width="463" height="200" border="0">
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> size="3" color="olive">ENEMY NUMBER UN style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> size="3">
size="3" color="blue">Thousands of North Korean defectors are living secretly
in Britain and the US, claims daredevil ‘James Bond pastor’ famed for 007-style
rescue missions
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="purple">'Fearless' Chun Ki-won has saved more than 1,100 refugees
- often by using controversial methods, including the 'Dark Web’
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;">By
Chris White
27
Feb 2019, 16:33
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">A DAREDEVIL dubbed the "James Bond pastor" for rescuing
hundreds of North Korean defectors estimates around 4,000 of them are living
secretly in Britain and the US.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Chun Ki-won's unconventional rescues include helping refugees
to escape the brutal regime by jumping out of high-rise buildings and leading
groups of absconders through Asia by foot, truck and trains.
border="0">
△ Pastor Chun Ki-won is dubbed the 'Godfather of North
Korean defectors'
Credit: www.thisischriswhite.com
width="750" height="430" border="0">
△ Chun's defectors battle through a forest to escape the
brutal regime
Credit: www.thisischriswhite.com
color="navy">And like 007, the 61-year-old is dependent upon an array of technology
- including flying drones on the borders - to save lives.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">The pastor admits that his daredevil approach to helping defectors
escape Kim Jong-un’s tyrannical rule is like something out of a James Bond
film.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Chun has become so prolific and successful that he is known personally
to the North Korean president - who has labelled him a style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">“ color="navy">cancer who should be eradicated style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">” color="navy">.
color="navy">He has also been called the
color="blue">“Godfather of North Korean Defectors” style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">, although his nickname in America is style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;">
color="blue">“Asia’s Schindler”.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">This is a reference to Oskar Schindler, the German industrialist
who saved 1,200 Jews from the gas chambers during World War 2 and was the inspiration
for Steven Spielberg's 1993 award-winning movie Schindler's List.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Chun is credited with helping more than 1,100 defectors flee North
Korea for destinations across the globe, including the UK and US, over the past
two decades.
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△ One of his
daredevil rescue missions involved a 'sex slave' having to climb through a window,
many storeys high
Credit: www.thisischriswhite.com
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">According to the last census in 2011, there are close to 400 North
Koreans living in England and Wales.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">More recent figures published in The Conversation show that since
2003, more than 1,300 North Koreans have applied for asylum in the UK, and lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">“544 have been granted asylum” style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Chun, however, estimates there are about 2,000 living in the UK,
as some hide their true origins and go color="blue">“underground” color="navy">.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">He said: color="blue">“The problem started when people started learning that you can
get an easier visa over there so people started flocking in to the UK. lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">‘And the government couldn’t verify North Korea from South Korea
because many refugees went to South Korea first. style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">”
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바??mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">“So after that, even though official number is very low, it could
be up to 2,000 ? no one really knows.” color="navy">
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">In the US, the official population figure of North Korean defectors
is now around 170, with them predominantly situated in Washington DC.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">But Chun says that’s a lie and estimates that there are at least
2,000 illegal immigrants, who’ve fled the communist regime, with the main clusters
in Washington, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">He said: color="blue">“ color="blue">I was the first to officially take defectors to the States.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">“And there were many more before me. The US only takes the number
from the North Koreans who come from China, but there are many who come from
South Korea, Japan and even European countries. style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">”
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">“The official number is 200, but it’s nearer 2,000. They are
illegal immigrants, the government has no idea who they are or where they are.”
color="blue">Sex traffickers
color="navy">The bulk of those he saves from North Korea are victims of sex
trafficking.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">The former hotel owner's rescue missions began when he was looking
for business opportunities along the border of China and North Korea in the
mid-1990s.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Upon seeing the plight of starving North Koreans, he joined a
seminary and met many who were in hiding.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">After becoming a pastor in 1999, at the age of 42, he set up the
Durihana Church in Seoul, South Korea to rescue, rehouse and educate North Koreans.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Some live at the church, others study and pray there, but no one
is ever turned down.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">He says defectors can be overwhelmed by South Korea, which is
color="blue">“ color="blue">over a century color="blue">” color="navy"> ahead of the culture they’re used to.
width="750" height="500" border="0">
△ Inside the border between North and South Korea
Credit: www.thisischriswhite.com
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△ Chun has helped hundreds of
North Koreans to sneak over the border into South Korea
Credit: www.thisischriswhite.com
color="navy">There are more than 50,000 North Koreans - 80 per cent of whom
are women - trapped in Chinese border towns. Chun says he has helped more than
two per cent of them so far.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Unsuspecting women desperate to escape from North Korea are lured
across the border by traffickers.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Hooked by the promise of well-paid jobs working with computers,
they’re then sold to China’s sex trade, where they’re forced to work on internet
sex webchats and take off their clothes for customers.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">The longer a punter stays online, the more money the company gets.
Women can be locked up in a room 24 hours a day, for months, or even years,
on end.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">And Chun admits has to be devious to help save them.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">With some, he’ll befriend them on the chatrooms of the lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">“Dark Web” color="navy"> and gain their trust before rescuing them in elaborate schemes.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Or he’ll negotiate with their bosses - sex traffickers - to lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">“buy” color="navy"> the girls by pretending to be a concerned family member.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">“I’ve got no choice but to go onto the Dark Web and in the chatrooms
and listen to their story. color="blue">”
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">“I pick the ones who are really desperate and really need help.
I pretend that I’m their uncle or father and tell them I want to buy her,” lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy"> he explains.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Sometimes he even gets tipped off by a victim's lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">“sympathetic captors” color="navy">. He’ll find out about them through trafficking contacts and
plan their rescue.
border="0">
△ The 61-year-old used to be a hotel owner, before he saw
the plight of desperate North Koreans, and joined a seminary
Credit: www.thisischriswhite.com
color="blue">“God's plan”
color="navy">In the pastor's words, this is style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">“extreme NGO work,” color="navy"> but he also believes it’s all part of God’s plan.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">“Every day I receive faxes, calls and emails to people who want
to be freed, I can’t be indifferent. color="blue">”
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">“Our mission is to reunite North Korea and South Korea using
the gospel,” color="navy">says Chun, speaking from his office at Durihana School, which
he set up to color="blue">“help teenagers from the North to learn and adjust to Korean
society” color="navy">.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">He works alongside other missionaries across China and Korea.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Escapees often have to travel thousands of miles by foot, train
and trucks through China, Laos and Thailand.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">The dangers of his work increase every year, as escapees aren’t
safe until they reach Thailand, which has no deal with North Korea about returning
refugees, enabling them to seek asylum at the Korean Embassy.
width="750" height="500" border="0">
△ One of the guards who patrols the border area between
North and South Korea
Credit: www.thisischriswhite.com
color="navy">Chun said that it has become more difficult for people to escape.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">For most, the only way to be liberated is with the aid of people
smugglers, who then sell them to Chinese sex traffickers.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">He added: color="blue">“The process is much harder because there are higher bars and
wire fence along the border and North Korea is using CCTV cameras. If you are
caught, you’ll be executed.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">“However, North Korean guards need money and they will sell girls
to Chinese men, it’s basically a human trafficking scheme.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">“Most are women, who will then try to escape the traffickers
and get their family out of North Korea afterwards. It’s nearly impossible
odds.”
color="blue">Life on the line
color="navy">Chun’s work has faced more obstacles since 2002 when he was caught
and imprisoned for nine months for leading a group of 12 refugees across the
China-Mongolian border.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Ten were later executed, while US relatives intervened to save
the remaining two Koreans.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Chinese authorities threatened Chun with the death penalty unless
he revealed the real mastermind behind the operation.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">He said: color="blue">“The Chinese demanded to know who put me up to it; they kept
asking the same questions over and over, and I said: 'I did this as God wanted
me to do it'.”
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Chun was released from prison after pleas from international human
rights NGOs and petitions from US negotiators.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">But, the pastor is now banned from the country, which makes his
rescue operations even more daunting as he has to rely on contacts while he
waits for groups of refugees at the Laos or Thai borders.
width="750" height="626" border="0">
△ More than 50,000 North Koreans are believed to be trapped
in Chinese border towns
Credit: www.thisischriswhite.com
color="blue">Botched escape
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Chun admits that only half of his operations succeed and in one
case a woman plummeted to her death from the seventh floor of a high rise building
during a botched escape plot.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">It doesn’t deter him from continuing his work, however.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">In another case, he found a girl online and got her to take a
photo of the door and windows of the place where she was being held captive,
so that he could work out her location.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">The woman didn’t know where in China she was after being sold
to sex traffickers, who’d imprisoned her in the same room 24/7 for 10 months
where she was forced to talk to customers on sex webcams.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Chun then drew pictures detailing his plan to save her.
width="750" height="617" border="0">
△ The pastor demonstrates one of his daredevil
rescue attempts, when a captured sex slave had to climb through a window and
walk along a balcony to safety
Credit: www.thisischriswhite.com
color="navy">This involved the woman climbing out of her window onto the balcony
where one rescuer would lower a rope to her, which she was to wrap around her
wrist, before edging across to the next-door balcony, where someone would be
waiting to take her away.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">But with such high stakes, it’s inevitable that things can go
wrong.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">In 2009, Chun helped two American journalists - Euna Lee and and
Laura Ling from a cable TV station in San Francisco - organise their trip to
China where he introduced them to a contact who would act as a guide.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">But they were arrested for illegally crossing the North Korean
border - which they denied, alleging they were beaten and dragged over the border
by North Korean guards.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">The pair were sentenced to 12 years hard labour.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">It was only through the diplomatic efforts of Bill Clinton, who
paid a visit to then President Kim Jong-il, that they were eventually pardoned.
color="blue">“James Bond”
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Chun often guides groups using drone video to monitor border guard
patrols, so that he can make sure they pass without detection.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">As for references to James Bond, Chun admits he is lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">“fearless” color="navy">, adding: color="blue">“Most people are struck by what I do, but I believe that God
has prepared me for this job and I’m courageous.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">“Even if I got arrested, I’d be really calm about it.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">“I enjoy the adventure and technology involved, such as flying
the drones on the borders, but the amount of girls we’re saving is getting
less, as it’s getting harder.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">“It used to be 20 to 30 a month, now it’s only four or five.”
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">His methods aren’t liked by the South Korean Government either
- they see it as “ruining the bonding relationship,” he says - but they can’t
arrest him for it and usually leave him alone.
width="750" height="503" border="0">
△ Pictures taken by the pastor show how
dangerous the journey to safety is, with refugees often having to travel hundreds
of miles on foot
Credit: www.thisischriswhite.com
color="blue">Financial pressure
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Apart from the risk of capture or imprisonment, Chun's main problem
is finance.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">He said it costs at least color="navy">￡ color="navy">1,500 (US$2,000) to move a person across just one border, plus
flight costs and another color="navy">￡ color="navy">1,500 to brokers.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">By the time they reach Korea, it has cost more than style="font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">￡ color="navy">3,800 ($5,000) per refugee.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">As it’s not financially viable to transport just one person at
a time, those rescued move in groups.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Churchgoers in Santa Fe, New Mexico, heard about his actions and
the congregation voted to devote all their energies and monies into helping
Chun.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Santa Fe Pastor Ryan Ellsworth said the City of Faith Christian
Fellowship was looking for a worthy cause and decided it wanted to help North
Koreans.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">So, in May 2016, a new branch of style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">“Durihana International” color="navy"> was launched in the US with Chun at the opening ceremony, along
with some people who’d fled from North Korea.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">In posters for the visit, the Church branded Chun lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="blue">“Asia’s Schindler” color="navy">.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Chun said he was the color="blue">“first to officially take defectors to the States” lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">.
color="navy">He estimates that he’s saved well over 1,100 refugees in 18 years
and delivered them safely all around the world from Europe to North Asia and
to America, which has traditionally had a tough stance on North Korean immigrants.
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;"> color="navy">Chun said that while the official number of North Koreans who
have defected to the US is said to be 200, color="blue">“it’s nearer 2,000. They are illegal immigrants; the government
has no idea who they are or where they are.”
width="664" height="860" border="0">
△ color="olive">An American church is helping to fund the pastor's attempts to
save North Korean defectors
lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:함초롬바탕;mso-font-width:100%;letter-spacing:0pt;mso-text-raise:0pt;">Credit:
www.thisischriswhite.com