The first commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind and soul. The second is this- to love your neighbor as thy self. And how deeply we do love ourselves.

Out of love for myself, I do everything to achieve my dreams. I listen to the music I love and read the books that I choose. I travel to places I enjoy and I only go hungry in vain. If there were ever a time when policy jeopardized the survival of not only my body, but also my heart, I would risk everything to escape – because I love myself.

Yet, if helping my neighbor to do the same meant equal risk, would I venture to love?

South Korea boasts everything of a modern, democratically free country. However, less than 100 miles north of the capital city and just beyond the shroud of military protection lays one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world today.

Still plagued by the same agricultural technological inadequacies and doors closed to trade that caused a famine in the 1990s that left an estimated 3 million dead and numerous more malnourished, lack of adequate food is only one of the forces driving North Koreans across the Tumen River and into neighboring China. There is also the factor of ideological, political, religious, and creative persecution – all crimes punishable by imprisonment in any one of the country's numerous work camps where inmates are reported to work up to 18 hours of vigorous labor a day on as little as one meal.

It wasn't until the late 1990s that Choi Young Hyun, a South Korean businessman, came face to face with the suffering of his neighbors. During one of his many business trips to China, Choi met five North Korean refugees – all previously employed as soldiers to the State. After hearing their pains and knowing their hardships, Choi knew that to fully love his neighbors, he must risk himself.

Because China fails to both acknowledge North Koreans as refugees and inhibits the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from providing assistance, North Koreans entering China remain completely vulnerable. The threat of repatriation, and ultimately, the long, intense prison sentences in North Korea, forces the refugees to live clandestine lives. Harboring or even aiding a refugee in any way is a harshly punished crime under Chinese law.

In 1997, when Choi made the decision to build five shelters to protect North Koreans, it was not self-preservation that ruled - it was love. Merely providing the shelters put Choi's safety at great risk, but his love didn't stop there.

Because theoretically all North Koreans are entitled South Korean citizenship under South Korean law, Seoul is an ideal destination for many refugees. Many arrive in Seoul after a two-month long journey by foot through China to either Mongolia or a Southeast Asian country. After arriving, the North Koreans seek assistance from the South Korean embassy.

The dangers and the physical hardship of the lengthy route that leaves some of the more feeble dead or very sick along the way, led Choi to begin exploring alternate plans of escape. Along with a team of humanitarian workers, Choi developed a plan to guide more than 100 refugees from the coast of China to Seoul via two boats.

Despite extensive planning, four hours before the two boats were set to sail on January 18, 2003, Choi received word that his fellow colleagues in the operation had been arrested. Full knowing that if caught, the punishment would be great, Choi was presented the opportunity to ensure his own safety by fleeing. In spite of the risk to his own personal safety, the almost certain repatriation upon arrest of the vulnerable refugees spurred Choi to act as a deterrent for the Chinese police. Unfortunately, the Chinese arrested both Choi and the North Koreans he was trying desperately to protect. Three days later, Chinese officials handed the North Koreans over to Pyongyang.

Within the Chinese prison system, Choi endured immense physical and psychological brutality. Further, he was denied contact with the South Korean government and was even refused a pen to write his wife. At one point, he spent more than eight painstaking hours cutting words from a bible in order to make a one-page letter to send to his family.

For selflessly assisting North Koreans in crisis, Choi spent just a few days shy of four years in prison. After his release in November of 2006, Choi was reunited with his family residing in Seoul. Yet, the suffering he endured to assist the North Koreans has far from stifled his fervency. If anything, his imprisonment, paired with his strongly rooted faith in God have only stirred Choi to continue his work for the refugees.

Choi does not consider himself a hero or a saint, but humbly refers to himself as "one of the brothers, who like you, loves Jesus." Out of love for his neighbor, and more importantly, love for his God, he continues to gladly venture out.


*To learn more about North Koreans in crisis please check out the informative documentary called "Seoul Train" at www.seoultrain.com. To be a voice, sign this petition.