North Korean famine
In 1997, he expanded his ministry to North Korea as well, founding a noodle factory at Sun Bong Goon during the North Korean famine. Raising money in the US, he established a network of shelters for North Korean refugees within China, compared by "Time" magazine to the US Underground Railroad. In 2002, he avoided arrest by chance after an informant gained entry to one of his safe houses, leading to a police raid; Buck happened to be out of the country. He then gave up his birth name and legally changed his name to Phillip Buck so that he could return undetected.