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Jakarta –
Last April, the chilly air of Seokmo Island, Korea, was not warmed even by the solar’s rays. Park Jeong-oh stood on the shore and nervously threw a bottle of rice into the ocean. It was my hope that the rice bottles would attain North Korea.
President Park has been finishing up this exercise for nearly 10 years. But he had to do that in secret as a result of South Korea banned sending anti-North Korea supplies throughout its border in June 2020.
“We are sending this illness as a result of our compatriots are ravenous to demise. Is that mistaken?” mentioned the 56-year-old man.
South Korea’s Constitutional Court determined to invalidate the ban in September final yr. Still, Park did not need to appeal to an excessive amount of consideration, so she waited a number of months.
On April 9, Mr. Park lastly returned to his job of sending rice bottles in broad daylight. It is predicted that the tidal vary would be the largest in order that water bottles can attain North Korea extra shortly.
“This marks a brand new starting for my actions,” Park mentioned.
Mr. Park defected from North Korea 26 years in the past. His father was a North Korean spy, however determined to flee to South Korea, forcing his complete household to comply with him. The regime launched a black marketing campaign and vowed to hunt all of them down.
While residing in North Korea, Park typically noticed the our bodies of people that starved to demise mendacity on the streets.
Mr. Park was stunned to listen to from a missionary who ceaselessly traveled to China that armed troopers got here to Hwanghae Province in the course of the harvest season and took away all of the rice fields.
Because of this measure, farmers starved to demise. This is the primary time Mr. Park has heard that he might starve to demise in a rice producing space.
Mr. Park based ‘Geunsaem’ along with his spouse in 2015 and despatched items in plastic bottles to Hwanghae Province.
They consulted with native fishermen and the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology about tide occasions. On days with robust ocean currents, it solely takes 4 hours for the bottle to achieve North Korea.
In addition to 1 kg of rice, a 2-liter bottle incorporates a flash disk (flash disk) It’s full of Okay-Pop songs and North Korea-themed Okay-drama sequence. Crash touchdown on you, Video and digital Bible evaluating North and South Korea.
Park believes that North Korean residents can have no problem accessing digital content material, contemplating that digital gadgets corresponding to computer systems and cellphones have gotten more and more frequent.
Mr. Park mentioned, “Many individuals assume that there isn’t any electrical energy in North Korea. However, I heard that lots of photo voltaic panels are coming from China. These panels can be utilized to cost batteries, particularly in summer season,” mentioned Park.
Sometimes a US greenback invoice (about 16,000 rupiah) is positioned in every bottle in order that the recipient can alternate it for Chinese or North Korean forex. As of final yr, the official worth of 1 greenback was equal to 160 North Korean received. This alternate fee may be 50 occasions greater on the black market.
Getty Images South Korea banned the sending of leaflets and different gadgets to North Korea in 2020 after Kim Yo-jong issued a warning.
During the pandemic, the Parks additionally saved painkillers and masks in bottles containing important gadgets for North Korea, which is lower off from the skin world.
South Korea’s ban took impact in December 2020. Just a few months in the past, Kim Yo-jong, Kim Jong-un’s youthful sister and likewise a robust determine, warned activists to not ship anti-North Korea leaflets, accusing them of violating the North-South battle. contract.
Just a few days later, North Korea blew up the extremely symbolic Joint Liaison Office in Kaesong, a metropolis close to the Demilitarized Zone.
The legislation introduced by Korea brought on nice controversy. Critics have known as the ban the ‘Kim Yo-jong decree’ as a result of Moon Jae-in’s authorities is so desperate to please North Korea.
South Korean authorities have advocated for legal guidelines that shield the safety of border areas and the steadiness of inter-Korean relations.
“We have been handled like criminals,” Mr. Park recalled.
“I went forwards and backwards to the police station for nearly three years. I used to be drained and in ache.”
Even although the ban was overturned, Park and his sickness remained in limbo. The variety of church buildings and human rights organizations that donate on the whole has now declined.
Several different North Korean defectors wished to ship the illness to their house nation and every donated 200,000 received (about IDR 2.3 million rupees).
After the legislation went into impact in 2020, President Park and his spouse’s relationship with native residents additionally worsened. Some consider that what President Park did threatened nationwide safety.
Before the ban, most individuals did not care what President Park Geun-hye did. Even neighboring village chiefs often give recommendation on one of the best locations to throw bottles. Sometimes they even present direct assist.
Now, President Park should throw the bottle underneath the watchful eye of dozens of police, marines, and troopers. The inspectors have been ready to behave as mediators, however they continued to ask Mr. Park whether or not the bottles contained confidential or delicate gadgets.
The considered stopping his conduct by no means crossed Mr. Park’s thoughts.
Mr. Park mentioned, “I’ve heard that North Korean residents are suspicious of bottled rice. “He cooked rice and gave it to the canine, and for the reason that canine was okay with it, he tried it and felt that the standard was one of the best,” he mentioned.
He continued, “After that, we bought rice at a excessive worth and used the cash to buy massive portions of low cost agricultural merchandise corresponding to corn.”
The household of 9 North Korean defectors in early 2023 mentioned they acquired bottles of alcohol from Park and despatched messages of gratitude to Park by way of different North Korean defectors.
Four years in the past, a North Korean feminine dissident additionally thanked Park for saving her life.
President Park has by no means met the recipients of help in particular person. All he desires is to assist individuals, not get reward.
Mr. Park mentioned, “North Korean individuals are lower off from the skin world. “They obey with out resistance as a result of they’re afraid of the implications of disobeying the state.”
“This is only a means for me to assist in a bit of means.”
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