Carter Endorses North Korea Housing Initiative

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The Fuller Center for Housing prepares to send first US volunteer team for groundbreaking build in Pyongyang

Americus, GA, October 5, 2010 — Former President Jimmy Carter this week praised a first-of-its-kind building project that will involve volunteers from the United States building homes side by side with North Koreans.

The Fuller Center, a US-based Christian non-profit organization, has been working with its North Korean partner, the Paektusan Academy of Architecture, since 2008 developing plans for the project.

According to U.S. News & World Report, Carter said: “They’ve already gotten permission from the government of North Korea to come in; they’ve already had a team there to assess the construction possibilities. This has to be a very flexible thing because as you know all of the houses in North Korea are owned by the government,” Carter said. “We’re just thankful that we’ll be able to get some houses built in North Korea for people in need.”

President Carter made his comments during the 27th annual Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project in Washington, D.C. where he is building homes with Habitat for Humanity International. The Founders of Habitat for Humanity, Millard and Linda Fuller, also started The Fuller Center for Housing in 2005.

Fuller Center President David Snell, who just returned from North Korea, says the first group of volunteers is scheduled to travel to Pyongyang in late October or early November. “The team will be led by Don Mosley who, along with Dr. Han Park, helped open the door for this initiative. The team is made up of volunteers who are dedicated to both the building of houses and building of peace,” said Snell.

The Fuller Center plans to build 50 new homes at Osun-Ri in the outskirts of Pyongyang, the capital of the DPRK. The houses will be for farmers working on the tree nursery that surrounds the building site. “We know that what we are doing is considered controversial to some,” says Snell. “The governments of our two countries have been at war for 60 years. But the people of both countries have the same basic hopes – a decent home to raise our families in, a sense of security, and peace. The Fuller Center hopes to be part of that, building peace one house at a time.”

For more information: http://www.fullercenter.org/dprk