Korean Texas Baptists spearhead partnership to send food to North Korea_110104

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Posted: 10/29/04

Korean Texas Baptists spearhead
partnership to send food to North Korea

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

Texas Baptist Men recently donated $10,000 for food in North Korea to help vast numbers of people who are starving to death.

The group's donation was combined with $10,000 from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and $10,000 donated by Dallas Baptist Association and Dallas-area Korean churches. The funds bought food in China, which was shipped to North Korea.

Yoo Jong Yoon, pastor of Glory Korean Baptist Church in Dallas who spearheaded the effort, said God brought these groups together to relieve a desperate situation within North Korea.

Yoo Jong Yoon, pastor of Glory Korean Baptist Church in Dallas, plays with a child during a recent trip to North Korea.

People are struggling to get food, he said. Hospitals lack medicine. Some areas of the country do not have electricity, leaving many residents jobless as factories sit powerless. Many residents make $5 a month.

“To me, it's horrible,” said Yoon, Asian network coordinator for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. “The people there are starving to death.”

The distribution effort only helps temporarily, he acknowledged. But he is convinced God wanted him to help meet the immediate needs.

Other groups must do as they are asked to permanently fix the situation, he added.

“North Korea is 27 million people, and $30,000 of food is like a biscuit for an elephant,” he said.

Yoon has worked to help North Korea for eight years. He said he feels a kinship and calling to help his people.

“North Korea–that's my brothers and sisters,” he said.

"That's how I feel even though our politics are different and our ideologies are different. North and South Korea is one country.

“They are suffering. I feel obligated.”

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