Stephen Winn Linton

Dr. Stephen Linton (born 1950) is a humanitarian and an expert on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). He has visited North Korea over 50 times since 1979 and twice met the country's late president, Kim Il-sung, as an advisor and translator to the Rev. Billy Graham.

He is also the founder and chairman of the Eugene Bell Foundation, which provides medical humanitarian assistance to rural North Korea. Focusing on tuberculosis, the foundation currently sponsors over 40 hospitals responsible for 1/3 of the country's population.

Currently a research associate at Harvard University's Korea Institute, Linton was formerly a professor at Columbia University and a director of its Center for Korean Research.

Linton was raised in rural South Korea (Cholla-nam-do Province) as the son of a prominent family of missionaries to Korea. His father, Hugh Linton, established over 200 churches in rural Korea and his mother, Betty Linton, served 40 years as director of the Soonchun Christian Tuberculosis Rehabilitation Center. His brother, John Linton, is the director of International Healthcare Center of Yonsei University in Seoul.

External links

* [http://www.eugenebell.org Eugene Bell Foundation]
* [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=515382 Expert: North Korean Regime Sturdy] "The Harvard Crimson" October 31, 2006
* [http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=4252 America's Korea Policy Needs an Overhaul] "Yale Global 2004"
* [http://www.senate.gov/~foreign/testimony/2003/LintonTestimony030605.pdf Testimony Before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee] "June 5, 2003"
* [http://www.uscirf.gov/events/hearings/2002/january/01242002_lintonPT.html Promoting Religious Freedom in North Korea] "January 24, 2002 Testimony Before the US Commission on International Religious Freedom"