Via: Online Schools

Treatment for TB in NK

Hey everyone check this out, according to the New York Times:

With help from scientists from Stanford University’s medical school, North Korea has developed its first laboratory capable of detecting drug-resistant tuberculosis, scientists involved in the project said last week.

Tuberculosis surged in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea during the famines of the 1990s. (Starvation suppresses the immune system, allowing latent infections to grow.) But the country cannot tell which cases are susceptible to which antibiotics, meaning more dangerous strains could push out strains that are easier to kill, as has happened in Russia and Peru.

The project began after John W. Lewis, an expert on Chinese politics at Stanford participating in informal diplomatic talks over North Korea’s nuclear threat, realized how serious a TB problem the country had. In 2008, doctors from North Korea’s health ministry visited experts in the San Francisco Bay area. Last month, a Stanford team began installing the new diagnostics lab at a hospital in the capital, Pyongyang.

The project “represents an unprecedented level of cooperation” between North Korean and American doctors, Professor Lewis said. It is supported by the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit global security group led by former Senator Sam Nunn, Democrat of Georgia, and by Christian Friends of Korea, a humanitarian group.

Although it will soon be able to grow and test TB strains, North Korea right now has none of the more expensive antibiotics that attack drug-resistant TB, said Sharon Perry, the epidemiologist leading the Stanford team. Without outside help it will also run out of routine first-line antibiotics by July, she said.

You can read the full article here:
Tuberculosis: North Korea Develops TB Laboratory With Help From American Doctors
New York Times
Donald McNeil, Jr.
3/1/2010

This is pretty sweet, because the NK government is willing to cooperate with the US to help North Koreans suffering from TB. Sadly, it looks like the teams behind all this may be facing some hardships in the near future due to lack of support, which is made evident in the last sentence of the article's final paragraph. I wonder if there's a way we can contribute, i.e. donations, which I think will be awesome. I attached links to the sites of the orgs that are supporting this endeavor, maybe we should look into seeing what we can do to help them, if not this semester then maybe for fall of 2010.

-J

Redenomination's Aftermath

On November 30th, in an attempt to combat both rising inflation and black-market trading, the North Korean government recalibrated the value of its currency. The ratio of old currency to new currency is 100:1, and 10,000-won can be exchanged for 10-won. Shops in Pyongyang were closed in order to readjust fixed item prices. Since the old currency will no longer be accepted, some also see this change as an attempt to get North Koreans who keep their money at home (because banks are not well-trusted) to bring it out, exchange it, and spend it, therefore stimulating the economy.

Simultaneous crackdown on border control along with redenomination has resulted in increased costs to cross into China. Crossing the border has evolved into a business. Once those who wanted to cross (and who had the money to) could haggle directly with the border guards. But with increased measurements of security, hopeful crossers now hire official brokers who pay the border guards, guides in China, and themselves charge a fee.

For those who do not have the personal privilege to leave the country, they are facing rising rates of starvation. Surprisingly, apparently, "Kim Jong Il handed down a handwritten decree to the chief secretaries of all provinces on January 20 in which it was stated, ‘Preventing anyone from starving to death is your obligation,’" and, that the "Chief Secretaries of Provincial Committees of the Party. . .handed on the threat to their subordinates, warning provincial cadres, 'You will resign if anyone starves to death, because this was a direct instruction from the General'" DailyNK.

I was neither aware that people could willingly cross the border if they had money, nor that the government would ever give aid to the people. Personally, I feel that Kim Jong Il is only giving food aid in order to demonstrate that North Korea, as Matt had put it during Voice of NK, "can make it on its own." It's not that I judge the ideology of a country attempting to be self-sustainable, but I most definitely don't condone their actions to the point that the government is restricting freedom and basic human rights. I also realized that I had only been viewing North Korea from the perspective under which I was first introduced to the situation: the North Korea displayed in "The Crossing." It's not to say that the film wasn't accurate, but it only offered one perspective of North Korea nonrepresentative of the country as a whole, nor of the dynamics of its entire population and the government.

Reality

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/02/north-korea/chang-photography

I can't even imagine going through what each North Korean refugee must endure to seek asylum. 16 hours of walking over a mountain.. crossing the cold river.. searching for food/water... constantly fearing the idea of being caught and sent back to North Korea. The fact that they knew what had to be done in order to escape, and still decided to go, shows how horrific it really must be in the place they should be able to call "home." They continue to fight through the countless hours of walking/running with little to no sleep to claim what should have been theirs from the beginning: Freedom. As I look at pictures of their journey and hear their stories.. it really makes me take a step back and see how I take so many things for granted, especially freedom. "Freedom" has probably been in each of our vocabularies from the start and we never had to think twice about whether we had it or not. And to think, those who have escaped/are escaping were stripped of something that's so natural to us.

It's true that not all of us can go to North Korea and try to help everyone that is in need. But one thing that we can all do right here in the U.S is use this wonderful thing we have called freedom to help those who have been deprived of it. Spread the word about what's going on in North Korea: tell a friend, teacher, parent, the cashier at Schnucks.. whomever. Anyone who's willing to listen, tell them. The more people become aware of the crisis, the stronger our voices will be. Let it not just be a "Korean" or "Activists" issue, but a human being issue. We wouldn't wish what's going on in North Korea on anyone, so why continue to let those, who have to face it every day, suffer any longer?

Be their voice. Pass it on.



oh and, don't forget to vote: http://www.refresheverything.com/link
tell all your friends!!

-jbug4NK

Robert Park

After 43 days in North Korea, Robert Park returned to America this past Saturday (Feb. 6) after the North Korean government released him from their custody. 

For those of you who don't know, Robert Park crossed the Tumen River from China to North Korea, carrying a letter for Kim Jong Il this past Christmas, risking execution. 

No one knows for sure what happened after that, but upon his release, the official Central News Agency in North Korea claims that Park had admitted that he had made a mistake. Supposedly he quotes: "I would not have committed such crime if I had known that the (North) respects the rights of all the people and guarantees their freedom and they enjoy a happy and stable life." He also is quoted saying that he even visited a church in North Korea with complete religious freedom for all. 

Stepping off the plane, Park's face was downcast and he would not respond to any questions. Read the whole article here: Missionary Who Was Held In N. Korea Arrives In US

Until Robert Park himself is able to admit his so-called "mistake" in questioning North Korea's limits of religious freedom, I can't help but to think of his quote in North Korean news as nothing more than propaganda. Even North Korean citizens who have escaped successfully can give first-hand accounts of the horrors they have faced through poverty and famine or having been born and raised in a concentration camp.


So was he brain-washed? Tortured? Put into a concentration camp? No one can really say for sure but even looking at his eerie, shriveled face tells some kind of disturbing story. It makes me wonder... what really happened to Robert Park?

Pepsi Supports "Good Ideas"

The Pepsi Refresh Project composes of 729 businesses and non-profit organizations. Each group believes that they have a good idea that will positively influence the community. Voters across the nation can vote for up to 10 causes everyday, and the top two causes will win $250,000 for their cause. Voting ends on February 28.


LiNK (Liberty in North Korea) is climbing the list at 7th place. I've been tracking their progress and they've moved up at least two rankings everyday. If they win, they will be using the money to help resettle and support North Korean refugees in America.  I really think if LiNK gets the funding, it will take us one step closer to ending the crisis in North Korea. Not only will it help refugees in America, but it will make a statement that Americans care about what's going on there. 


It's a great cause and so easy to click a button everyday. Help LiNK climb to #1 or #2!!!


CLICK HERE!


That's my little plug for the day. Thanks for reading!

North Korean Denim

I recently came across an interesting article entitled "Jeans 'made in North Korea' set to hit store shelves in Sweden" from a Swedish news company, The Local. This article reports that a group of Swedish entrepreneurs are working to produce jeans from North Korea in an attempt to make contact with the isolated nation. These Noko jeans are priced at $226 dollars a piece.

My immediate response was in horror to think that these businessmen are profiting from the worst human rights abuses in the world. How will the North Korean people benefit from this business deal between the Swedes and the NK government? Noko Jeans curt statement, "No, it is not a sweatshop," does not seem very reassuring. At the same time, I just recently spoke with a NK humanitarian who stated that people are using various business ventures to make contact with North Koreans; close proximity to the people enables them to offer direct help, whether emotional, physical, or financial. While I can't help but be skeptical about Noko Jeans, my hope is that their motives are greater than they appear.

On a concluding note, as I read through people's comments to this article, I couldn't help but be impressed. I was happy to see that commenter, Bushido, was so aware of current human rights issues in NK and was able to look at the article critically. It's comforting to know that there is continued discourse on North Korea--not only on nuclear issues, but the human issues that so desperately need to be exposed.