Wonhee Lee, February 18, 2008, translation by Greg Scarlatoiu:
The North Korean authorities are undergoing a change in perception regarding the people living with disabilities. North Korea is now no longer reluctant to request assistance for the disabled.
For a long time now, it has been known that it’s impossible to see or meet disabled people on the streets of Pyongyang. Los Angeles-based Shalom Disability Ministries has been distributing wheelchairs to the disabled of North Korea. For a while now, this organization has been telling the world that North Korea is embarrassed to even admit the existence of its disabled, but Shalom representatives have recently told RFA that views on the disabled appear to be changing in the reclusive communist state.
Ms. Kim Hae Young, Shalom missionary: “Initially, one couldn’t see any disabled people in North Korea, and when we said we’d be sending them wheelchairs, they didn’t know exactly what we were talking about, but appeared to be quite happy to receive free assistance. However, the situation appears to have changed.”More…A while back, Ms. Kim Hae Young wanted to meet people with disabilities in North Korea and have face-to-face discussions with them in order to assess their particular needs, but unfortunately was never granted that opportunity.
“A while ago, motor disabled people in North Korea used to make their own wheelchairs out of wood. Back then, I could only see them from a distance, riding their makeshift wheelchairs, while everybody around was refusing to admit their existence… However, that perception on the disabled is changing.”
According to Ms. Kim, North Korea is even beginning to consider welfare for the disabled:
“Rehabilitation centers for the disabled are beginning to appear in North Korea, together with facilities for the elderly. When the North Korean authorities build a rehabilitation center, religious groups such as the Shalom Disability Ministries engage in re-construction to improve these facilities, and also bring in the much needed physical therapy and rehabilitation equipment.”
Moses Park, director of the Shalom Disability Ministries has told RFA that his organization has been sending personal mobility devices including crutches, canes and wheelchairs to North Korea on a yearly basis, so far 15 times.
Mr. Moses Park:
“For us, initially it was impossible to gain access to assess the status and needs of people with disabilities in North Korea, so we had to contact officials of North Korea’s Federation for the Protection of the Disabled. They told us that whatever assistance we sent would be disbursed half to hospitals and half to facilities for the disabled. However, they never granted us access to such facilities, and we didn’t know whether they were reluctant to show them to us because they were in appalling shape, or whether they had other reasons.”
According to Mr. Moses Park, the North Korean Federation for the Protection of the Disabled is very favorable toward the supply of wheelchairs by the Shalom Ministries, and even submits requests for the needed number of wheelchairs:
“Assistance for people with disabilities is now part of social welfare policy in North Korea, and the officials of the North Korean Federation for the Protection of the Disabled have no choice but to accept the assistance that we provide.”
Mr. Moses Park:
“For a while, we had been sending only wheelchairs, but they requested that, rather than wheelchairs only, we should also send assistive devices such as crutches, blind canes and medical walkers… Consequently, we have even provided handcycles for paraplegics, polio patients, disabled traffic accident victims and disabled former military personnel wounded in accidental shootings. A handcycle is a combination of bicycle and wheelchair, a tricycle powered by the arms rather than the legs, ideal for persons with lower body disabilities.
The Shalom Disability Ministries expects to receive another request from the North Korean authorities this year, specifically indicating the type and number of needed personal mobility devices, and is making preparations to adequately meet that request.
“Sooner rather than later, we expect to receive another request from the North Koreans…”
Filed under: East Asia, human_rights, north korea, north_korea, south korea | Tagged: disability, disabled, humanitarian assistance
