In Shadows

For a year now, Adam and I have lived less than a mile from the most heavily fortified border in the world… ever. Today, we are participating in the 40 Day Fast, and we want to talk a little about North Korea.

(Both photographs were taken from the same hill.)
Photo 1: Adam and I live in the valley beyond the hill behind me.
Photo 2: Looking across the Han River to North Korea.

Where we live in Paju, South Korea, the air is clean, the hills are beautiful and lush, and dense rice paddies fill every valley. Parents wearing designer clothes drive their new cars to bring their children to their schools and private after-school academies, stopping for fast food on any stretch of road along their way. The stretch of highway leading to the next town of Ilsan runs along the pristine Han River. Only a few miles further South, lies Seoul, considered the “Miracle of the Han River” and the second largest city in the world. Seoul is a huge, wealthy, modern metropolis.

However, look through the barbed wire, just across the river, and you see an unreachable land. Despite our close proximity to North Korea (the entire Korean peninsula is only as large as the American state of Minnesota), there isn’t a more distant place. Looking through binoculars from the “Unification Observatory” in Paju, we can glimpse the rolling hills across the river, cut bare for better surveillance of the border.

We can also see the propaganda village which was built in the river valley to show South Koreans that their northern neighbors are living comfortable and rich lives. The only problem is that the North Korean government could not even afford to complete this village. It looks like a bombed out ghost town. The empty shells that are supposed to convince us that everything is okay do the complete opposite. If they couldn’t even afford to finish this important PR move, how well is the real population of North Koreans living inland?

We have heard so many rumors, but of course we can’t see for ourselves. Kim Jung Il, the dictator is feared by his people. He and his late father, Kim Il Sung demand adoration as saviors, perfect men, ideal leaders of the perfect society. But while South Korea grew from poverty to wealthy metropolis in fifty years flat, North Korea has gone from bad to worse. The totalitarian government and the complete isolation, combined with widespread floods and droughts in the 1990s have made life extremely bleak in North Korea. People are starving, they live in fear, there are public executions, prison camps, curfews.

Amnesty International says,

Reliable figures on North Korea are difficult to obtain, given the lack of access and barriers to information gathering. Estimates of the number of deaths that resulted from the 1990s famine vary widely, ranging from 220,000 to 3.5 million. Some sources claim the famine destroyed between 12 and 15 percent of the total population. Economist Marcus Noland recently estimated that the famine resulted in the deaths of between 600,000 to 1 million people, out of a pre-famine population of approximately 22 million (between 2.7 and 4.5 percent of the total population). However the social damage was much higher if one considers the fall-off in the fertility curve caused by famine.

– from an article entitled “Starved of Rights: Human Rights and the Food Crisis in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)”.

The thing is, I don’t know how to help. Refugees caught in South Korea and China are sent back into the fire. Additionally, the minimal aid that is sent in, funnels through the corrupt people in power. Many South Koreans even fear a future reunification because the utter poverty and decades of brainwashing would flood into their borders and weigh heavily on their newfound affluence. It is a heavy and difficult situation that has spiraled out of control because of its shroud of shadowy secrets.

Please join us today as we pray for the people within the fortified borders of North Korea.

“Children of the Secret State”, a British documentary from 2000

Part 1 (10 minutes):

Part 2 (10 minutes):

Part 3 (10 minutes):

Part 4 (10 minutes):

Part 5 (5 minutes):

Other resources:

“North Korean Starvation Detailed” Seattlepi.com
“Starvation Threatens Millions as Aid to North Korea Dries Up” Times Online
“Scores of Children Dead in North Korea Famine” CNN

-Jessica