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North Korea warned foreigners to leave South Korea because ‘the two countries are on the brink of war’. Observers say this is mostly bluster to bolster Kim Jong Un’s image. However America's allies are taking precautions. Japan has deployed two interceptor missiles capable of engaging a North Korean rocket. North Korea founds its historical legitimacy on its ferocious animosity against U.S. imperialism and is what makes the current moment so dangerous. - SPIRITUAL INSIGHTS reveal that North Korea has deep political roots going back much further than 1945. Wedged awkwardly between China, Russia and Japan, the Korean Peninsula has long been a bloody battleground for greater powers. Korean rulers only managed to survive by playing one foreign power off against the other and by offering subservience, mainly to Chinese emperors, in exchange for protection. This legacy has nurtured a passionate fear and loathing of dependency on stronger countries.
Pray: that North Korea will turn from the state religion of Juche (Ps.4:2-3) Pray also against an all-out holy war on the west. (Ps.4:8)
More: http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/April/N-Korea-Warns-Tourists-to-Evacuate-South-Korea/
200,000+ North Koreans, including many Christians suffer brutal conditions in labour camps for political prisoners. Camp 14 is known as a ‘complete control district,’ meaning its 50,000 prisoners will work there until death. Camp 22 also holds 50,000 is the size of Los Angeles and thought to be used for human experiments. Camp 25 holds felons, religious leaders, spies and their families, and is controlled by the secret police. Very few survive a labour camp. The average sentence is 15 years, the average labour camp life expectancy is seven years. Up to three generations of entire families have been detained in government efforts to ‘root out class enemies.’ Christian workers along the border and inside the country face the continual threat of arrest and the subsequent consequences. Yet additional workers are in training for this dangerous work. Voice of the Martyrs request prayer for North Koreans, their team of workers and the North Korean underground church.
Pray: that God will guard the hearts of North Korean Christians and mission workers.(Ps.17:8,9)
More: http://www.salem-news.com/articles/june152012/korea-religion-pk.php
The North Korean attack against a South Korean island on 23 November is being called ‘one of the most serious incidents between the two nations since the Korean War.’ It was North Korea's third major provocative action this year. China has called for an emergency meeting of the six countries involved in talks about the North's nuclear disarmament. But South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said he was not interested in resuming the six-party talks immediately, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.See: Western observers learned that North Korea has a modern uranium enrichment facility with at least 1,000 centrifuges - potentially offering Pyongyang [the capital of North Korea] another route to nuclear power. Observers speculate hostility may be an attempt to manufacture North Korean victories ahead of the exchange of power from Kim Jong-Il to his son, Kim Jong-Un. North Korea is number one on the Open Doors World Watch List 2010. Pray: for the Lord to intervene in this conflict, establishing and maintaining peace. (Ps.37:37) More: http://www.win1040.com/post.php?id=917
Aijalon Mahli Gomes, a 30-year-old American sentenced to eight years in a labour camp for illegally entering North Korea, was hospitalised after a suicide attempt. Officials claim he was motivated to kill himself out of ‘his strong guilty conscience’ and ‘his frustration’ with the US government’s effort to set him free. Gomes, a devout Christian, was captured after crossing into reclusive North Korea from China on Jan. 25th and sentenced in April to eight years hard labour and fined about $700,000, for ‘hostile acts’ against the country. In June, North Korea threatened to impose harsher punishment (wartime law) in retaliation to America’s ‘campaign’ of international pressure following the sinking of a South Korean warship in March. Prior to entering North Korea, Gomes was an English teacher in South Korea, and protested for the release of another Christian who illegally entered North Korea to urge leader Kim Jong-il to repent. After more than six months, it is still unclear what Gomes’ motivation is for entering North Korea. Pray: for the Lord to strengthen Aijalon as only He can and for many advocates to obtain his speedy release. (Lk.21:19) More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/us.christian.attempts.suicide.in.north.korean.jail/26267.htm
On Thursday AFP reported Hwang Jang-Yop, the highest-ranking official ever to defect from North Korea is calling for ‘ideological warfare’ against the hard-line regime and says China could easily bring it down if it chose to. Jang-Yop, who is at the top of North Korean agents' hit-list, is paying a tightly guarded visit to Washington as he seeks support from US policymakers and activists against his former government.The 87-year-old mentored leader Kim Jong-Il, presided over North Korea's parliament and is credited with developing the regime's ideology of ‘juche,’ or self-reliance. Speaking on Wednesday to a small audience at a think-tank, Jang-Yop discounted the options either of attacking or engaging Kim's regime and said it was instead crucial to show North Koreans the human rights violations around them. For insights from sensitive Christian sources to help you pray for North Korea click the info button below.
Pray: for God to give Jang-Yop the words that would be heard around the world to bring a colossal nonviolent turnaround of regime in North Korea. (Is.41:2)
The Panorama program reporting on North Korea this week showed poverty and greyness - a bottling factory with no bottling going on; a collective farm with no crops or animals; a smart new hospital with no patients ; but most of this is already known. Real insights come from escapees over the border in South Korea and from experts and analysts. North Korea is a secretive, dangerous place, with brainwashed people - often in the dark because the lights don't work. What we don’t hear in the media is the 200,000+ North Korean citizens, including many of our Christian brothers and sisters, suffering under brutal conditions in six confirmed labour camps for political prisoners. Three examples are:- Camp 14 - where 50,000 prisoners will work until death. Camp 22 - the size of Los Angeles used for human experiments. It also holds about 50,000 prisoners. Camp 25 - controlled by secret police and believed to hold felons, religious leaders and spies and their families. Very few North Koreans survive detention camps. See: http://www.salem-news.com/articles/june152012/korea-religion-pk.php
Pray: for God in His mercy to touch the lives of North Korean people, for His protection to be over believers and God's workers in the underground church. (Ps.64:9-10)
More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2013/apr/15/panorama-inside-north-korea-review
‘Seoul USA’ has launched balloons filled with Bibles and Christian literature into North Korea for 40 years. In April they began attaching GPS tracking devices to the balloons to refine their effectiveness. Seven days after the first GPS tracking launch North Korea began blocking GPS signals from South Korea. Jamming disrupts passenger air flights and ships. The jamming signals are coming from somewhere near the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas. This is precisely the area where Seoul USA's payloads have been shown to land. The jamming reveals just how concerned North Korea is over the balloon launches. North Korea doesn't fear military might. Economic sanctions don't slow them down. The economic situation in N Korea is dire, for internal reasons apart from external sanctions But the spread of the gospel is a direct and serious challenge to the message that Kim Il Sung is god and deserves the unquestioned allegiance of the people. To halt the spread of that message it seems that North Korea will stop at nothing.
Pray: for a softening of hearts and minds of North Koreans to God’s truth; may now be the season of fruitfulness from this 40 year ministry. This may be one peripheral form of Christian witness to N Koreans, but there are many more effective ones, not least from Yonggi Cho's Church (Ps.95:7b-8)
More: http://vomcblog.blogspot.co.uk/
Open Doors has confirmed the death of two Christians in North Korea. According toOpen Doors the ministry one Christian was recently shot while he was on his way back to China for Bible training. The other died in one of North Korea's notorious labour camps. The first North Korean became interested in the Christian faith and after studying the Bible he became a believer. He eventually chose to return to North Korea. ‘He wanted to come back to China to study the Bible more' says an Open Doors worker. It is heartbreaking that he was killed’. The other Christian recently died in a labour camp. This man also studied the Bible in China. After eight months he decided to return to North Korea. According to Open Doors, he became a dedicated and faithful Christian. However, North Korean authorities found out about his secret faith and he was sent to labour camp.
Pray: for the nation of North Korea and for the believers there that God would protect them. (Ps.12:7)
More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/christians.killed.in.north.korea/31491.htm
Christian groups are among the signatories of an open letter to the new North Korean leader appealing for an end to human rights abuses in the country. 24.5 million people in North Korea are ‘living in fear’ of arbitrary detention, disappearance, torture or death. The groups condemn the detention of 200,000 men, women and children for political reasons in prison or labour camps; asking for an end to the incarceration of relatives of political prisoners because of ‘guilt by association’. They condemn the political elite for living ‘like royalty’ while millions suffer widespread hunger, malnutrition and a lack of healthcare. President of ‘Open North Korea’ said, ‘Kim Jong-un should look to his legacy. He has the opportunity to be remembered as the leader who restored freedom to the people of North Korea.’
Pray: North Korea would meet its obligations under international treaties, and grant access to human rights monitors from the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross. (Ps.45:23-26)
More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/christians.back.human.rights.plea.to.kim.jongun/29141.htm
The number of Christians in North Korea is unknown. They either hide their faith or face terrible consequences. People have been executed for owning a Bible. Many Christians are sent to concentration camps as ‘political prisoners’ and subjected to torture, abuse, execution or simply worked to death. A reliable source reports that ‘the new young leader Kin Jong Un views the underground Christian church as a source of resistance to his untested leadership, and is repressing Christians even more severely than his father. Another source reports, ‘10% of North Korean Christians who escape to South Korea and return to China to work in Christian ministry are kidnapped from China by underground North Korean State Security and taken to North Korea, tortured for information, and killed.’
Pray: for protection and endurance for the brave underground church living under these extreme conditions, for God to have mercy on Kim Jong Un and change his heart towards defectors in their bid for freedom of speech and beliefs. (Ps.3:8)
More: http://www.releaseinternational.org/media/download_gallery/RELEASE%20MAG%2071%20linked.pdf