Quiet Christianity

The South Korean government is discouraging such ambitious projects, at least by example, because of the difficulties in supplying such facilities once they've been completed. The health ministry in Seoul, smarting from unsuccessful attempts in the past to stock North Korean hospitals directly, now provides a modest $1 million worth of medical materials to the north annually. Two years ago it began supporting a hospital on Mount Kumkang, a popular destination for South Korean tourists. Doctors from the South regularly visit the hospital to treat patients alongside local physicians, who can then benefit from their southern counterparts' expertise. "We focus on treating patients, not building hospitals," says an official involved in the Mount Kumkang program.

What the north really needs, say officials in Seoul, is small-scale clinics and medicine for needy people, both in and outside Pyongyang, rather than big hospitals that can benefit only the elites. The average surgery at the Rev. Cho's hospital, they point out, will cost $3,000 in a country with a per capita income of $760. But given how hard it is to operate outside Pyongyang, South Korean aid groups seem quite content to busy themselves in the big city.

© 2008