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 The Judeo-Christian humanitarian instincts of Americans superseded any other considerations.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