Catholic and Buddhist religious bodies in Korea are joining together to conduct awareness campaigns. (image: Life Share Agency)
SEOUL, Feb. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — A multitude of Korean religious bodies have started various campaigns to spread the culture of organ donation among Koreans.
There was a dramatic increase, in 2009, of individuals submitting their wish to donate their organs to Catholic NGO One-Body One-Spirit Movement’s organ donation program, according to One-Body One-Spirit’s report on February 19. In 2009, Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, former Archbishop of Seoul, inspired Koreans right up to his final moments by leaving his corneas to two people.
The number of submitters in 2009 was 31,706, while the number in 2008 was only 2,809. However, the number decreased to 29,570 in 2010 and 14,676 in 2011. The number dropped to 7,238 last year, while the number of individuals on transplantation wait lists grew from 2,840 in 2000 to 20,151 in 2014.
To reverse this trend, Catholic and Buddhist religious bodies in Korea are joining together to conduct awareness campaigns.
The Korean Catholic Organ Donation Network and One-Body One-Spirit jointly started a campaign for organ donation on February 18, while the Buddhist organization Life Share Agency (SaengMyeongNaNeum) is also conducting a campaign to attract 1,000 Buddhist monks as future organ donors for this year.
The number of people who submitted their wish to be an organ donor to the agency has reached 6,420 since 1994.
By M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
