by Jane Cooper | [May 10, 2006]
On this day in 1972 Tim Peters walked out of a university tutorial on Shakespeare and made a decision that changed his life.
To the confusion of his professor who thought the tutorial went well, he never went back to study at Michigan State University. But he wasn't an ordinary dropout - it was a "profound religious experience" that led him to dedicate his life to missionary work.
That calling brought him to Seoul where he is now the coordinator of an underground railroad that helps North Korean refugees escape. In China, the refugees live in constant fear of being repatriated to North Korea where they face internment in prison camps or even execution for trying to escape. A "strike hard campaign" by the Chinese authorities means that Peters' work has become more difficult, and those helping North Koreans risk being thrown into Chinese jails.
"Never underestimate the power of prayer," he told The Korea Herald.
And in the South, there are those that are hostile to his work, "I don't want to dwell on that," he said, explaining that if you are prominent and take a stand on a sensitive issue "you've got to expect it's not going to be peaches and cream."
For years as an underground activist he was a voice in the wilderness, but now people are taking notice. Last week Time magazine dubbed him a "Seoul Saver" and splashed his image across the cover of its Asia edition.
"I guess the days of me being underground are long gone," he joked. "It's out there, you can't put the worms back in the can!"
Like his apartment, he explained, he was half underground anyway, "But this takes visibility to a whole new level," Peters said.
While that exposure means that he has to be more careful in choosing his trips to China, he is glad that the plight of North Koreans is being "put on the radar."
Now his days are taken up giving interviews, writing speeches and raising the profile of his work. He describes himself as a "facilitator, an appropriator of funds." During the interview with The Korea Herald, he spoke of a successful rescue that happened the day before. For that individual North Korean to be "delivered" to a safe haven, he didn't need to be there in the "battlefield" himself. Instead, he coordinated the effort through his Asian partners.
Peters founded Helping Hands Korea in 1996 on his third stint in Korea. At that time there was a famine in the North and he realized that his mission was to help "North Koreans in crisis."
Now that his organization is gaining recognition, he says the credit should go to his wife. He describes her as "unique person" for being able to put up with the challenges of being a missionary's wife. "My wife is a saint," he said. During their marriage, he estimates that they have had to move house 50 times. During other periods, they had to do visa runs every 90 days with all five children in tow.
"She could have so easily given up on me in the last 30 years," he said, adding that she has sacrificed and endured so much. He said that she always had a deep respect for his calling and probably bit her lip every time she doubted what they were doing.
He first arrived in Korea in 1973, a year after first making the life-changing decision to be a missionary. During the Chun Doo-hwan administration he was thrown out of the country for distributing leaflets that were critical of the government's stance on human rights.
Today, he faces a battle in getting the spotlight on the issue of North Korean human rights. When asked if there are people who are out to discredit him or even threaten his life, he gave an answer related to his calling, how he wants his work to glorify God and his critics will be proven wrong with the evidence.
"But I do lock the door at night." And he keeps his back to the wall in restaurants so he can "watch the door" and doesn't stand close to the edge of the platform in subway stations. Asked if he thinks there are North Korean agents watching him or if someone would want to push him over the edge of the platform, he said "it's in the realms of possibility."
He assumes his phone is tapped and the organization takes basic security precautions such as operating in a cell structure so that he doesn't know all of the people involved.
"You have to be aware as you can. And pray," he said.
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Korean sex slaves take refuge in U.S.
Group first to be granted status since 2004 law relaxed conditions
[May 6, 2006]
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Six refugees from North Korea, including four women who say they were victims of sexual slavery or forced marriages, have fled to the United States, a senator said Saturday.
The group is the first from North Korea to be given official refugee status since passage of a 2004 law that makes it easier for North Koreans to apply for such status.
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, said the six refugees arrived at an undisclosed U.S. location Friday night from a Southeast Asian nation. He would not identify from which nation they came because of worries about security for their families and to avoid diplomatic complications with the country that sent them.
"This is a great act of compassion by the United States and the other countries involved," said Brownback, a co-sponsor of the law. He said that the refugees' arrival in the United States showed "the act is working" by making the refugees' human rights a part of U.S. policy toward the North.
The issue of North Korean human rights has gained attention in Washington as international diplomatic efforts to curb North Korea's self-announced nuclear weapons production program have stalled.
President Bush, in his 2002 State of the Union address, branded North Korea one of the three members of the "axis of evil," along with Iran and Iraq.
In 2004, Congress passed the North Korean Human Rights Act, part of which specified that the State Department would make it easier for North Koreans to try for refugee status in the United States.
Tens of thousands of North Koreans are believed to have fled across their border into China.
The U.S. special envoy on North Korean human rights, Jay Lefkowitz, told a congressional hearing last week: "We need to do more -- and we can and will do more -- for the North Korean refugees."
"We will press to make it clear to our friends and allies in the region that we are prepared to accept North Korean refugees for resettlement here," Lefkowitz said.
Bush appointed Lefkowitz last year, tasking him with raising the human rights issue and providing help for refugees fleeing the North.
North Korea long has been accused of torture, public executions and other atrocities against its people. Between 150,000 and 200,000 people are believed to be held in prison camps for political reasons, the State Department said in a report last year.
Human rights activists have said that U.S. Embassy workers in Asian countries have refused to help North Korean refugees.
Last year, Timothy Peters, founder of Helping Hands Korea, told lawmakers at a hearing that U.S. Embassy officials in Beijing rebuffed him when he tried to arrange help for a 17-year-old North Korean refugee.
"I thought to myself, 'Is this the State Department's implementation of the North Korean Human Rights Act?"' he said.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
www.helpinghandsKorea.org
(someday i want to go into North Korea) If God wills it.
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