wfn.org | Newsline: Sustainable community development in North Korea

[CoBNews <CoBNews@brethren.org>]

Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service, News Director Cheryl Brumbau gh-Cayford, 800-323-8039 ext. 260, cobnews@brethren.org

SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN NORTH KOREA

(Nov. 3, 2009) Elgin, IL -- A presentation on work against hunger in North  Korea was a highlight of reports received at the fall meeting of the Church  of the Brethren's Mission and Ministry Board.

The presentation was given by Pilju Kim Joo of Agglobe Services Internation al and Global Food Crisis Fund manager Howard Royer. Through annual grants  and other efforts, the Church of the Brethren is supporting four farm coope ratives in North Korea, in partnership with Joo's nonprofit agency.

In addition, the church has been invited to help provide faculty to teach a t the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, which has just opened  outside the North Korean capital city Pyongyang. The university is a uniqu e venture made possible through cooperative work by faith-based groups with  the countries of North and South Korea.

Joo emphasized her endebtedness to the Church of the Brethren, which has be en working with Agglobe Services International since 1997. Her wide-ranging  slide presentation encompassed a variety of efforts taking place at the fo ur farm cooperatives where some 15,000 people live, from the testing of new  varieties of crops to providing basic farm equipment to the feeding of orp hans--all under the heading "sustainable community development."

At the conclusion of her presentation, the board rose in a standing ovation  in appreciation for her work.

Go to www.brethren.org/site/PhotoAlbumUser?AlbumID=8999&view=UserAlbum  for a photo album of the farm rehabilitation project in North Korea. Go to  http://www.brethren.org/site/PhotoAlbumUser?AlbumID=9373&view=UserAlbum  for a photo album of the opening of the new university near Pyonyang.

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to continu ing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its faith in  community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith t raditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrated it s 300th anniversary in 2008. It counts some 125,000 members across the Unit ed States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Nigeria,  Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and India.

># # #

>For more information contact:

>Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
>Director of News Services
>Church of the Brethren
>1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120
>800-323-8039 ext. 260
>cobnews@brethren.org