also today: Kiribati

Challenges for Prayer

1 The leader of North Korea has deified his deceased father Kim Il Sung by adulatory propaganda, erection of statues and government enforced policies

2 The Church in North Korea was the birthplace of Korean revival – Pyongyang was known as the "Jerusalem of the East"

3 The majority have never heard the name of Jesus

4 As many as 3 million died of starvation from 1994-2000, yet the government stockpiles rations for the military and refuses assistance on any but the strictest of terms

5 Present means of witness are limited:

a) Radio

b) Korean Christians from China and elsewhere who are able to visit and gain opportunities to witness

c) South Korean Christians who have prayed and prepared for years for the time when the land opens for the gospel

d) A group of foreign NGOs has received permission to establish an independent church in an area where they run agricultural training programmes

6 Over 100,000 North Koreans have fled to China in the last three years

also today: Kiribati

Geography

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Area 122,370 sq.km. The larger part of the Korean peninsula, but climate more rigorous than in the south.

Population (2000) 24,039,193 +1.57%AGR

Capital Pyongyang 3,450,000.

Peoples

Korean 99.3%; Chinese 0.7%.

Literacy 99%. Language Korean. Languages with Scriptures 1Bi.

Economy

Heavily industrialized, this centralized socialist economy is in freefall due to the heavy costs of militarization, attempts to become a nuclear power and the ending of aid from China and the former USSR. Public debt 49.4% of GNP. Income/person $970 (2.8% of USA). Public debt 49.4% of GNP. Income/person $970 (2.8% of USA).{/SENTENCE}

Politics

Occupied by Japan 1910-45.

Religion

All religions have been harshly repressed.

Churches in Korea, North

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Internet Links