wfn.org | Re: United Methodist Daily News note 440

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Reply-to: owner-umethnews@ecunet.org (United Methodist News list)
"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (449
notes).

Note 449 by UMNS on Nov. 10, 1997 at 16:49 Eastern (11552 characters).

TITLE:	Korean-American Church Women Study Issues

CONTACT:  Joretta Purdue  	637(10-71B){442}
		Washington, D.C.  (202) 546-8722  	Nov. 10, 1997

Korean-American United Methodist Women
study legislative issues in capital

	WASHINGTON (UMNS) -- Six women drove more than 1,400 miles from Killeen,
Texas, to attend the first Korean-American United Methodist Women's Washington
Seminar.
	They were part of the 101 who gathered from across the country for the Nov.
5-8 event at Capitol Hill United Methodist Church to learn more about national
issues and advocacy.
	All had been born and all but one educated in Korea. The group included
doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs and others.
	"Koreans are more visible" now, said Chong Suk Ditgen of St. Luke United
Methodist Church, Killeen. "We have a lot of things to do. We can speak up. We
are here [in the United States] and proud of it."
	Sung Nichols, a leader in the Killeen group, said she and the others had come
to learn better ways to respond to issues facing the community and the
country. "UMW teaches a lot," she declared.
	The Texans met with Rep. Chet Edwards, a fellow United Methodist, who
extended the time allowed for their meeting so that he could learn more about
their concerns, including the cost of applying for citizenship, and unity
between North and South Korea.
	Hye Kwong Lee, one of four women from the Korean United Methodist Church in
Austin, Texas, said this was her first opportunity to get involved with United
Methodist Women from other states. She learned, she said, that their problems
were almost the same -- issues related to equal rights, language, welfare and
immigration.
	Chung Ja Chun of Los Angeles said, "We already knew about hunger in North
Korea, but, of course, we learned more."
	She added that she found the Bible study by Peggy Billings, retired
missionary and former Board of Global Ministries executive, helpful in
applying Bible teaching to present political situations.
	Uni J. Galarza, one of six women from Tampa, Fla., was also concerned with
famine in North Korea. She wants to see Korean-Americans providing more help
because of their common heritage. The group of women took up an offering for
that purpose during the seminar, she reported.
	Galarza also expressed concern with land mines in the Korean Demilitarized
Zone (DMZ).
	Jung Ja Chun from First Korean United Methodist Church in Chicago was
particularly glad to learn more about voting and the political process, she
said.
	Yong Ok Park, a resident of Nassau County, N.Y., remarked that she thought
the seminar was "really great." She said there were a lot of senior citizens
in New York who are worried about what is going to happen to them as a result
of the immigration law changes.
	"We want to help, but we didn't have the right information," she added.
	Peggy Billings, in reviewing the historical involvement of the United
Methodist Church and its agencies, noted that the first legislative seminar of
what is now the Women's Division was held in Washington in 1946.
	"These days partisan feeling is very strong," she told the women with the
help of an interpreter. She emphasized, however, that neither the Women's
Division nor any other agency of the church takes a partisan position. 
	The Women's Division, Board of Church and Society and the United Methodist
Church "have had remarkable relations with both parties," she said. Some
politicians will have positions that are closer than others to the United
Methodist position, she explained, but the church's efforts are
issue-oriented.
	In a session held in one of the House office buildings, the women heard a
first-hand account of a recent visit to North Vietnam by Deborah DeYoung who
had accompanied Tony Hall (D-Ohio) on his third visit to North Korea. It was
her second trip there.
	She noted that much had changed in the year and a half since her first visit.
This time the Americans were being thanked for their help. On the earlier
visit, they had been insulted and shunned, she said.
	She reported observing extreme shortages of food and medicine. There was
something growing in every open space, she said. Pharmacies have only herbs
for medicine, and they are growing these themselves, she said.
	Trees, except in the mountains, have been stripped for leaves or bark for
food. In one area she reported seeing no chickens, cats, dogs or even a rat --
only one decrepit ox that looked like something out of a medieval print.
	Children under the age of 7 are getting whatever food becomes available, but
in an orphanage of 198 children, one in five is expected to die. Two-thirds of
the children were 1-4 years of age, and one-third of them had been abandoned
by families who could not feed them in the wake of a reported ban on
contraception and abortion, she said.
	She also commented that individuals over the age of 7 or who did not live in
the flood area were without aid and facing a desperate situation with the
approach of winter.
	Young Chun, a senior policy advisor with the Korean American Sharing
Movement, begun in February of this year, reported shipments of corn and
fertilizer to North Korean through a variety of humanitarian agencies and in
direct relief efforts.
	"This is a humanitarian movement, saving the real lives of millions of people
without any strings attached," Chun said. He cited estimates of one million
dead since this famine began in 1995 and spoke of birth abnormalities
resulting from malnourishment. 
	Anna Rhee, Women's Division executive secretary for public policy who had
organized the seminar, led the group in an overview of Congress and the
legislative process.
	Other speakers addressed immigration reform and its impact on the
Korean-American community and welfare reform and its impact.
	# # #

TITLE:	Korean-American Church Women Study Issues

CONTACT:  Joretta Purdue  	637(10-71B){442}
		Washington, D.C.  (202) 546-8722  	Nov. 10, 1997

Korean-American United Methodist Women
study legislative issues in capital

	WASHINGTON (UMNS) -- Six women drove more than 1,400 miles from Killeen,
Texas, to attend the first Korean-American United Methodist Women's Washington
Seminar.
	They were part of the 101 who gathered from across the country for the Nov.
5-8 event at Capitol Hill United Methodist Church to learn more about national
issues and advocacy.
	All had been born and all but one educated in Korea. The group included
doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs and others.
	"Koreans are more visible" now, said Chong Suk Ditgen of St. Luke United
Methodist Church, Killeen. "We have a lot of things to do. We can speak up. We
are here [in the United States] and proud of it."
	Sung Nichols, a leader in the Killeen group, said she and the others had come
to learn better ways to respond to issues facing the community and the
country. "UMW teaches a lot," she declared.
	The Texans met with Rep. Chet Edwards, a fellow United Methodist, who
extended the time allowed for their meeting so that he could learn more about
their concerns, including the cost of applying for citizenship, and unity
between North and South Korea.
	Hye Kwong Lee, one of four women from the Korean United Methodist Church in
Austin, Texas, said this was her first opportunity to get involved with United
Methodist Women from other states. She learned, she said, that their problems
were almost the same -- issues related to equal rights, language, welfare and
immigration.
	Chung Ja Chun of Los Angeles said, "We already knew about hunger in North
Korea, but, of course, we learned more."
	She added that she found the Bible study by Peggy Billings, retired
missionary and former Board of Global Ministries executive, helpful in
applying Bible teaching to present political situations.
	Uni J. Galarza, one of six women from Tampa, Fla., was also concerned with
famine in North Korea. She wants to see Korean-Americans providing more help
because of their common heritage. The group of women took up an offering for
that purpose during the seminar, she reported.
	Galarza also expressed concern with land mines in the Korean Demilitarized
Zone (DMZ).
	Jung Ja Chun from First Korean United Methodist Church in Chicago was
particularly glad to learn more about voting and the political process, she
said.
	Yong Ok Park, a resident of Nassau County, N.Y., remarked that she thought
the seminar was "really great." She said there were a lot of senior citizens
in New York who are worried about what is going to happen to them as a result
of the immigration law changes.
	"We want to help, but we didn't have the right information," she added.
	Peggy Billings, in reviewing the historical involvement of the United
Methodist Church and its agencies, noted that the first legislative seminar of
what is now the Women's Division was held in Washington in 1946.
	"These days partisan feeling is very strong," she told the women with the
help of an interpreter. She emphasized, however, that neither the Women's
Division nor any other agency of the church takes a partisan position. 
	The Women's Division, Board of Church and Society and the United Methodist
Church "have had remarkable relations with both parties," she said. Some
politicians will have positions that are closer than others to the United
Methodist position, she explained, but the church's efforts are
issue-oriented.
	In a session held in one of the House office buildings, the women heard a
first-hand account of a recent visit to North Vietnam by Deborah DeYoung who
had accompanied Tony Hall (D-Ohio) on his third visit to North Korea. It was
her second trip there.
	She noted that much had changed in the year and a half since her first visit.
This time the Americans were being thanked for their help. On the earlier
visit, they had been insulted and shunned, she said.
	She reported observing extreme shortages of food and medicine. There was
something growing in every open space, she said. Pharmacies have only herbs
for medicine, and they are growing these themselves, she said.
	Trees, except in the mountains, have been stripped for leaves or bark for
food. In one area she reported seeing no chickens, cats, dogs or even a rat --
only one decrepit ox that looked like something out of a medieval print.
	Children under the age of 7 are getting whatever food becomes available, but
in an orphanage of 198 children, one in five is expected to die. Two-thirds of
the children were 1-4 years of age, and one-third of them had been abandoned
by families who could not feed them in the wake of a reported ban on
contraception and abortion, she said.
	She also commented that individuals over the age of 7 or who did not live in
the flood area were without aid and facing a desperate situation with the
approach of winter.
	Young Chun, a senior policy advisor with the Korean American Sharing
Movement, begun in February of this year, reported shipments of corn and
fertilizer to North Korean through a variety of humanitarian agencies and in
direct relief efforts.
	"This is a humanitarian movement, saving the real lives of millions of people
without any strings attached," Chun said. He cited estimates of one million
dead since this famine began in 1995 and spoke of birth abnormalities
resulting from malnourishment. 
	Anna Rhee, Women's Division executive secretary for public policy who had
organized the seminar, led the group in an overview of Congress and the
legislative process.
	Other speakers addressed immigration reform and its impact on the
Korean-American community and welfare reform and its impact.
	# # #

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