Fundraiser for Jail, and CO's in Korea

Last night, I attended a fundraiser event for Sangmin, a friend of our community who will be sentenced to jail this week after his trial on Wednesday morning. For those who haven't followed his story, he is South Korea's first Mennonite conscientious objector (CO), and his choice to refuse military service will cost him 18 months in jail. The prison will provide him with one uniform, 2 bars of soap, a toothbrush, and toothpaste, but the rest is up to him. Furthermore, inmates often pool their money to buy snacks to share, foods like ramen and so on. To "get in with the guys" and avoid being a leech, he'll need some money to contribute. If not, he will risk getting stuck with the so-called "3D" duties: dirty, dangerous, and (this one is debated) demanding/difficult/demeaning. So he anticipates needing $200 a month to foster relationships with his cellmates and have a relatively decent quality of life.

At last night's coffeehouse event, Sangmin's friend sang and played guitar, and then they did a duet followed by a Q&A "talkshow." I was impressed by the turnout and by the celebratory atmosphere. There was joking and laughter and picture-taking. And while this has been a really hard journey for Sangmin, costing him his home and even his parents to some degree, he was in good spirits last night and it was encouraging to see so many people supporting him, in presence at least, if not all in philosophy.

It's interesting... today I met another Korean CO, but he won't spend any time in jail. In fact, the government gave him free choice over whether to do military service or not. He chose not to, because if South and North Korea were to actively go to war (they technically are at war now), he would have to fight against his own brothers, his own blood. You may have caught on by now that he is a defector from North Korea, now living in South Korea. I'd like to go into length about his story, and about the documentary that preceded his Q&A session, in my next blog post. But first, is his military predicament really so different from the Christian's? As Christians, do we not consider ourselves brother and sister to Christians all around the world, not to mention that every person is created in God's image, regardless of religion? Then is our problem not the same as the NK defector's--the possibility that we would have to draw arms against our own brothers and sisters, against our own family? I'm struck by the paradox. South Korea, it's time to join other countries in providing alternatives to military service. How long will you persist in holding 96% of the world's imprisoned CO's?