lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="olive">By Olivia Balcerzak: balcerzak.13@osu.edu

February 7, 2018

width="530" height="353" border="0">

▲ A series of thank you notes and a picture of children
at Durihana International School sent to Pen Pals in North Korea. Credit: Olivia
Balcerzak | For The Lantern

lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">There are more than 6,000 miles between North Korea and Columbus,
but one student group is making up for the distance through letters.

lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Fourth-year marketing student Sam Lee never knew much about his
family members in North Korea, so in the summer of 2014, he decided to volunteer
at the Durihana International School in Seoul, South Korea style="font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">?? color="navy">an orphanage that houses North Korean refugees.

lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">“I just want general body members to realize that there are so
many different people out there in the world, not everybody is as privileged
as we are,” Lee said.

lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Four years later, Lee has rebranded Ohio State student group,
North Korea Future Research Organization, into the Pen Pals in North Korea (PPiNK),
which aims to bridge the gap between North Korean refugees in South Korea and
American students on campus.

lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">After contacting Durihana International School, Lee said he was
able to get permission to write letters and send gifts to the children and receive
postcards in return.

lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">“I became president and wanted to switch it up a bit,” Lee said.
“Last year when we were still the previous [organization], we had a [postcard-writing]
event where a lot of people came out and a lot of people wanted to participate.
Because that garnered a lot of support, we decided to switch our focus.”

lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">On Jan. 25, Lee received some of the most recent deliveries, among
them photos of the same children he spent time with in the orphanage and roughly
50 other pictures and postcards written by refugees at Durihana International
School.

width="530" height="353" border="0">

▲ color="purple">Yvonne Le, a fourth-year studying sociology, writes a letter
back to her pen pal. The two conversed about sports, hobbies and interests.
Credit: Olivia Balcerzak | For The Lantern

lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:?惇袈拈芼?mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">While some students might receive a letter back from the same
child, the likelihood of speaking with the same person twice is dependent on
the child’s adoption status, Lee said. There were some students, though, like
Yvonne Le, a fourth-year in sociology, who was among those who did.

lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">“We get a lifelong friendship with little updates on each of
our lives,” Le said. “It’s nice to learn about different cultures.”

lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">While Le said she would like to know more about the children’s
escape stories, because of the refugee’s minimal experience speaking and writing
English, the conversation is a more basic exchange of facts and stories.

lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">However, the hardship of the children’s journey still remains,
Lee said, speaking on his first-hand experience of hearing their stories.

lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">“A lot of their stories are really eye-opening,” Lee said. “There’s
a river that separates North Korea from China, that’s how usually they escape,
so little kids have to cross the river when it’s freezing outside and they
get shot at and stuff, so stories like that hurt my heart.”

lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">PPiNK holds an event once a month, with letter-writing taking
place every two to three months, contingent on international shipping times
and return rates.

lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Lee said he hopes that sending letters to the refugees will let
them know that there are people who want to help.

lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">“We just want to show them that there are still people out there
that are interested in them and care for them because they come from such a
hard background,” Lee said.