FUKUSHIMA, Japan — For years, Chung Hyun-suk, a Korean living in Fukushima, Japan, devoted herself to teaching Korean language and culture, building ties between local residents and her home country. But the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan in 2011 transformed her mission from cultural exchange to disaster relief and, eventually, community welfare. Chung, 65, founded Fukukan Net, a nonprofit organization promoting cultural exchanges, between Korea and Japan in 2001, when opportunities to learn Korean language and culture in Fukushima were limited. The organization thrived amid the first Korean wave in the early 2000s, buoyed by the popularity of the hit drama "Winter Sonata." At its peak, its Korean language program attracted some 400 students, while Chung continued funding much of its activities out of her own pocket alongside her work as a university lecturer. But everything changed on March 11, 2011, when the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami devastated the region. "Every day, refugees flooded in and people were dying from the tsunami, includin