Good Friends, Devoted to the Movement to Help North Koreans Refugees
In 1995, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim visited the Three Northeast Provinces in China. A local told him, “People are starving to death in North Korea. If we don’t do anything about the malnutrition of the North Korean children, the South and North Koreans may become different races.” Ven. Pomnyun Sunim did not initially believe him. The local took him to the Amnok River where he saw an emaciated child in very shabby clothes, looking exactly like the beggar children in India. Ven. Pomnyun Sunim called out to the child, but the child kept his head down and did not move. The local told him, “North Korean children do not even have the right to beg.”
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim thought to himself, “We have a lot of food and money to buy food, so why can’t we give some to that child? Why is a border or a nation making people suffer?” He recalls that it was the first time the reality of a divided country struck him to his heart. Prior to that time, he had only thought vaguely that the two Koreas should be unified.
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim said, “About three million people in North Korea died from starvation during the three years after the big flood in 1995. The international community did not believe
it, but the people in North Korea died in huge numbers like falling leaves in the autumn.” He tried to inform the people of South Korea about the serious situation in North Korea and asked for help, but the response was cold. Conservatives criticized him for helping the enemy. Liberals complained that Ven. Pomnyun Sunim was attempting to emphasize only the dark side of North Korea with bad motives. However, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim was steadfast in helping the most destitute in North Korea.
In order to help the starving people in North Korea, he traveled throughout South Korea and to various countries around the world, giving lectures and interviews to spread the word about the North Korean food shortage and refugee situation. In 1996, he founded the Korean Buddhists Sharing Movement(KBSM), the precursor to Good Friends, and dispatched activists to the Three Northeast Provinces in China to search for and help the refugees who had fled from North Korea due to hunger and were hiding in the mountains.
The North Korean refugees were thrilled to receive the bag of food and clothes from the Good Friends activists. They called it “life pack.” Later, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and Good Friends initiated the One Million-Signature Campaign to gain public support for humanitarian aid to North Korea. They also reported to the international community about the abysmal human rights situation of the North Korean refugees and appealed for humanitarian aid for them and the improvement of their human rights. For three years from 2000, they hosted a weekly event, “Discussion on Reunification,” in South Korea to increase people’s awareness about the need for reunification.
The Jungto Society, led by Ven. Pomnyun Sunim, carried out the “Nonstop 1000-day prayer wishing for reconciliation and peaceful reunification of the two Koreas” from March 1, 2000, until November 26, 2002.
Receiving international recognition for this effort, in 2002, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim received the Ramom Magsaysay Award, also known as the Nobel Peace Prize of Asia. Maybe the devoted prayers of Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and the Jungto Society members touched the heavens. South and North Korean leaders met for the first time in June 2000 and announced the Joint Declaration of June 15, which was a groundbreaking start for the improvement of the relations between the two Koreas.
Good Friends USA
Center for Peace, Human Rights, and Refugees was founded in 2004 in Washington D.C. It aims to promote human rights situations of North Korean people and humanitarian aid to North Korea. It has provided information from inside of North Korea and insights of Ven. Pomnyun Sunim to the international community. Its weekly newsletter North Korea Today has delivered living conditions of North Korean people, including food prices and currency exchange rates.
It has also hosted Ven. Pomnyun Sunim’s talks on North Korea and the Korean Peninsula every year at various venues including the U.S. Congress, think tanks, NGOs, and universities. A member organization of Korea Peace Network, Good Friends USA also participates in peace movement with other U.S.-based peace activists.