Mansudae Grand Monument, Pyongyang, North Korea, originally uploaded by yeowatzup.
If I asked you to tell me five things about people in North Korea, especially Christians, could you tell me? It's probably not easy. (Forgive me if there are any professors of "North Korea in the Modern Age" reading this!) Not that this is something of terrible importance for everyday life, but it is kind of challenging when you realize how little you really know about such a large subject (about 24 million people are North Koreans).
I'm going to share with you a link to a very powerful podcast, one that made me want to laugh and cry, and exposed me to so much that I had no idea about. But first, here are my five things I know about people in North Korea:
1. Many boil grass and eat tree bark because they have no other food.
2. It is estimated that over 150,000 people, many of them Christians, are in brutal concentration camps.
3. If a family is caught with a Bible, everyone within a two-house radius of them is arrested.
4. North Korean defectors to South Korea have one of the highest suicide rates in the world.
5. The "national religion" of North Korea was actually modeled on Christianity, but with Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il as "gods".
And here is the link to the page where you can listen to the podcast or download it (Persecution Podcast is also available for free on iTunes). The man talking about North Korea comes after the prayer section.
It is amazing, and might just turn your prayer life upside-down.
How North Korea continues to exist in this day and age, is something I cannot fathom...
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely right. There are so many people making a huge deal out of global warming and the fate of our earth in the year 3000 and ignoring the horrific villainy right under their noses.
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