North Korea

Coming home from Australia I discovered that my family recently got a subscription to Netflix, so lately I've been taking advantage of the foreign film section. Dani (my twin sister) and I just watched a documentary on North Korea. The film team where allowed to follow a humanitarian effort to perform surgery on blind people, but the film makers were also interested in discovering North Korea without propaganda. I highly recommend watching this even if you would rather remain ignorant about the reign of communism. The most horrific part was when all the patients got their bandages removed and realized they could see, they jumped up to the picture of their "Great Leader" and praised him like he was a god. All of their gratitude was directed toward him. The North Korean people praise their dictator, praise which only the One True God deserves. There was also an interview of a 25 year old defector who told his escape story across the DMZ, the 2 mile, landmine filled, electric fence protected border between the north and south. This young soldier was in a very privileged position which required high loyalty, but after making a (what we would think very minor) mistake, afraid for his life, he decided to try and risk escape. He let with his younger friend, who didn't make it past the highly electrified fence. The poor boy had to watch his friend die before walking through the mines and surrendering to the south. He didn't want to talk about what probably happened to the family he left behind (either killed or placed in a concentration camp for his crime). My heart breaks for this nation, the brother nation of my beloved South Korea, the same people and yet they couldn't be more different. Even though they are the same race, this generation (known as the Stinted Generation) are much smaller. Because North Korea strives to be completely independent, the nation lacks so many basics for its people: nutrition and basic health care being the most prominent factor to its people's detriment. And yet, the people worship the very person who organizes the system that is killing them. The one American woman on the film crew (who pointed out that she was the only American in the whole country) observed this: she couldn't tell the difference between those who cried out beatitudes to Kim Jong Il because of true belief in his perfect leadership from those who did so out of fear, but then she realized that after growing up in such an isolated country that there may not be a difference between the two.

Okay, sorry for the depressing post but I often think about North Korea and feel helpless, thinking there is nothing I can do... but then I remember who it is that I pray to: the all loving, all powerful God. So, I will continue to pray...