The Rev. Phillip Jun Buck, 68, has been released from prison by the Chinese government and is scheduled to return to his Everett home tonight.
The Korean-American missionary was providing humanitarian aid to North Korean refugees in northeastern China when police arrested him in May 2005. He has been locked inside a cell at a Chinese detention center in Yanji since then.
His plight gained notoriety in this country, particularly among conservative Christian groups that rally against North Korean religious oppression.
Buck’s case was the topic of Congressional testimony on human rights in North Korea and highlighted at a Christian rock festival in Midland, Texas, where President Bush grew up.
The news of Buck’s release brought smiles to parishioners at the predominately Korean-American Bethany Church in Edmonds on Sunday.
Worshipers there have prayed for Buck’s safe return, receiving updates on his situation every Sunday for the past 15 months.
“He’s OK,” Senior Pastor Chang Cheh said after talking with Buck by telephone.
The two men graduated from seminary together in Seoul, South Korea, in 1970, and have both done missionary work in Russia and China.
“He’s very brave,” Cheh said of his colleague of nearly 40 years. “He’s special, he’s unique.”
Buck suffers from sleep and digestive disorders, which his supporters argued would have made imprisonment in China particularly difficult.
Congressman Edward Royce, R-Calif., pointed to Buck’s situation at a subcommittee meeting in April when addressing a special envoy for human rights in North Korea.
“I would like to find out what happened to the pastor,” he said to the American state department official.
Chinese prosecutors charged Buck with illegally trying to smuggle North Korean refugees though China into South Korea. He was convicted in December, but his verdict wasn’t handed down until this month.
He faced up to 20 years in prison, but was instead deported from the country and banned from returning to China.
The refugees who he provided food and shelter for in China had fled starvation and the iron-fisted policies of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il.
To escape, they risked the freezing waters of the Tuman River, which snakes along the Chinese-North Korean border. If caught, they also faced harsh punishment or possibly execution.
The Chinese government has been criticized for sending back to North Korea thousands who have fled famine and other hardships.
Those who manage to avoid Chinese deportation, often face exploitation and abuse, human rights organizations say.
Buck, who fled his home and family in North Korea as a child, never forgot his roots and is trying to give back to his homeland, his youngest daughter Grace Yoon said.
“He’s very passionate about helping North Korean refugees,” she said. “He would just give everything for them.”
Yoon, 30, translates Korean sermons into English at Bethany. Buck’s son, Jamin Yoon, 35, runs its Sunday school.
In addition to building several shelters in China, Buck also ran a noodle factory in North Korea for a year, starting in 1997, Yoon said.
He fed thousands of hungry people there until government officials became suspicious and forced him to leave in 1998, she said.
If anything, being kicked out seemed to further feed his ministry. Yoon said that is when her father decided to regroup in China.
While her father was imprisoned, the family turned down interviews with major television networks and magazines for fear that reports could negatively affect his case.
“We really kept this low profile,” Yoon said. “We were afraid publicity would offend Chinese officials.”
The pastor’s four adult children waged a quiet campaign to persuade Chinese authorities to release their father.
Working with American diplomats they took turns visiting Buck behind bars.
They noticed that he was losing weight, but never really knew how he was being treated, Yoon said.
Every time they visited, government minders stood by. Buck was not permitted to talk about his case, and could only be with visitors in the presence of U.S. consular officials.
Yoon, who went as far as writing the president about her father’s case, said she isn’t sure the work resulted in her father’s release, but is glad he is coming home.
What is she going to do for him when he gets home?
“Feed him,” she said.
David Chirchop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.
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