ACT News Update

ACT members offer assistance following train explosion in North Korea

Geneva, May 18, 2004--Several members of the global alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International responded to the April 22 train blast that killed 170 people in the extreme northern part of North Korea. The explosion destroyed a large part of the town of Ryongchon and injured 1,300. Information and access was difficult to obtain initially because of the country's political isolation and secretive, closed society.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (USA) sent US$22,500 to the Inter-Presbyterian Mission Office in Seoul for the purchase and shipment of intravenous injection packs (water) for burn victims. These supplies were being sent from Incheon, South Korea to the North Korean port of Nampo.

Presbyterians in Canada were also able to respond quickly to the emergency. The director of Presbyterian World Service & Development, the Rev. Richard Fee, traveled to North Korea shortly after the blast. He was able to bring 16 cartons (280 kg) of highly specialized medicines into the country for burn victims on behalf of Caritas International, the Catholic relief agency, which formally cooperates with ACT members in North Korea as part of their ecumenical and interfaith relationships.

Before the train explosion, Fee had planned to travel to North Korea during the arrival of a Canadian Foodgrains Bank shipment of 8,292 metric tonnes of wheat, which Presbyterian World Service & Development sponsored as the lead agency.

Presbyterians in South Korea, through the Social Service Ministry of the Presbyterian Church of Korea (PCK), are also supporting survivors through the supply of medicine, blankets, food and other emergency materials. It sent two staff members to Dandong, China, the border city near the explosion site, to arrange support for the shipment of more emergency supplies. In addition, 11 delegates of the PCK traveled to North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, the week of May 3 to discuss with (North) Korean Christian Federation officers additional ways the church could support relief efforts.

In addition to Presbyterian churches in North America and South Korea that responded following the blast, the president and a staff member of Hungarian Baptist Aid traveled to North Korea to offer their assistance.

In its ongoing work in North Korea, ACT has been supporting the supply of emergency food aid since 1996 through its members: Diakonie Emergency Aid, Church World Service, Hong Kong Christian Council, National Christian Council in Japan and ACT members and partners that belong to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank - Canadian Lutheran World Relief, Presbyterian World Service & Development, United Church of Canada and Mennonite Central Committee. Some have been supporting ACT's local member in North Korea, the Pyongyang-based Korean Christian Federation, as it supplies food and non-food items in various parts of the country, and others work through a local consortium of agencies.

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