed his suit jacket---was having a very good time dancing
with the various ladies, and later, just by himself. He was very engaging to
watch. Then a disco song came on, and we went out on the dance floor. It
wasn't long before this man danced over, trying very hard to mimic my steps.
And he was very good and full of energy. Pretty soon everyone else just left
the dance floor and we continued until we were both covered with sweat.
Another guy in his party came over to me, speaking very good English, and
insisted that we join their party, which we were only too happy to do. It
turned out that these two men were from a large trading company in Pyongyang, in
China on business. I was the first American they had ever come face to face
with, and they were the first North Koreans I had ever met. We spent the rest
of the evening drinking with them, and then they invited us to come to a sauna
with them in the wee hours---a typical Korean way to sober up after a
high-alcohol evening of fun. We picked-up on a little sensitivity on the part
of their Chinese-Korean hosts in asking us along, my being an American, and they
being North Korean.
But the next morning, our new North Korean friends called us at our hotel and
invited us to go sightseeing with them. (They showed up without their wary
hosts.) We walked out the bombed-out Yalu River Bridge, which had been
destroyed by the Americans during the Korean War, of which half is still
standing on the Chinese side, and now open to tourists. There was irony in our
all being there together, taking turns snapping pictures of everyone: an
American, two North Koreans, a Chinese, and a Chinese-Korean.
Then we went out on a Chinese motorboat and did a sightseeing buzz-by the
Sinuiju shoreline, like all the other tourists. These boats don't discreetly
confine themselves to the midway-point of the river; they blatantly buzz way
over on the North Korean side and get real close to the boats and wharf-line.
On the Dandong side of the river, the Chinese had turned glimpses of North Korea
into a lucrative tourist attraction, which they were making a lot of money off:
the boat trips, selling glimpses of the opposite shore through high- powered
binoculars, and hawking DPRK postage stamps and coins.
But a close up look at the Sinuiju side of the river revealed a rather grim-
looking shoreline. A rundown-looking old ferris wheel, motionless and forlorn
in an empty shoreline park. Many rusty old boats with people looking rather
vacantly back at tourists that had come to catch a glimpse of them. A lot of
neglected-looking buildings along the shore. Some men in military uniforms
here and there strolling rather sadly.
I had taken this same buzz-by boat tour the day before going with our new
friends from Pyongyang, and even without them aboard, had found it very
difficult to take any of the pictures of people I had originally planned to
take. But with them aboard, in their business suits, they looked across just
like I did, quietly, unapologetically, without denial. It was the reality, at
least in Sinuiju and other places, and they weren't trying to keep me from
seeing it. People on the shoreline looked back at me with some interest,
because evidently, there weren't many foreigners that came on these boats---
mainly Chinese. I remember one rather ragged-looking soldier, with a
bandage over one eye, contemplating me for a while from an old rusted-out boat
directly in front of me. He then motioned for me to take his picture. So I
reached down and opened the camera and took his picture, and motioned back that
I had got it. He grinned, waved back, and made a peace symbol with his hands.
Back at the Dandong pier, another bridge had been constructed next to the bombed
-out one, which today is the main railroad artery into Norh Korea, connecting
Beijing with Pyongyang. Near the vehicle entrance, there were pallet after
pallet of rice and grain stacked high, waiting to be carted over to North Korea.
We saw a few flat-bed Chinese trucks carrying loads across the bridge. The food
shortage was very, very real.
Our friends from Pyongyang had wanted us to come up to Yanji (the capital of the
Yanbian Ethnic Korean Autonomous Zone in China), where they were headed on
business. We couldn't, because we had to get back down South, to return to work
after the holidays. But we did extend our stay in Dandong, to spend an extra
day with them.
On our final night together, there was a lot of emotion, and a lot of hugging
and promises to keep in touch upon separating.
After returning to Hong Kong, I started trawling the Net for news and material
about North Korea, and came across your Internet campaign, (which I downloaded
and printed out). And after studying it over, I felt compelled to send you the
contribution.
Your efforts have been very impressive---very moving and thorough. You
perceived a humanitarian need and did something about it. I think it's
wonderful what you've done! I liked your response to David Brown (at the U.S.
State Department), and I think you vividly hit the point home when you mentioned
your own background of being a survivor of the holocaust in W W II.
I just returned from a second trip---this time to Yanji---having gotten some
things out of the way at work, to see my two North Korean friends, before they
wind up their business trip and go back in to Pyongyang.
They know your Belgian friend, Ludo, in Pyongyang, and he is known to people in
our company, as well, given that we're in the same field. I asked my friends if
they knew you, which they didn't. Ever-cautious about broaching subjects with
them which might offend them or hurt their dignity as North Koreans, I mentioned
your Internet Campaign, which they showed interest in. I showed them a printout
of your web page, which they read through with great interest. They talked
between themselves of how badly the Sinuiju area had been affected.
When I told them I had donated a ton to your program, after having seen the
situation from Dandong and then meeting them, they said they were very grateful
for those that had cared about their people, and they thanked me for my
contribution.
You spoke of the building of "trust" and proving of "sincerity" vis-a- vis the
North Koreans, as they slowly open up to outsiders. And you spoke of their
warmth and hospitality.
My first night in Yanji, my friends took me to a North Korean nightclub, where
the manager (their good buddy) lavished hospitality (and a copious amount of
brandy) on us. We were ready to call it a night after the first bottle, but he
wouldn't take no for an answer, and plied us with two more bottles! Several of
us ended up completely drunk, and I have no recollection of how I got back to
the hotel room that night. But the next thing I was aware of was waking up,
very hungover, and seeing Mr. K. in his long-johns asleep, snoring gently, in
the bed next to me. My clothes had been neatly folded, and my socks had been
washed and hung to dry.
The next night, most of us were still hungover and approaching food and beer
very cautiously. Mr. P. and I wanted to get some sleep and left about midnight,
but Mr.K. was raring to keep going, and went on to another place with the
manager. I had no more than got back to the hotel and gotten in my pajamas when
there was a knock on the door: the nightclub manager bringing in Mr.K., with
the beer now having taken it's toll, aggravating a chronic problem he had with
his spleen. So that night, it was my turn to get him undressed, give him some
medicine and a cold compress, and put him to bed. He slept fitfully, and I kept
waking up to make sure he was alright. By about 4:30 in the morning,
fully-recovered, he looked over at me and I at him, and he came over and gave me
a big hug. I know a few words of Korean and he knows a few words of Chinese,
but there was much communication between us. There was trust and sincerity, and
knowing we could count on the other when we were in trouble.
Picking up a Hong Kong newspaper yesterday in Beijing, on the flight back from
Yanji, I saw an article that the Hong Kong Government is working out details to
make an inter-government famine-aid contribution to North Korea. However, they
felt they couldn't make a general appeal to the public and community service
groups at this time, because not enough details of the North Korean situation
have been made public by their government.
As you said earlier, just because the weather up there is starting to warmup
doesn't mean the problem is over. The worst may be yet to come--- in May and
June---before new crops can be harvested.
Today's paper said that the U.S. Gov't was now encouraging the S.Korean Gov't to
woo Pyongyang into this latest peace accord proposal with humanitarian aid.
Hopefully things will move in a direction of permanent peace, but there is still
a lot of bureaucratic red tape between governments, and people in North Korea
need help now, without people's suffering being used as a negotiation point for
other agendas.
So you're going back to Pyongyang for a third trip in late-May or early-June.
Please put me down for a 2nd ton of rice. I'll send you another T.T. to your
Tokyo account after payday, later this week.
If you want to put this letter on your web page, you have my permission.
Keep up the good work! You have my support!
Best regards,
Kevin Curriston
@100452,3201.compuserve.com
>Dear Bernard,
>Yesterday I mailed a check for $50.00. I'll keep trying to collect money
as opporunities present themselves and send it along as I get it.
>Best of luck,
>Ben
>On Fri, 16 Feb 1996, Bernie Krisher wrote:
>>2/15/96
>>Dear Ben,
>>Thank you very much for your kind response.
>>I will send you separately copy of a press release I sent out today to
the media here. As of this moment I have collected $65,000, much of it in
small amounts from all over, to purchase rice. It's fine if you send a
check when you are ready. If it reaches here before March 2 (or if you
can identify the amount by e-mail) I will include it in rice purchases.
Otherwise it will go into the kitty for the next trip, probably in May.
>>All the best,
>>Bernie Krisher
>Date: Sun, 11 Feb 1996 08:46:45 +0900
>To:Peter Scott
From: CathyPapp
goldi19@nwlink.com
To: bernie@media.mit.edu
Subject: Korea
needs
From: "Paul Hyoshin Kim"
kcc@igc.apc.org
Organization: Korea Church Coalition
To:
bernie@media.mit.edu (Bernie Krisher)
Subject: Re: Korean
newspaper
Reply-To: kcc@igc.apc.org
To:kcc@igc.apc.org
From:bernie@media.mit.edu (Bernie
Krisher)
Subject:Re: Korean newspaper
To:Ryan Kinkaid
kinkaid@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu
From:bernie@media.mit.edu (Bernie
Krisher)
Subject:Re: (no subject)
To:Tjkimball@aol.com
From:bernie@media.mit.edu (Bernie
Krisher)
Subject:Re: North Korean Relief
To:
bernie@media.mit.edu
From: Michael Chon omnis@earthlink.net
Subject: North Korean Flood victims
To:pjdias@mail.telepac.pt (paulo
dias)
From:bernie@media.mit.edu (Bernie Krisher)
Subject:Re: North Korea flood victims
4-1-7-605 Hiroo
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
(150)
Japan
To: Mr. Bernard Krisher
To:ANGAH1@vms.acad2.alaska.edu
From:bernie@media.mit.e
du (Bernie Krisher)
Subject:Re: Commenting from file
Akasaka P.O. Box 92
Tokyo (107) Japan
From:
angah1@orion.alaska.edu
Subject: Info broadcast in Anchorage
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 96 06:45:15
PST
To: bernie@media.mit.edu
(Editor, WFP Emergency
Report)
fax 39 6 5228 2837
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 96 06:45:20
PST
To: bernie@media.mit.edu
From: Tom Baker
BakerT@USA.RED-CROSS.ORG
To: hicksdeb@wfp.org,
ricaldi@wfp.org
Subject: Democratic People's Republic of Korea
International Services
2025 E Street,
NW
Washington, DC 20006
Fax +202 728 64 04
Head, Operations Policy and
Planning
International Services
To:Tjkimball@aol.com
From:bernie@media.mit.edu (Bernie
Krisher)
Subject:Re: North Korean Relief
To:CathyPapp
goldi19@nwlink.com
From:bernie@media.mit.edu (Bernie Krisher)
Subject:Re: Korea needs
To:BakerT@USA.RED-CROSS.ORG
From:bernie@media.mit.edu
(Bernie Krisher)
Subject:North Korean Home
Page
Cc:bkrisher, HicksDeb@wfp.org
American Red Cross
Washington DC
>possibility of getting a pen pal from that country so that I
can learn
>something of how our contributions have helped, and learn more
about
>these people. My address is:
33637 Childress Terrace
Burtonsville MD 20866-2038
U.S.A.
>Please do NOT respond by e-mail, as this is not my e-mail
address that I
>am using. Thanks!
X-Sender: chan@computize.com
To: Bernie Krisher
From: chan@rizer.computize.com (Chahn Kim)
Subject: Re: flood victims
From:
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 1995 13:13:51 -0500
To: bernie@media.mit.edu
Subject: North Korea
To:
From:bernie@media.mit.edu (Bernie Krisher) Subject:Re: North
Korea
President/Chief Executive Officer
International Aid
17011 Hickory
Spring Lake, Michigan 49456
From:
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 1995 02:06:03 -0500
To: bernie@media.mit.edu
Subject: North Korea Flood Relief
My name is Dr.Edward Kimball. I am an Emergency Physician at
the University of Pittsburgh. I spent several years of my youth in
South Korea as a missionary and an athelete. I grew to love the
Korean people a great deal (North and South) and have therefore
been following your reports from North Korea with great
interest.
To quickly get to the point, I have several possible resources
for large humanitarian donations from my church and my fathers
business. In addition, I speak Korean fluently and I would be
available for a month to six weeks in the coming year to do any
thing from medical advising to working in a rural clinic in North
Korea. I am very anxious to be of help to these people whom I love
very much. If you could supply me with information regarding
channeling non-cash medical, food and clothing donations from
the U.S. to North Korea, as well as contacts with medical groups
(MSF/ Doctors Without Borders etc...) with whom I might be able to
volunteer with as a doctor, I would be very greatful.
E-Mail: tjkimball@aol.com
P.S. Thank You for all you have done for these dear people.
Representative
Medecins Sans Frontieres
Taedonggong Hotel
Room 307
Pyongyasng, DPRK
FAX: 850-2-381-2905
Subject: Korean Journey East Project in London
Program in London
September 9th-30th, 1996
Managing Director
Journey East
December 3, 1995
(Kyoto)
>these money would go to the buraucrats, not the people
who are
>suffering.
> --Mike Leader (Leader_M@whittier.edu)
From: Kouichi Unami
Subject: donation to DPRKorea
X-Url: http://shrine.cyber.ad.jp:80/mrosin/flood/
Account name Kita Chosen Suigai Kyuen
as a donation to North Korean Flood Victims.
Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Kyoto University, Japan
E-mail: unami@euphrates.kais.kyoto-u.ac.jp
(sender's name has been ommitted to avoid possible
recrimination)
From: Bernard Krisher
4-1-7-605 Hiroo
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo (150) Japan
phone: 81-3-3486-4337
fax: 81-3-3486-6789
Mr. Richard Newcombe
Office of Foreign Assets Control
U.S. Treasury Department
1500 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20220
Chairman
Internet Appeal for North Korean Flood Relief
Subject: Aide to North Korea
From: "John Q. Public"
Date: Sat, 30 Sep 95 01:48:48 -700
To: bernie@media.mit.edu
Mime-Version: 1.0
Subject: North Korean Help
c/o Bernard Krisher
4-1-7-605 Hiroo
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan