A Crack in the Wall…

A year and a half ago, U.S. citizens were forced to leave North Korea as the U.S. Department of States issued a Geographic Travel Restriction to the DPRK. Initially, Special Validation Passports were issued for a limited number of humanitarian organizations to continue their life-saving work inside the country.

But with the increase in sanctions on North Korea, every month humanitarian work became more difficult to continue. The sanctions on metal restricted even medical equipment such as essential needles, rehabilitation equipment, and lab diagnostics from entering the country. Finally, humanitarian workers, themselves, were temporarily denied Special Validation Passports to enter the DPRK.

However, in the midst of these trying times, a crack has opened in this wall to North Korea. A few humanitarian organizations have been able to resume their work inside the country. In addition, European and a few U.S.-based NGOs have received permission from the UN to transport desperately needed medical equipment for the treatment of tuberculosis and nutritional deficiencies in North Korea (read the article here).

And this turn of events is just in time to celebrate the national month for cerebral palsy. For the past seven years, my husband and I have been serving children with cerebral palsy in North Korea.

Blessing was the daughter of an official we met in the economic zone. Like most disabled children in North Korea, Blessing was kept secretly at home. The official’s closest friends did not even know that his daughter existed. At the age of four, she could not walk, stand, or even sit-up.

Blessing came from her province several days journey away to be treated at our hospital. She was one of the first pediatric patients of her kind to be admitted to the hospital in Pyongyang. As other families in the hospital observed Blessing getting a little better each day, they began to think of other children who were hidden away in their own villages and towns whom they knew. Soon the parents in the hospital started to call friends and family back home. Not even a month went by before mothers and their disabled children began to line up outside the hospital for treatment.

Blessing’s story is just one example of a child with cerebral palsy in North Korea. Seeing the positive impact of the Pyongyang hospital’s successful treatment of children with cerebral palsy, the North Korean Department of Public Health is now working to establish Pediatric Rehabilitation Centers in all ten provincial hospitals. Doctors are also being trained in treatment methodologies at the Pyongyang Medical School Hospital. The government has ensured the development of this specialty in all 11 medical schools and children’s provincial hospitals in the country by signing an agreement with our organization, Ignis Community.

With current negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea at a stand-still, it is imperative that humanitarian work continues. Children’s lives depend upon outside medical expertise and equipment. Regardless of our political differences, our hope is that this crack continues to widen. Positive change inside the country begins with us. It is our dream that someday all children like Blessing will have the appropriate medical care and attention that they deserve.