Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Tim Peters and the North Korean Underground Railroad

[Excerpt of an article by Michael Sheridan, Sunday Times]

The hope [of many North Korean refugees in China] is a quiet American missionary called Tim Peters. He is the man who runs what Christians call the “Seoul Train” and it was his emissary I had met in Yanji.

Peters founded Helping Hands Korea, a charity that started out by sending food aid to the north and has graduated to a full-time escape organization. His web of Korean helpers extends across Asia. It is a rare week when one of them is not flying off with bundles of cash and documents.

Peters lobbies diplomats, uses charm and moral pressure on bureaucrats and has testified with fine biblical indignation to the US Congress.

“It’s unconscionable to sit here and do nothing,” he said. “What does the Bible teach us if not that?” Peters, 56, is married to a South Korean and has five children and two grandchildren of his own, a happy life that makes the reports of infanticide all the harder for him to comprehend.

“This is one of the few populations in the world that has been hermetically sealed from the Gospel” is all he can say.

For more on Tim Peters

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