Before I get into the details of our fascinating trip to the DPRK I thought I’d share with you a little about how it all came about. As you might imagine travel to North Korea doesn’t just happen, and this trip wouldn’t have been possible without the dedicated and patient work of two men, Dr. Han Park and Don Mosley.
Dr. Park is a professor of international affairs and the director of the Center for the Study of Global Issues (GLOBIS) at the University of Georgia, in Athens. Dr. Park is trusted by both the US and North Korean governments and, in the absence of formal diplomatic relations between our two countries, serves as a sort of ambassador-at-large. He has been a key player in most of the cultural and media exchanges we’ve had with the DPRK over the past 15 years.
Don Mosley lives just down the road from Athens in Comer, Georgia, at Jubilee Partners, a Christian community he co-founded in 1979, which has become a premier center for recently arrived international refugees. Don is renowned as a peace activist, and has led peace making and humanitarian efforts in Nicaragua, the Middle East and Iraq. He was a driving force in the formation of Habitat for Humanity projects in Nicaragua, Lebanon and Jordan and is dedicated to the cause of peace through positive engagements. Don also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Maylasia and Peace Corps Regional Director in South Korea.
Don and Han began working on this initiative over a year ago, and now, in God’s good time, their efforts have born fruit. We received invitations to come to North Korea in May and our team quickly came together. I had the privilege of traveling in distinguished company. In addition to Dr. Park and Don, our delegation included Kevin O’Donnell, Richard Macintyre and Dr. Scott Angle. Kevin was the founding director of the Peace Corps in South Korea and served as Director of the entire Peace Corps in the early 70’s. Richard is the Chairman of Macintyre Associates, a fund raising organization based in Kennett Square, PA. Dr. Angle is the Dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia.
With our delegation assembled and our invitations in place we began the process of getting to Pyongyang. As there is no DPRK embassy in the US we had to meet in Beijing to get our visas and plane tickets. We did this on Monday, July 14. The process we pretty straightforward—the embassy had the paperwork in order so all we needed were our passports, a visa photo and $100. With our visas in hand we went to the DPRK state airline, Air Koryo, and $436 later had our tickets. We would leave for Pyongyang on Tuesday morning.
[Note—the photo shows our delegation: O’Donnell, me, Angle, Park, Mosley & Macintyre]
Dr. Park is a professor of international affairs and the director of the Center for the Study of Global Issues (GLOBIS) at the University of Georgia, in Athens. Dr. Park is trusted by both the US and North Korean governments and, in the absence of formal diplomatic relations between our two countries, serves as a sort of ambassador-at-large. He has been a key player in most of the cultural and media exchanges we’ve had with the DPRK over the past 15 years.
Don Mosley lives just down the road from Athens in Comer, Georgia, at Jubilee Partners, a Christian community he co-founded in 1979, which has become a premier center for recently arrived international refugees. Don is renowned as a peace activist, and has led peace making and humanitarian efforts in Nicaragua, the Middle East and Iraq. He was a driving force in the formation of Habitat for Humanity projects in Nicaragua, Lebanon and Jordan and is dedicated to the cause of peace through positive engagements. Don also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Maylasia and Peace Corps Regional Director in South Korea.
Don and Han began working on this initiative over a year ago, and now, in God’s good time, their efforts have born fruit. We received invitations to come to North Korea in May and our team quickly came together. I had the privilege of traveling in distinguished company. In addition to Dr. Park and Don, our delegation included Kevin O’Donnell, Richard Macintyre and Dr. Scott Angle. Kevin was the founding director of the Peace Corps in South Korea and served as Director of the entire Peace Corps in the early 70’s. Richard is the Chairman of Macintyre Associates, a fund raising organization based in Kennett Square, PA. Dr. Angle is the Dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia.
With our delegation assembled and our invitations in place we began the process of getting to Pyongyang. As there is no DPRK embassy in the US we had to meet in Beijing to get our visas and plane tickets. We did this on Monday, July 14. The process we pretty straightforward—the embassy had the paperwork in order so all we needed were our passports, a visa photo and $100. With our visas in hand we went to the DPRK state airline, Air Koryo, and $436 later had our tickets. We would leave for Pyongyang on Tuesday morning.
[Note—the photo shows our delegation: O’Donnell, me, Angle, Park, Mosley & Macintyre]
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