wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Retired pastor helps Korean victims of A-bomb attacks

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8830 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05400
August 4, 2005

Radiating kindness

Retired pastor helps Korean victims of A-bomb attacks in Japan

by Pat Cole

HIROSHIMA, Japan - Sixty years after two atomic-bomb blasts ended World War
II, people are still suffering from the radiation they produced - and not all
of them live in Japan.

	About 20,000 Koreans who were in Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the time
returned to their home country after the war and still live with the effects
of atomic radiation. They have no access to the Japanese physicians who
specialize in treating radiation-related diseases.

	For more than 20 years, the Rev. Shin-Whan Kim, the retired pastor of
Hiroshima Korean Church, has worked to help atomic bomb survivors in Korea
get the medical help they need. 

	Kim is one of the leaders of the Committee for Korean Atomic Bomb
Survivors, a non-profit organization that brings survivors to Japan for
treatment. The Korean group provides transportation and support; the Japanese
government pays for the medical care. 

	Most of the patients are suffering from cancer.

	Kim, 73, grew up in Nagoya, Japan. His parents, like many other
Koreans, were forced to work in Japan in support of the Japanese war machine.
As a middle-school student, Kim saw his city devastated by conventional
bombs. "The one thing that is different in Hiroshima and Nagasaki," he says,
"is the huge number of cancer patients, because of radiation."

	Over the past two decades, more than 500 patients have been brought
to Japan for treatment. While they are there, Kim's organization helps them
stay in touch with their families and brings them meals that remind them of
home. "Normally, patients stay for three months, eating mostly Japanese
food," Kim says. "We prepare Korean meals for them."

	The patients arrive in Japan not only with physical ailments, but
also with anxieties caused by being away from home and living in an alien
culture. "One of my most important ministries is trying to talk with them
about their concerns," Kim says. "My role is listening."

	Kim doesn't want anyone else to suffer the effects of atomic war. "My
hope is that atomic weapons will disappear from the face of the earth," he
says. 

	Kim and other activists in Hiroshima lobby international leaders and
the United Nations to work toward that end. They continue this work despite
knowing that many nations have massive nuclear stockpiles and many others are
seeking nuclear weapons, and that the world is fearful that terrorists may
someday use nuclear arms.

	Kim is not discouraged, however, because his faith is in the Prince
of Peace. 

	"The church has been given the task of making peace," he says. "We
should not be discouraged, because it is Jesus Christ who calls us to be
peacemakers. So we must continue with this important task that's been given
to us by Christ Himself."

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