Salt

Korean Blogger

I lived in Korea for two years, and had a wonderful time serving as an instructor in Liturgical Theology and English at Sung Kong Hoe University.  I was vicar of the English Speaking mission at the cathedral as Luce Scholar.    I fell in love, made some excellent friends, and started dancing salsa there in a small club near Hong-ik university.  The Korean Anglican Church is very Anglo-Catholic and thoroughly justice oriented.  It played a substantial role in helping bring down the dictatorship, and has many social justice projects around the country.

I have now been reacquainted with Fr. Joseph Joo, who is now getting his doctorate at the Graduate Theological Union.  And he has a blog!  In the spirit of brotherhood with the Anglican Communion I am linking to him, although I can't read more than 10% of it.

Welcome Joseph!

Leak: Bush Submits to Wise Counsel

An unnamed North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said Washington had conveyed the message it recognized the North as a sovereign state and would not attack it, the North's official KCNA news agency said in a report in Korean. An unnamed North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said Washington had conveyed the message it recognized the North as a sovereign state and would not attack it, the North's official KCNA news agency said in a report in Korean. Via Reuters.

My friend, Donald Gregg, said to me of Bush, once, "all he needs to do is promise he won't attack first."  Perhaps now we'll see if he was right.

Perhaps the Democratic attack on Bolton has driven home into Bush some common sense.

Christian Gospel in Korea

Word has spread like wildfire of the Christian underground that helps fugitives to reach South Korea. People who lived in silent fear now dare to speak about escape. The regime has almost given up trying to stop them going, although it can savagely punish those caught and sent back.

“Everybody knows there is a way out,” said a woman, who for obvious reasons cannot be identified but who spoke in front of several witnesses.

“They know there is a Christian network to put them in contact with the underground, to break into embassies in Beijing or to get into Vietnam. They know, but you have to pay a lot of money to middlemen who have the Christian contacts.”

Her knowledge was remarkable. North Korean newspapers are stifled by state control. Televisions receive only one channel which is devoted to the Dear Leader’s deeds. Radios are fixed to a single frequency. For most citizens the internet is just a word.

Yet North Koreans confirmed that they knew that escapers to China should look for buildings displaying a Christian cross and should ask among Korean speakers for people who knew the word of Jesus.

“The information blockade is like a dam and when it bursts there will be a great wave,” said Shin, the crusading pastor.

Here in the north of the country, faith, crime and sheer cold are eroding the regime’s grip at a speed that may surprise the CIA’s analysts: facts that should give ammunition to conservatives in Washington who call for a hardline policy.

...  The secret police cannot staunch the word of the gospel. Two of our party turned out to be Christian businessmen who had come from China carrying wads of cash. Korean-language Bibles have been smuggled in by the hundreds.

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