Save North Korean Refugee Flooding Victims
Further Famine Expected
News media worldwide are reporting on the recent flooding in North Korea and the widespread damage it has caused. Effects from the flood have begun to seriously impact the area in China bordering North Korea, where many of LFNKR’s rescue activities are based.
Floods have now hit North Korea for 10 consecutive years, but this summer’s flooding has caused unusually heavy damage in 6 of 9 provinces. The flooding is reportedly expected to cause food shortages as serious as those in 1997.
Most of the North Korean refugees that our group’s staff members meet in China are given necessary food, medical kits, and clothing, and then they return to North Korea. Those North Koreans who cannot gain access to food are facing sure starvation, which looks likely to again claim countless lives in North Korea.
Most of those who come to our JYD shelter in North Korea come from Musan, Onsong, Hoeryong, and Chonjing. Our local staff members there report an average of about 25 North Korean refugees a month came to our shelter in July and August. On one day, three refugees arrived separately, each asking for help.
At our group’s JLS-01 shelter, we averaged 15 North Koreans per month, and our JHS-01 shelter averaged another 15 monthly. The local staff responsible for these shelters are all urgently requesting more supplies for emergency aid.
The price of rice has doubled due to the flooding, and the general public is struggling to find food. Most of the North Koreans visiting our shelters for help hail from Kimchaek and Hamhung, as well as the other areas already mentioned.
The local staff members expect to see more than 100 desperate North Korean refugees asking for help in September and October.
The poor farming villages in the border area cannot afford to offer help to those North Korean refugees. For this reason, LFNKR is now seeking additional support to help secure the extra aid supplies needed for at least 200 people per month.
We plan to hand each refugee one aid supply package containing one home medical kit and 20 kilograms of rice. The cost for each package is 3,000 yen or $26 (1,000 yen for rice and 2,000 yen for the medical goods).
Our group currently projects the need for a total of 200 aid supply packages. This equals 4 tons of rice and 200 home medical kits.
We invite you to visit our donation page and help these North Koreans before they starve and it becomes too late. Please help us help them.
Regards from Japan,
Kato Hiroshi
Executive Director