North Korea
I presume that the Pharisee who looked down on the tax collector at the temple would have prayed for him too. Of course, his prayer could not be answered, because, unfortunately, hypocrisy hampers prayer.
With the speculation about the health of Kim Jong-un, many American Christians were praying for his overthrow, and are praying for and prophesying the reunification of the two Koreas.
Unfortunately, reunification is unlikely to come until the United States repents of its policies and activities in Korea.
During the Korean War (1950-53), the United States imposed terrible destruction on North Korea. It dropped more bombs on North Korea than it had dropped in the entire Pacific theatre during World War II. This carpet bombing, which included 32,000 tons of napalm, often deliberately targeted civilian as well as military targets. Whole cities were destroyed, with many thousands of innocent civilians killed and many more left homeless and hungry.
The United States killed over 2 million people in a country that posed no threat to its security. By 1953, American pilots were returning to carriers and bases claiming there were no longer any significant targets in all of North Korea to bomb.
In the spring of 1953, the Air Force targeted irrigation dams on the Yalu River, both to destroy the North Korean rice crop. Five reservoirs were hit, flooding thousands of acres of farmland, inundating whole towns and the laying waste to the essential food source for millions of North Koreans.
Prior to the war, Korea was a single country. Agriculture was primarily in the south and industry was concentrated in the north. The war destroyed the industrial base, so the North was left without industry or agriculture, making it very poor.
This destructive bombing of civilians in their home and destructions of agriculture had few military benefits. The motive seemed to vindictiveness, because the North Koreans had initially defeated the southern forces supported by the United States.
In 1907-1910, a powerful revival occurred in Korea. It started in Pyongyang, which is now the capital of North Korea. After months of persistent prayer, 50,000 people came to Jesus in one year and the entire country was set ablaze. By 1948, more than a fifth of the population of Korea was Christian.
The number of inhabitants of Pyongyang killed by United States bomb splinters, burnt alive and suffocated by smoke is incalculable… Some 50,000 inhabitants remained in the city which before the war had a population of 500,000. During this bombing, thousands of Christians would have been killed. I suspect that American bombing killed more Christians in North Korea than the Kim dynasty has done throughout its history, so American claims to care about Korean Christians ring a little hollow.
Korea was divided by an agreement between Stalin and Roosevelt towards the end of World War 2. They agreed the boundary should be the 38th parallel, but the people of Korea had no say in their decisions. Their country was divided by a dispute they had no interest in, and they had no choice about which side they would end up on.
The United States put Syngman Rhee in control over the south. He had lived most of his life in the United States, so he was loyal, but he turned out to be a nasty ruler. He recruited his security forces from people who had collaborated with the Japanese. Thousands of people who opposed him were arrested and killed. He ruled as a dictator with American support until protests before the 1988 Olympics in Seoul restored civil liberties and direct presidential elections in South Korea. So American claims that it works for democracy do not have much credibility for those who remember.
The United States has threatened to use nuclear weapons against North Korea. Each year, it holds exercises in which it practices invading the country, during the harvest. Christian pilots fly B-52 bombers that could be carrying nuclear weapons right up to the border, as if they were going to attack. Because the North Korean army has to mobilise to deal with the potential threats, it becomes difficult to bring in the harvest, so these exercises are a threat to food supplies, as well. Why would the people of North Korea welcome the gospel from people who think that this is Christian behaviour.
The United States keeps a massive army in South Korea, close to the border. They are backed up with aircraft with military weapons. These forces are not necessary for protecting South Korea, because the South Korean forces are far superior to those in the North.
Americans assume their troops are in Korea to preserve the peace and that they are not a threat to the north. However, history says that is wrong. The United States has invaded North Korea in the past and tried to destroy it. There is no evidence that the United States has given up invading countries. So, the people of North Korea are right to be afraid of a United States invasion. They look out across the demilitarised zone and see a Christian empire that likes to invade smaller nations, and is willing to fabricate excuses to do so. They hear Christian politicians declaring that they want to invade Korea. So why would they trust the Christian gospel.
North Koreans look out and see Christian ships imposing an embargo and preventing imports of food into their country. Why would you trust the gospel of people who are trying to starve and impoverish your nation?
The president of South Korea is working hard to bring peace and reunification with North Korea, but often finds that Washington is standing in the way.
The problem is that the United States does not really want the Koreas united. It wants an excuse to keep a large military contingent close to the border of China. This is hypocritical, given that the United States got antsy at the possibility of Russian missiles being installed in Cuba. Now, with Americans needing a bogeyman to fear, and the President stirring up hostility toward China, Washington will become even more reluctant to see peace break out.
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