North-South tensions could be a death sentence for 1,500 TB patients

Relations between Seoul and Pyongyang are at the worst level since the division of the Korean peninsula. North Korea’s military provocations and South Korea’s blind intolerance have ended all dialogue. North Korean citizens, especially the most vulnerable, are paying the price. Hundreds of TB patients cannot receive the treatment provided by a Christian NGO because drug shipments are no longer authorised. This could end in large-scale loss of life.

Seoul (AsiaNews) – North Korea’s military provocations and the blind intolerance of South Korea’s rightwing government are a death sentence for hundreds of North Koreans suffering from tuberculosis.

With intra-Korean relations worsening, every channel of dialogue has been shut down. Seoul in fact seems to have decided not to grant the Eugene Bell Foundation permission to send its regular shipment of drugs to North Korean sanatoriums. Approximately 1,500 patients helped by the NGO are at risk of seeing their treatment interrupted, possibly placing them in a situation where they can infect their family and die.

One of the volunteers who works for the Foundation told AsiaNews that the situation is desperate. “The most vulnerable part of the civilian population will pay for the confrontation between the two governments. We could become the helpless spectators to a meaningless and preventable massacre, motivated only by politics. It is true that the situation in Korea is tense, but certainly not to the point that they can condemn to death the sick with impunity in the name of intransigence."

Tensions between the two Koreas broke out in early February with a series of military provocations that led to the closure of the intra-Korean Kaesŏng industrial complex.

Along with Mount Kumgang tours, the hotline line and the Panmunjom "peace village", the complex was for years one of the few bridges between the two Koreas. Despite seesawing relations, this is the first time that all points of contact have been shut down simultaneously.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s rightwing government made it clear that it would not allow any exchanges, including humanitarian aid, until Pyongyang gives up its nuclear and missile programmes. It has therefore blocked the shipment of drugs to the North provided on a regular basis for the past 20 years by the Eugene Bell Foundation.

The Foundation's work is twofold. On one hand, it supplies drugs to TB patients for long-term treatment; on the other, it runs various facilities for the most serious cases.

“The Foundation runs 11 facilities at present,” Fr Gerard Hammond told AsiaNews. “However, the government has given us the opportunity to build five more. Each can accommodate up to 20 TB patients," said the missionary who has dedicated his life to Korea.

Fr Hammond, who is the regional superior of the Maryknoll missionaries, has worked with North Korea for about 25 years, and has made more than 50 trips to that country. In 2014, he was granted South Korean citizenship, a rare honour for a Westerner, precisely because of his humanitarian work and Catholic commitment.

The Eugene Bell Foundation too has a long history of providing aid to North Korea. Founded in 1995 by Stephen Linton, it sends a delegation twice a year (recently thrice) to visit certain areas of North Korea.

Various priests join Fr Hammond in the delegation. "We do not hide and do not cheat anyone. I celebrate Mass in North Korea, albeit inside the Polish Embassy, ​​but always informing the [North Korean] government."

North Korea has a population of 22 million people, half of whom live below the poverty line. “Tuberculosis,” Fr Hammond explained, "is spread through the air and affects those who suffer from malnutrition or overall physical weakness. We are trying to do everything possible to stop the disease from spreading."

Seoul’s veto could jeopardise all these efforts. In addition to the immediate calamity for patients under treatment, the climate of trust and collaboration that the Foundation and its members have built through hard work in recent decades with the Pyongyang government could be shattered.

• korea
• south
• north
• tuberculosis
• eugene bell foundation
• tensions