BWM Newsletter #2, June 24, 2013

prepared by Sung Suh, professor at PUST and Director of R&D Center at PUST

Dear Friends and Supporters of Brighter World Movement (BWM):

Shalom!

I was able to arrive at PUST (Pyong Yang University of Science and Technology), Pyong Yang,
North Korea in early May, 2013, two months later than initially planned. As you may know, the
spring semester normally begins during the first week of March, similar to those universities in the
U. S.A. or South Korea. I have given the lectures on
Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics during my 4.5-
week stay at PUST; each subject would normally
require at least one full semester to teach; so, it was
indeed an intensive four weeks of learning for me as
well as for the students (See the Picture for my of
Spring 2013).
Positive Changes at PUST, among Students and in
North Korea in General
First of all, I would like to say a few words about the changes occurred/occurring-very positive
changes in my view-that Ive observed during my short tenure of the last three semesters at PUST:
the changes in students attitude towards us-
Professors-; relationships between us (outsiders) and
N. Korean workers and citizens of Pyong Yang; and
the campus guards. When PUST was open in the fall
of 2010, almost every student was stone-faced, formal,
showed very little emotion and practically no
response to our questions; now that has completely
changed in that they are relaxed just like any college
students in other parts of the world; responsive, and
quite happy, open and willing towards us, outsiders (See the contrasts in the two pictures of
students between 2010 and two years later). It is worthwhile to mention that the attitudes
towards us among minders and campus guards have also been dramatically changed, similar to
those of students.

Upon arrival at PUST, the first thing I learned was that
the construction of Hi Chun hydro-electric power
2
Students at the first meeting in 2010
Two Years Later
plant was completed during the fall of 2012; the design capacity of Hi Chun power plant is
supposedly around 300MW, which should supply
around 10% of Pyong Yangs power needs.
Unfortunately, however, the power situation has hardly
improved at all for those living outside of the city of
Pyong Yang as can be seen from Googles satellite
picture of the night scene of Korean peninsula (See
Picture next and also BWM Newsletter #1).

The Funding, Purchase, Delivery of the second round of 500 Solar Lamps

Thanks to many supporters of BWM, we were able to raise enough
funds to purchase more than 1,000 solar lamps (each
costs about $10 per unit from dlightdesign Co.) during
the winter vacation of 2012. In particular, the alumni of
Mechanical Engineering Department, class of 1959, Seoul
National University raised enough funds for more than
400 lamps! We would like to extend our thanks again to
those who generously donated the money and practicing Love Thy
Neighbors as well as to those who showed their continued interests in
helping needy children and families in North Korea.
We placed a purchase order for another 500 units of solar lamps from
dlightdesign Co. of Palo Alto100 of S2 model and 400 of S20 model,
respectively (See Pictures S2, and for S20 Model, respectively). The
lamps arrived on schedule via China Air at Pyong Yang International
airport. PUSTs foreign affairs department helped us to pick them up
and to transport them to PUST R&D Center; thusly, without much ado, the second delivery of
solar lamps accomplished!
Furthermore, the distribution of those lamps to the needy was executed rather smoothly
compared to last years experience; the first batch of 190 units of S20
was sent to Association of Handicap People of North Korea
promptly upon the arrival of the lamps; the distribution was arranged
by Ms. Sue Kinsler (Young Soon Shin in Korean), a missionary who
was responsible for organizing and helping the operations of the
organization (See Pictures next).
The balance of 290 lamps, 200 of S20 model and 90 of S2 model,
respectively, will be delivered to orphans and orphanages in North
Korea by Prof. Sang Hoon Lee of YUST (YanBian University of Science and Technology), who has
been serving in that role for many years at YUST.
The PUST Solar Lamp Design Progresses as Planned aiming at Self-Sustainability
The following is the progress report on the development of PUST solar lamp design. We are very
happy to report that two development engineers assigned to R&D Center turned out to be highly
capable and hard-working, helping our projects immensely. Mr. Hak Min Park, a volunteer, who is
a YUST graduate, led the development efforts; a special
thank is due to him for helping the projects at R&D Center
with unyielding dedication. Within a few weeks of the start
of the PUST lamp project, the two engineers came up with
a design of innovative multi-functional features that would
no doubt be the envy of many lamp manufacturers; the
design is of low cost, yet efficient and sturdy; it has
incorporated a serial hand-phone charging slot even in a
very tight space available on the model, a necessary
constraint to save manufacturing costs (See Picture the initial prototype model). The design is in
the final stage of development as of now; the current plan is to produce 10 prototype samples for
the final design by early October and a pilot assembly of
100 units by early November.
The completion of the project is a major step forward in
accomplishing BWMs self-sustaining mode of operation,
because the future sales of the lamps would generate
significant income needed to push forward with its mission
in North Korea.
The most costly step for the lamp manufacturing is producing and purchasing of a few plastic
injection molds for the product. The molds are expensive to produce; unfortunately it can only be
purchased in China for now but not in North Korea; however, the injection operation itself can be
performed in North Korea to produce lamp body parts once the molds are available. We will
require extra amount of funding supports to purchase the molds in order to accomplish this
critical step!
PUST CO-gas Detector Development to save lives
The second project being pursued at PUST R&D Center is the design/development of an
inexpensive, affordable CO gas detector and its manufacturing. As some of you may know,
North Korean winter is extremely harsh and cold; however, we do not know why but most of
homes are built with electrical space heating systems in North Korea. You know by now what it
means; practically no room heating since there is little electricity available particularly during
winter season. As a consequence, families in North Korea either persevere without heating at all,
or resort to coal burning instead, without
appropriate room ventilation; this results in a
significant number of people getting sick from CO
gas poisoning and even a number of fatalities.
In order to develop CO gas detector unit, Hak Min
brought in a few different types of CO gas detector
chips from China. The engineers designed promptly
a bread-board test sample and tested its
functionality. The design is of low power requirement needing only two 1.5 volt batteries--a huge
advantage where a battery is not only expensive, but not readily available. With this advantage,
the inexpensive detector units can be readily distributed among needy families. The first test of
the model was a resounding success (See Pictures for bread-board model and the red-light in the
second picture, indicating the model working!). The further refinement is being pursued now; ten
units of the first prototype are scheduled to be produced in early September and the first pilot
assembly is slated before the winter set in (See Picture #5-3).
In Closing.

During the winter break, the first version of BWM
website has been developed thanks to those
KUMCSD church members; the site can be visited by
clicking either of: www.brighterworldmovement.org or
www.brighterworldmission.org. There is more work to
be done yet on the site but it is the first version
available. Also, ACEF (Asian Culture and Education Foundation) is set up in order to run BWM as
a non-profit organization. As a result, donors on behalf of BWM can enjoy tax exempt status.

In summary, We are pleased to report that we are witnessing the small steps taken
including above projects begin to yield significant crops; we ask for your continuing
supports and prayers for the success of these efforts.
Let there be light, and there was light (Genesis 1:3). We are dreaming of a dream for
many Einsteins being born and many Steven Jobs being trained under the BWM solar
lamps.
**BWM is one of the Special Projects ACEF (Asia Culture & Education Foundation). ACEF is a
non-profit organization; its website is: Brighterworldmovement.org.
**If you are interested in PUST, please contact ACEF; we will send you a DVD which introduces
PUST in detail. PUST urgently needs professors as well as research workers at its R&D center.