South Jeolla Province campaigns to nominate two Austrian nurses for Nobel Peace Prize

Nurses Margaritha Pissarek and Marianne Stoeger care for a Hansen’s disease patient at the Sorok Island Hospital. (provided by Ministry of Justice)

The “Sorok Island Angels” worked for four decades to care for Hansen’s disease patients

A campaign is under way in South Korea to nominate the “Sorok Island Angels” for the Nobel Peace Prize. The government of South Jeolla Province announced on Nov. 21 that it was launched a “pan-national committee to pursue Nobel Peace Prize nominations for Austrian nurses Marianne Stoeger, 83, and Margaritha Pissarek, 82, who practiced their love for humanity [caring for Hansen’s disease patients] on Sorok Island in Goheung.”

The committee’s launch ceremony is to take place at 12 pm on Nov. 13 at Conference House Dalgaebi in Seoul’s Central district. The event is to include a progress report by Father Kim Yeon-jun of Sorok Island Cathedral, followed by a screening of videos of Stoeger and Pissarek’s activities, a committee member appointment ceremony, and round table discussion.

The committee is to consist of around 40 members, with former Prime Minister Hwang-sik serving as chairperson and representatives included from the political, government, business, academic, legal, financial, social welfare, healthcare, volunteering, and overseas Korean communities. Their role is to promote support for the nomination and serve as promotional ambassadors at home and abroad.

In June, the provincial government launched a team headed by Vice Governor for State Affairs Woo Ki-jong to work with Goheung County and the Marianne & Margaritha Association to recruit committee members and engage in promotional activities. The committee plans to recommend the two nurses’ nomination to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Norway next January. Ahead of the recommendation, it plans to carry out a national signature campaign and promote the nominations overseas to enlist international support.

Graduates of a nursing school in Innsbruck, Stoeger and Pissarek came to South Korea in 1962 and 1966, respectively, and spent the next four decades volunteering to care for Hansen’s disease patients on Sorok Island. They returned to Austria in Nov. 2005, leaving behind only a note saying that their advanced age was becoming a burden for others. Their return resulted in new attention to their lifelong dedication to the eradication of Hansen’s disease and human rights for Hansen’s patients, promoting calls in Goheung and South Jeolla to nominate them as Nobel Peace Prize candidates.

By Ahn Kwan-ok, staff reporter

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