|
- Peaceful reunification movement led by women
# Scenes of North Korea in 2003
According to the South Korean government's estimate, the amount
of food needed to feed the North Korean population for the
grain fiscal year of 2003 (Nov. 2002 ~ Oct. 2003) is 6.32
million tons, up 60 thousand tons from last year. North Korea's
total production of grain this year, however, is only 4.13
million tons. Even with the 510 thousand tons provided by
the World Food Planning (WFP) and the 250 thousand tons provided
by the South Korean government, the hunger-stricken country
is still short of about 1.43 million tons.
According to experts, the 3 million residents of North Korea,
having gone without food aid since Fall last year, are in
immediate need of 80 thousand tons of grain. But it is obvious
that the international society, currently embroiled in the
North Korean nuclear drama, will not be rushing to provide
the much-needed food aid. Even South Korean aid cannot be
taken for granted in these times.
UN special envoy Mori Strong set off for Pyongyang from Beijing
to discuss ways to overcome North Korea's "humanitarian
crisis" with the country's officials.
#Scenes of South Korea in 2003
According to government announcements, South Korea's rice
reserves from 2001 amount to 9.89 million seom (a little over
50 million bushels). The estimate as of the end of last year
is about 10 million seom. This means that South Korea has
plenty of rice left, even after sending 3 million seom to
the North in the second half of last year. This is the result
of decades of production increase policies. It costs some
50 billion Won a year to store all this rice. On top of that,
negotiations over rice imports have restarted at the WTO,
fully exposing South Korea's market to rice imports. The Minimum
Market Access volume for rice is going to increase sharply
from this year.
Farmers have long proposed that the surplus rice be sent to
North Korea instead of being left to rot in the South, a proposal
that they believe would bring all-round benefits. The starving
North Koreans will have food to survive on, while the South
Korean farmers will be justly rewarded for their labor instead
of suffering chronic losses from plunging prices due to the
large reserve of rice.
The government, however, has been stingy in sending rice to
the North. The process of deciding to send 3 million seom
of rice in the past was a chaotic ordeal, with opposition
party members accusing the government of sending rice to "feed
the North Korean army."
The Women's News proposes a campaign to send surplus
rice to North Korea, as an effort to rectify the irrational
situation where millions in the North are starving for want
of rice while the South Korean public is having a headache
over more rice than it knows what to do with.
Farmers' associations such as the Korea Farmers' League (president
Chung Hyun Chan) and the Korean Advanced Farmers' Federation
(president Seo Jeong Hee) have been leading a campaign to
send surplus rice to the North since last year. Encouraged
by this, the government sent 3 million seom of rice to the
North in the second half of last year in the form of a loan,
but this falls far short of dealing with the surplus left
in South Korea.
In the current situation where North Korea and the US are
locked in confrontation over nuclear issues, what little food
aid that the US is providing is in danger of being cut off.
It is expected that the food aid provided by international
organizations such as the WFP will also shrink, due to pressure
from the political clout-wielding US.
Recent visitors to North Korea say that the people feel that
receiving rice from the South is the most realistic kind of
help they need, as well as the least injurious to their pride.
Taking this into account, civic groups involved in aiding
the North and women groups leading the peace movement have
geared up to launch the campaign to offer humanitarian aid
to the North once more.
The Association of Civic Groups for Inter-Korean Cooperation
held its New Year meeting on January 15 to discuss ways to
provide aid to North Korea this year.
Participants agreed that "in these times when North Korea's
nuclear developments have isolated it from the international
society and inter-Korean relations is at a standstill, the
biggest victims are none other than the people of North Korea."
They resolved to "continue with aid to the North regardless
of nuclear disputes." And since North Korea is expected
to face worse food shortages than last year, the participants
also agreed to step up publicity to highlight the gravity
of the situation in raising funds.
Women groups have also prepared for this year's peace and
reunification movement in the same vein. At its two-day general
meeting held on January 8, the Korea Women's Association United
(KWAU, co-representative Lee Oh Kyung-Sook) adopted 'activities
to prevent crisis and realize peace on the Korean peninsula'
as one of KWAU's core tasks for this year.
With the goal of strengthening women's capacity in preventing
crisis and realizing peace on the Korean peninsula and of
propagating a feminist peace movement, KWAU is planning to
carry out such activities as calling for food aid to be sent
to North Korea and beefing up peace and reunification education
among KWAU's member groups.
KWAU is also planning activities to maintain the current standard
of humanitarian aid to North Korea and an international anti-war
peace campaign by women to stop war attempts propelled by
American unilateralism.
Regarding such steps, representative Lee Kim Hyun-Sook of
the Women Making Peace says, "It is a timely campaign
and a very welcome development in the current situation on
the Korean peninsula. I hope that the campaign initiated by
The Women's News will revive the public's concern for
North Korea and help to expand the scope of the feminist movement,
which is currently concentrated only on women's issues."
Says representative Lee Kim, "It is the common opinion
of international experts that North Korea is once again facing
a serious food crisis. The weak, such as children, pregnant
women and the elderly, are facing even greater suffering.
It is most urgent that we call the public's attention to these
facts."
Adds Lee Kim, "Sending surplus rice to the North is a
campaign that not only benefits both Koreas, but also holds
great appeal to the public. We will be able to achieve great
results if women took the lead in this campaign."
<reported by Bae Young-hwan ddarijoa@womennews.co.kr>
¢º The Citizens' Open Square in Gwanghwamun,
which has been the venue for the anti-US joint rally in front
of the US Embassy for the past three years, is now filled
with unsightly crowds of riot police due to the police's groundless
announcement to ban rallies in the area. <photograph by
Min Won-ki>
In the midst of heightening public interest regarding the
revision of the SOFA due to the death of two schoolgirls hit
by a US Army armored vehicle, an unusual lawsuit proving that
foreign women working in Korea are also affected by the unfairness
of the SOFA has drawn the attention of the public regarding
its conclusion.
The case is about Robert (pseudonym, aged 30), a serviceman
with the US Forces in Korea, who conned Elena, a 23-year-old
Russian woman, into a relationship with him despite the fact
that he was married. He is also said to have beaten her. Kyungnam
Migrant Workers' Counsel Office recently filed a lawsuit with
the Changwon District Court demanding compensation from Robert,
and also applied for state compensation with the Changwon
District Prosecutors' Office.
Through a statement it issued on January 8, the Counsel Office
explained, "Robert must be held responsible for the mental
and physical suffering that the victim Elena sustained and
for raising the son she bore him, but this is impossible due
to the fact that Robert is an American soldier in Korea protected
by the SOFA. Robert beat Elena in March last year, breaking
one of her front teeth, but the Busan District Prosecutors'
Office merely suspended his indictment."
According to the Counsel Office, Robert met Elena in July
2000 and lied that he was single. They started living together
with marriage in mind, but Robert sent the son that was born
to an orphanage, and then demanded that she come back to him
in March last year, which was when he hit her.
The Counsel Office's Director Lee Chul Seung says, "There's
nowhere we can turn to for comfort, and even if we asked for
help, there is no way to receive compensation due to lack
of legal grounds. The unfair SOFA is infringing on the rights
of not only Korean citizens but foreign women as well. The
SOFA must be revised as soon as possible."
Lee also pointed out, "It is almost impossible for a
victim to receive compensation through a civil lawsuit, because
the US Army is not legally bound to follow Korean court orders
in the process of the provisional seizure of property owned
by American servicemen, since the SOFA only stipulates that
the US army should "render assistance (Article 9)"
in such cases. Lee goes on to explain, "When a member
of the US Army inflicts damage on an employee, there are stipulations
obliging the US Army as the employer to pay for indemnities
should the Korean government decide on the amount and notify
the US Army. But as this has hardly any effect, we have no
choice but to sue the US Army or employer."
Explained section chief Woo Sam Yeol with the Counsel Office,
"When suing the US Army for damages, there are no appropriate
procedures or measures to actually start the legal proceedings,
because the SOFA does not have any stipulations governing
how to send the legal papers to the defendant or employer
or how to guarantee that he will appear in court."
Woo went on to emphasize, "When migrant workers sustain
civil or criminal damages due to the US Army or its dependents,
Korean courts should have jurisdiction over the cases to make
sure that the migrant workers at least have the right to an
attorney. The American serviceman who committed a criminal
violence goes unpunished while the victim does not even have
good chance of receiving compensation. This is something that
can happen to not just Elena but any other Korean national
or foreigner living here."
The Russian Consulate in Busan has stated that it is watching
Elena's case closely, showing that the damages sustained by
migrant women in Korea is not just an issue involving the
two signatories of the Korea-US SOFA.
<reported byShin Ah-Ryeung arshin@womennews.co.kr>
The children's emergency room of the Seoul National University
Hospital.
In this room where just the word "emergency" triggers
a case of nerves lies a newborn, brought into the world by
Filipino migrant worker Velma (aged 28). Covered by a blanket
in a little basket, the infant is so small that the basket
looks empty. Under normal circumstances, the infant should
still have been an eight-month-old fetus in its mother's womb,
but it is lying in the hospital, 1.76kg and 42cm in size.
The tiny hand peeking out of the covers is much too thin.
Lying like a feather in the nurse's arms, its body looks the
size of an adult's arm. The baby's nurse Cho Eun Joo, who
explained that all her tiny patient did was sleep because
of the drugs it was given yesterday, reports proudly, "The
baby's health has improved a great deal. At birth on November
18 last year, it weighed only 900g and had to spend 50 days
in the incubator. It has only just been weaned off the artificial
respiratory machine. At first, it was uncertain whether the
baby would even survive." The nurse gives the baby a
pleased smile, as if proud of the baby for having survived
and regained its health.
¢¸ Velma's baby needs regular check-ups
because of retinal disorders common in premature babies. <photograph
by Min Won-ki>
If the nurse is this proud of the baby, it is easy to imagine
how its parents must be feeling. Velma and her husband are
both migrant workers from the Philippines. Her husband came
to Korea in 1999 in pursuit of the 'Korean Dream,' followed
by Velma in 2001. But both of them are still illegal migrant
workers.
With no access to education or medical services, and their
human rights disregarded on top of that, the couple nevertheless
worked hard at an embroidery factory, waiting patiently for
the day when they earned enough money settle down back in
their homeland. Then along came God's gift to them. But even
that pleasure was short-lived; Velma had to undergo an operation
in her sixth month due to high blood pressure induced by pregnancy.
Two months after the operation, both mother and baby are recovering
from the ordeal, but now the couple has to face the mountain
of hospital bills awaiting them.
As both Velma and her husband are migrant workers, they have
no medical benefits whatsoever. Even the children of such
migrant workers are classified as illegal immigrants and therefore
cannot enjoy any medical benefits. In Velma's case, she can
receive a discount on her baby's hospital bills thanks to
the support of various organizations including Raphael Clinic,
the Migrant Workers' Medical Mutual Fund, Hamchun Sponsor
Society, and the Philippines Community. But she still needs
to pay the hospital some 20 million Won. It goes without saying
that other children of migrant workers, whose existence is
not even counted in official statistics, do not have any health
rights. Kwon Hyun Ju, executive secretary at Raphael Clinic,
called on the government to provide active support for these
children, pointing out, "I saw four babies in need of
intensive care like Velma's just last year. The Korean women
who went to Germany in the 60s and 70s to work as nurses were
at least provided medical insurance and social security, and
it would be a wretched state of affairs if these innocent
children aren't even allowed medical benefits."
Says Secretary-General Kim Mi Seon of the Migrant Workers'
Medical Mutual Fund, "Although the Fund is widely known,
only about 12 thousand of the 280 thousand migrant workers
in Korea are receiving medical benefits as members of the
Fund. It is difficult to even do a proper survey on the health
of the migrant workers' children." The Fund is planning
to focus especially on the health of migrant workers' children
this year, providing them with medical checkups and so on.
The plan is a reflection of the urgent need to protect the
children's rights to health.
<reported by Dong Sung-hye dong@womennews.co.kr>
¡Ø Velma is very short on funds to pay for her baby's hospital
bills. She is in need of warmth and generosity. We would be
grateful for any donations to the following bank accounts.
Please state "Velma" along with your name when making
your donation. Kookmin Bank 031-21-0674-799, or Woori Bank
058-146810-02-201, both accounts are in the name of Kim Jeon.
(The Women's News http://www.womennews.co.kr)
|
