 |
|
At the "Evening of Sharing to Help Storm Victims," held in New York on August 27, participating Koreans living in the U.S. pose for a photo.
|
Events in New York, L.A. raise funds for two Koreas
Members of the Korean community in the United States are joining together to help storm victims in North and South Korea. Koreans in Los Angeles held a fundraising campaign to help North and South Korean storm victims on Friday, and on Saturday approximately 100 Koreans in New York met for an "Evening of Sharing to Help Storm Victims." The first was a street campaign to collect donations and the other was an "evening of sharing," but both demonstrated the ties to homeland felt by Koreans in the U.S.The donation campaign was organized by the Western U.S. Committee to Implement the June 15 Joint Declaration, named after the historic 2000 North-South accord. The event took place in downtown Los Angeles, and Minjok-Tongshin, Naseong Forum, the Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance, and other Korean organizations in the region donated a total of US$2,850. The committee decided to hold similar fundraising events every Saturday for the next three months. "The significance of this is that we are joining together to help storm victims in North and South Korea," said Kim Hyeon-jeong, the organizing committee’s general secretary. "We hope to see it contribute to more active nongovernmental exchange between the two Koreas, as relations have been at a standstill since the recent missile launch." The "evening of sharing" was organized by the New York Regional Committee for the Implementation of the June 15 Joint Declaration and Young Koreans United. The two-hour event featured talks by Moon Dong-hwan, chairman of the U.S. branch of the June 15 committee and Yi Gyeong-no, president of the New York Korean Association. Participants performed songs known in both North and South Korea and took part in a fundraising bazaar in which donated items went up for purchase. "This event will serve as a reminder that overseas Koreans have not forgotten the suffering of the fatherland," said Moon. Yi said that humanitarian reasons "necessitate" that Koreans beyond the Korean peninsula help flood victims in the North and South. Kim Su-bok, who works in the real estate industry in New Jersey, said the two Koreas have to "reconcile without fighting" in order for "our people to keep from losing the opportunity to do great things in the world." He hoped the New York event would be "the fire that inflames passion among overseas Koreans for reconciliation among the Korean people." Donations collected in Los Angeles will be sent to Red Cross Organizations in North and South Korea and proceeds from the "evening of sharing" and other events will be delivered to the North Korean mission to the United Nations in New York.
