More than 40 years after the end of the Vietnam War, a Korean Buddhist monk has made it his mission to help heal the deep wounds the conflict created between his country and Vietnam. Running thousands of miles to raise funds and demonstrate his solidarity with the people of Vietnam, Venerable Jino has dedicated his life to helping Vietnam and to improving the lives of Vietnamese migrants in South Korea.

To date, Ven. Jino has run some 15,000 kilometers across Cambodia, Ecuador, Germany, Nepal, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam—averaging around 50 kilometers per day—since 2011, and in the process raising about 400 million won (US$358,000).

Expressing a profound sense of remorse for the role the South Korean military played in the conflict—including atrocities committed by Korean troops against Vietnamese civilians—Ven. Jino told The Korea Times: “There are Vietnamese [living in South Korea] who are from the regions that had witnessed Korean soldiers’ atrocities during the war. I reserve a special heart for them.”

Between 1965 and 1973, 312,853 South Korean soldiers fought in the Vietnam War. According to domestic sources, Korean infantry and marines killed an estimated 41,400 North Vietnamese Army soldiers and some 5,000 civilians. Approximately 5,000 South Korean soldiers were killed in the conflict, with many others returning home injured and with ailments caused by exposure to defoliant chemicals such as Agent Orange.

To manifest his efforts, Ven. Jino has been working in cooperation with Making Dreams Come True, a private organization based in the city of Gumi, in North Gyeongsang Province, which provides support for migrant workers in South Korea. But in order to achieve his objectives, Ven Jino has had to go the extra mile—literally, by running charity marathons as a demonstration of his sincerity.

“If I didn’t commit to running and only had words coming out of my mouth to promote my charity mission, that wouldn’t have impressed donors,” Ven. Jino emphasized. (The Korea Times)