Breaking Down North Korea: May 2021 Headlines

10,000 North Korean students reportedly confess to consuming South Korean media

• Over 10,000 North Korean students surrendered themselves to authorities for consuming K-pop and Korean dramas in late April of 2021 with hopes for reduced sentences.

• North Korean citizens must perform a practice called “saenghwal cheonghwa” or “self-criticism” in which they confess their shortcomings in loyalty to the state and publicly report on those who do not conform to state laws to local authorities. The practice is used to enforce the nation’s control over its citizens through self-monitoring.

• Those who break the law may face up to 15 years in labor camps and fines for parents of children violating bans.

• Those caught importing banned materials from South Korea receive life-sentences for imprisonment. Those importing materials from the US or Japan may face execution charges.

Learn More:

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/youth-05102021190202.html

https://www.todayonline.com/8days/sceneandheard/entertainment/10000-north-korean-students-reportedly-gave-themselves-authorities

Alarming and candid warnings of a possible famine from Kim Jong Un

• Kim Jong Un recently stated that North Korea must “wage another more difficult ‘Arduous March’” and that "many obstacles and difficulties are ahead.”

• The “Arduous March” refers to the horrific North Korean famine from 1994 through 1998 in which an estimated 200,000 to 2 million people perished due to starvation.

• Reports from experts point to North Korea’s spiraling economy in the COVID pandemic and the possibility that Kim’s statement may be entirely true.

• North Korea’s trade relations with its only lifeline, China, dropped 80% in 2020, according to Chinese trade data.

• The USDA currently projects that approximately a million more North Koreans have become food insecure during the course of the 2020 pandemic.

Learn More:

https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/04/12/north-koreas-leader-warns-famine#

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-26/north-korea-s-economy-seen-barely-growing-as-pandemic-pain-lasts

https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-how-the-pandemic-is-hitting-north-korea-hard/a-57168554

https://thediplomat.com/2021/04/global-trade-is-recovering-from-the-pandemic-north-koreas-economy-isnt/

https://www.npr.org/2021/04/09/985743058/north-koreas-kim-alludes-to-1990s-famine-warns-of-difficulties-ahead-of-us

South Korean President Moon’s last chance to achieve a lasting peace with North Korea

• "I will consider the remaining one year of my term to be the last opportunity to move from an incomplete peace toward one that is irreversible," Moon said.

• Moon has made engaging with North Korea a signature project of his presidency

• The South Korean president is expected to push the US to seek engagement with North Korea, though Biden has shown little interest in making North Korea a top priority.

Learn More:

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/skoreas-moon-says-looking-nkorea-response-peace-talks-2021-05-10/

Still Virus free

• North Korea has told the World Health Organization that it has tested 25,986 people for the coronavirus through April but still has yet to find a single infection.

• Experts have expressed skepticism about North Korea's claim given its poor health infrastructure and a porous border it shares with China.

Learn More:

https://www.thenationalherald.com/coronavirus/arthro/north_korea_again_claims_zero_coronavirus_infections-2410816/

Enduring Love - Honoring North Korean Moms

As we honor and celebrate moms on Mother’s Day, we pause to recognize a few moms we have encountered in our years of helping North Korean refugees. While their stories don’t always have happy endings, we pray for the day when restoration and healing can take place for these moms and their children.

Crossing Borders has shared stories of children who have been separated from their mothers, oftentimes violently. Children who lose their mothers are profoundly affected. Their whole lives are upended and even their development is slowed by this traumatic event. Add on top of this the devastating realization that their mothers might be suffering in a North Korean prison camp.

On this Mothers Day, we remember the enduring love of these moms who will do whatever it takes. We also remember their children whose lives have been profoundly changed by these separations and yet have shown so much promise. Despite the inherent challenges this situation might bring, some North Korean children in China have found the will and strength to carry on while waiting to see their moms again one day.

YA and Kyung Tae

Our first story is about Kyung Tae, whose mother repeatedly attempts to reunite with him after being captured in China and repatriated to North Korea.

Read Part 1 - Escape from North Korea, marriage and a police raid

Click to read part 1 of Kyung Tae’s story

Read Part 2 - Betrayal in North Korea and hope for Kyung Tae’s future

We pray that YA and her son Kyung Tae will have a chance to be reunited again.

Pyunwa and her mom

Our second story comes from 2011. It is disheartening to see an entire decade later how little things in North Korea have changed.

We thank God for his hand of healing in both Kyung Tae and Pyunwa’s life. While we hold out hope that their mothers will escape to China again, we continue to support these children through their post secondary education and most importantly, we share the hope of the gospel with them. Find out more about how we support North Korean Orphans.

Kristine and her sons

Finally, we want to share an update about one mother who is currently with us at Elim House. “Kristine”, as we call her, has two teenage boys, 12 and 17. She came to us with her boys several months ago to escape her brutally abusive South Korean husband. They recently had a run in with him that left her and her oldest son severely beaten. The future of her situation is still uncertain as Kristine and her sons try to find legal protection from her husband. But time at Elim House has enabled Kristine and her sons, who have suffered the entirety of their young lives, to start receiving professional counseling.

Kristine shared recently that for the first time in their lives, she had a chance to tell her oldest son that she was sorry for all that she had done and for the pain that he had to endure until now.  Her son began crying and also apologized to his mom. They said they loved each other for the first time in their lives and hugged.

Looking ahead with hope

There are many complexities of Kristine’s situation that will take time to untangle and to finally allow her and her sons to live a life free from fear and violence. The road may be long but we will continue to support and love her. As we honor moms this month, we recognize the hardships moms like Kristine endure. We also celebrate the victories that God provisions, however small or big they may seem.

Crossing Borders has very little control over the horrific occurrences in these people’s lives. We could not stop the Chinese police from repatriating Pyunhwa and Kyung Tae’s mothers. But what we can focus on is the emotional and spiritual healing of the refugees and orphans who have to live with the terrible aftermath of these events.

This is why Crossing Borders offers North Korean refugees and their children opportunities to thrive by providing physical care, emotional healing and spiritual guidance in a safe community.

Though the chaos of this world is often outside of our control, we work to help shape the path forward for these people. And though their past is often riddled with tragedy, we see their future as full of hope.

Four Prayers for the 2021 National Day of Prayer

What is the National Day of Prayer?

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President shall set aside and proclaim a suitable day each year, other than a Sunday, as a National Day of Prayer, on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals.

Approved April 17, 1952.

President Truman officially designated a National Day of Prayer by signing the above resolution into law in 1952. In 1988, President Reagan permanently set the day as the first Thursday of every May. Since it was enacted, every sitting President has called a national day for the American people to pray each year.

Fun fact -- according to GotQuestions.org, “In 1952, Conrad Hilton (founder of Hilton Hotels) and Senator Frank Carlson of Kansas, encouraged by Billy Graham, initiated a bill calling for the President to designate one day a year as a National Day of Prayer.”

As stated in the resolution, it is a day for Americans to “turn to God in prayer and meditation” collectively and individually.

Here are four prayers we’d like to share this year:

A heart of humility

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. –2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV

Our world has endured a long and onerous season, which still has its grip on us. The past fourteen months have attacked us physically through the COVID-19 virus and tested our mental fortitude as we were forced to accept new normals in every facet of life. Americans specifically also lived through the anxieties a changing of the guard in the White House brings and were confronted by growing racial tensions that appeared to pull our nation apart.

In the preceding verse in 2 Chronicles 7, when a nation is struck with strife and suffering, before praying or turning from sin, God calls for his people to first humble themselves. Rick Warren explains plainly in The Purpose Driven Life that “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.“ In other words, we are to think more about our heavenly Father who is our creator, master and redeemer. And 1 Chronicles 29:16 tells us that a humble person recognizes that all he has is a gift from God. We are utterly helpless and unable to even breathe one more breath or think one more thought without God’s sovereign provision.

We pray for a heart that declares God is in control and we are not. A heart that mourns our sinful state and yearns for God’s holiness. A heart that considers others more important than ourselves. A heart that causes us to “die to ourselves”, including our fears, frustrations, preferences and longings. May we leave all of that at the feet of Jesus and with meekness and reverence, approach our Father.

A prayer of thanksgiving

You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
    will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
    you will bring me up again.
–Psalm 71:20 ESV

Damage caused by the pandemic was indiscriminate. Our global economy shrank by an estimated $4 billion dollars that will take years to recover. And over three million souls perished around the world. Yet, in the midst of many troubles, King David’s words in Psalms attest to God’s faithfulness and bring encouragement to our weary souls.

While words of thanksgiving may be far from our lips, as we humbly approach God, we are reminded that His goodness is unchanging. His power and reign over every single event in the world did not falter in the past year. And the promise of eternity in his Glory for those who love and follow Jesus is steadfast.  As we look with hope on the future, we remember the words of Jesus at the end of Matthew: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Praying for the marginalized

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. –James 1:27

God’s heart is for the marginalized and he repeatedly names the widow, the orphan, the sojourner and the poor throughout scripture. The devastation of the past 14 months have widowed many spouses, orphaned children, have alienated people around the world and impoverished countless families. James calls the church to action by being “doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (James 1:22)

May we put on God’s heart for those most severely impacted by this season and become doers of the word. May we intercede for those who are hurting and for those who have not tasted the goodness of God. I pray that we would be compelled to give of our time, money, resources and of ourselves to those who need it most, for their good and for God’s glory.

Praying for North Koreans

Finally, it behooves us to encourage you to pray for the people that we love and care for so much: North Koreans. This website is filled with information that can guide you as you pray for the North Korean people. Here are a few ways we can pray:

1. Pray for the persecuted church in North Korea. 

2. Pray for material relief for North Koreans who might be experiencing another famine-like situation. 

3. Pray for North Korean refugees in China, many of whom have been sold into sexual slavery. 

4. Pray for North Korean refugees in South Korea, who, above liberties and material blessings, may ultimately find the lasting hope, peace and abundant life found in the gospel.

How is God leading you to pray for our nation and the world this National Day of Prayer?

Breaking Down North Korea: April 2021 Headlines

No Tokyo: North Korea will not be attending the 2021 Olympics.

• North Korea declared through its Olympic committee that “The committee decided not to join the 32nd Olympic Games to protect athletes from the global health crisis caused by the coronavirus.”

• The decision may be motivated by two factors:

  • North Korea may truly be paranoid about the COVID-19 pandemic, further revealing that nation’s inability to respond to the virus within the country, while still claiming zero infections.

  • North Korea’s response may have been influenced by Japan’s recent decision to extend sanctions on North Korea for two more years.

Learn More:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/olympics-north-korea-japan-covid/2021/04/06/cafec75a-968b-11eb-8f0a-3384cf4fb399_story.html 

https://www.insider.com/north-korea-quits-tokyo-olympics-after-japan-extends-sanctions-2021-4

Kim Jong Un acknowledges failures: North Korean is in an economic crisis.

• Kim Jong Un addressed party members in a political conference this month and stated that the nation was facing its “worst-ever situation.”

• Kim is likely referring to the catastrophic failure of his five-year plan introduced in May 2016 that promised to bring North Korea to economic independence.

• Experts are referring to North Korea’s current economic crisis in the pandemic as “the Great Leap Backwards” as the nation is struggling to respond to fears of economic collapse, complete loss of food security, and inability to vaccinate its 25 million citizens.

• “Following a triple hit from the strict border closures, economic sanctions and devastating flooding last year, the economy is suffering its worst decline since famine killed millions of people in the mid-1990s” - The Financial Times

• Kim Jong Un has stated the current crisis is the result of the party’s smallest units of administration and management, and has accused this network of party authorities of “shortcomings.”

Learn More:

https://www.crossingbordersnk.org/blog/could-north-korea-be-headed-towards-another-famine/2021/1/12 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kim-jong-un-north-korea-worst-ever-situation/

https://www.ft.com/content/49dd499f-e7a1-4dd1-9803-9702fbc52f11

Missiles are back in the air: North Korea begins 2021 weapon tests.

• In late March, North Korea launched its first set of ballistic missiles in 2021, testing rockets with guiding technology.

• North Korean Official Ri Pyong Chol stated that the weapon’s development was “of great significance in bolstering up the military power of the country and deterring all sorts of military threats existing on the Korean Peninsula.”

• President Biden stated in response to the missile tests: “... there will be responses if they choose to escalate. We will respond accordingly. But I’m also prepared for some form of diplomacy, but it has to be conditioned upon the end result of denuclearization.”

• It is possible that the weapons test was to further emphasize the warning issued by Kim Yo Jong, sister to Kim Jong Un, regarding planned joint military exercises with South Korea.

Learn More:

https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-south-korea-north-korea-united-nations-pyongyang-4ff07ea48279a6d8d739415d2bab9f06

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/north-korea-fired-least-one-missile-over-weekend-u-s-n1261860

https://www.crossingbordersnk.org/blog/north-koreas-missile-tests/2021/2/16

Brewing nuclear tension: North Korean nuclear labs show further activity

• The latest satellite imagery of North Korean nuclear sites show steam and smoke being emitted from the Yongbyon Radiochemistry Laboratory in North Korea, a plant that is used to extract plutonium for nuclear bombs.

• In consideration of the reactivated nuclear plant and the missiles tested in March, the efforts may be in an effort to force President Biden to the table for diplomatic discussions. 

• “It is a series of escalations. I think it's pretty calculated. They're ratcheting up pressure as they had done to President Trump and to President Obama.” - Victor Cha, Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies

Learn More:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/satellite-image-shows-renewed-activity-north-korean-nuclear-lab-n1262530

China and the Balancing Act

One of China’s greatest cultural wonders is its history in acrobatics, as home to some of the most talented and athletic performers in the world. But perhaps no performer in China is nearly as capable, powerful, or impressive as the Chinese Communist Party.

Biden Administration’s Tightrope to North Korea

• “Beijing has an interest, a clear self-interest, in helping to pursue the denuclearization of [North Korea] because it is a source of instability.” -  Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken in Seoul, South Korea in March 2021

China’s leading diplomats Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi met with Secretary Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Anchorage, Alaska in their first high-level diplomatic meeting.

The resulting combative and contentious meeting between the two parties resulted in a series of accusations that the Chinese officials described as “exaggerated diplomatic presentations” and the American representatives claimed were “public theatrics and dramatics over substance.”

Nevertheless, with growing tensions over missile tests and nuclear armament on the Korean Peninsula, United States diplomats such as Secretary Blinken have stated explicitly that while China remains America’s “biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century,” Beijing simultaneously “has a critical role to play” in the efforts to reach out to Pyongyang.

Frank Aum, a North Korea expert at the U.S. Institute of Peace states, “It’s reasonable to try and enlist China’s support, given its political and economic relationship with North Korea and its overall heft in the region.”

As concerns regarding North Korea’s provocations grow, the Biden administration faces the challenge of criticizing China’s ongoing expansionist and autocratic policies while persuading the same country to aid its efforts in stabilizing a nuclearizing nation.

North Korea’s Wavering Lifeline

• “All parties should work together to sustain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula… China will continue to play a constructive role in this process.” - Spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian

In January of 2020, China closed its border to North Korea, effectively crippling a nation on life support, almost entirely dependent on the flow of trade and goods supplied by Beijing. Without China’s support, North Korea entered a state of economic freefall.

Over a year later, recent news has confirmed that the Chinese border city of Dandong has prepared inspections, quarantine facilities, and customs offices to resume trade with North Korean trains that will cross the border. Further information has revealed that the trains that will be shuttled into the city will only include freight, with no passenger cars. Exports to North Korea will be building materials, essential goods, food, and infant formula.

Questions may arise as to why China continues to bolster an isolationist country that acts as a source of insecurity and tension in the region. Analysts who assess this same question propose that China’s focus is a careful balance. To maintain the status quo, China must guarantee two elements:

1. North Korea cannot become so unstable that it risks American expansion on the Korean Peninsula or uncontrolled destabilization.

2. North Korea cannot grow so provocative and emboldened that the United States is compelled to increase its military presence in East Asia.

While Beijing cannot simply cripple North Korea into a collapsing state or source of chaos. Simultaneously, China cannot simply deny assistance to the United States in talks to denuclearize North Korea, thereby instigating nondiplomatic intervention.

Learn More:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/18/world/asia/biden-north-korea-china.html

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/18/china-us-alaska-meeting-undiplomatic-477118 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-korea-warns-us-kim-jong-un-sister-threat-japan-china-security-blinken-lloyd-austin/

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/trade-03312021200341.html

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2021/04/02/nkorea-North-Korea-China-Dandong-trade/4181617382653/

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2021-04-02/chinas-dangerous-double-game-north-korea

COVID-19 Relief Fund - One Year Update

Uneven Recovery

China was quick to lock down its country and curb social activities at the onset of the pandemic in early 2020. And perhaps as a result of its quick response, it is the only major economy in the world to have positive economic growth for 2020, at 2.3%.

What lies beneath the surface of a year of surprising growth, however, is the unbalanced “burden of the pandemic-induced downturn that has fallen on rural Chinese”. This includes 290 urban million migrant workers with rural hukou (household registrations) status who work in cities throughout China and send money back home. COVID locked down key sectors of the economy where many internal Chinese migrant workers earn a living, namely in services and retail. According to one estimate, Chinese migrant workers lost about $100 billion in wages that they will not likely recover. Stanford University researchers and authors Scott Rozelle and Natalie Hell stated in Invisible China: How the Urban-Rural Divide Threatens China’s Rise that “exacerbated by the pandemic, China’s rural crisis remains largely invisible to outside observers, and even to many Chinese.

A Familiar Response

China’s opaque government practices and its struggling rural hukou isn’t new to us or the refugees under our care. North Korean refugees in our network live in rural regions and are often married to rural hukou farmers. Refugees don’t even have hukou status as China offers no help or protection to North Koreans. And urban migration will continue to reduce available government services, like healthcare and public education, and opportunities away from rural areas.

A year ago, we asked for support to help provide food and relief to the refugee women and their families during the pandemic and were met with an overwhelming response. To date, we have raised over $23,000 for COVID relief and have already sent 25% of it to provide food and medical aid.

Meeting needs

A refugee woman we call “Amelia” is a single mom to her three children and had worked illegally in a small restaurant to provide for her family. The restaurant had closed due to COVID and was preparing to reopen when Amelia took a bad fall in the kitchen, broke her leg and burned her arm. Crossing Borders’ COVID relief fund provided rice, vegetables, snacks for their children, and medical care for Amelia. Amelia shared that she was “amazed how God helps and provides in time of need.”

One refugee woman’s husband was in the hospital due to COVID with breathing issues. Another refugee’s husband has tuberculosis and his condition suddenly worsened though they were unsure if it was related to COVID. These are just two examples of where our refugee women struggled through COVID related hardships and needed financial assistance to get medical care for their husbands. Thanks to your generous support we were able to send help to families like these in dire need.

At the rate of the growing disparity between the urban and rural hukou in China, circumstances for the refugees and families impacted by COVID will continue to remain challenging. We will continue to love and support and minister to them by delivering food, medical care and the gospel. Thank you for your partnership to make this work possible.

The Gospel is Paramount

How Can I Help?

Crossing Borders has been operating for over 18 years. I helped to start it when I was in my mid 20s, when we were a different organization and when I was a different person. If there is one thing I’ve learned throughout the years it’s this: perhaps the most complicated question in the world is “how can I help?” Inevitably definitions of what it means to help and be helped can be completely different. Expectations of how this help will be delivered can be lost in translation.

To add to the complexities of helping, China, where we have helped hundreds of North Koreans over the years, continues to evolve. When Mike Kim first arrived there in 2001 on a missions trip, he witnessed an underground church that had to adapt to a very real threat of persecution from the Chinese government. We have seen this situation come full circle in our 18 years. At times it seemed like the communist party was looking to partner with the church in China. The constant ebb and flow has landed us to where we are today. In present day China, the threat against the church  looks more like 2001 than any of the past 18 years.

This one key variable has made us switch our tactics of delivering help along with our expectations. We have tried many things and have learned from our mistakes. But one thing that has become clear to us is that the best way we can help any North Korean refugee is to share the gospel with them. There are other ways to provide help and meet their needs but in the order of importance, the gospel is paramount.

This is not a blind reading of the Bible that I’m regurgitating or a tribal desire to see my religion win out over others. I truly believe that faith in Jesus Christ is the most practical way that we can help someone. Whether they do or don’t accept it, we still try to provide short-term and long-term aid. But we’ll definitely try to at least explain the gospel clearly to each refugee we encounter. Here are reasons why we think the gospel is integral:

Lasting Hope

North Koreans flee their country in search of material help. In China, many hope for a better circumstance in South Korea. Tragically, some North Koreans, like the first Elim House resident Cathy, are so disillusioned by the lack of opportunities in South Korea, become suicidal.

According to survey data obtained by the South Korean government in 2019, 12.4 percent of North Koreans said they experienced “suicidal impulses”  This rate is greater than double that of South Koreans who reported the same at 5.1 percent. Reported stress in daily living for North Korean refugees does not significantly change with their length of stay in South Korea. In fact, research from the Springer Report shows that stress and suicidal impulses increase with length of stay.

The gospel offers lasting hope because gospel-centered hope no longer rests on circumstances, which can shift like the wind. Rather, once confronted by the gospel people are able to place their hope on the love of God, which is unchanging. And we see the proof of God’s unwavering love as we look to Jesus’ death on the cross.

Peace

The gospel also offers peace. North Korean refugees deal with an immense amount of trauma. They have experienced traumatic events in North Korea through the famine. According to a 2017 meta study funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea, between 49 and 81 percent of North Korean Refugees witnessed at least one type of life-threatening event and about 26 percent of all North Korean refugees have been repatriated back to North Korea.

The study states that between 33 and 51 percent of North Korean refugees were classified as having depressive symptoms. Such information is aligned with the diagnosis of medical professionals Crossing Borders has brought to China who stated that numerous North Korean refugees within our network have ongoing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (or PTSD).

How could anyone who has experienced such acute trauma have any peace?

Isaiah 53:4 says, “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.”

The gospel proves that God not only is concerned with our pain but that he actually took it upon himself. This does not mean that we aren’t concerned with psychological care. But it does mean that we believe the gospel has the power to heal.

Abundant Life

North Korean refugees in China live solitary lives. They suffer quietly as they hide from the authorities. But even as they hide in their homes, many suffer abuse there.

Most were tricked by traffickers and sold to the highest bidder as brides. They are trapped in forced marriages where they have no rights and can be abused with no recourse. They live as prisoners in a foreign land. Where can they run to?

We have witnessed time and time again the gospel give these women in seemingly hopeless situations hope and peace. When these women first believe in Christ as their savior, there is a joy that exudes from them that far outweighs their horrendous circumstances. We have also seen the gospel breathe new life into them. In Christ these women find acceptance, forgiveness and love.

John 10:10 says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

When Jesus tells us that he has already bought us with his precious blood. When he promises to never leave us or forsake us. When we look towards that day when he will wipe away every tear, what other response is there than pure joy?

We have witnessed the gospel change lives and give hope to the hopeless. We will continue to share it with whoever will hear it.

Breaking Down North Korea: March 2021 Headlines

Recent North Korea news found around the web

South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in continues to hold out hopes for diplomacy with North Korea in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics.

• President Moon stated that the Tokyo Olympics may provide an opportunity for South Korea and Japan recover economically following the COVID-19 pandemic.

• “The Games scheduled for this year may serve as an opportunity for dialogue between South Korea and Japan, South and North Korea, North Korea and Japan, and North Korea and the United States,” stated Moon on March 1, South Korea’s Independence Movement Day.

Read More:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-independenceday-moon-idUSKCN2AT0ZL

North Korea has published its first biography of leader Kim Jong Un: ““The Great Man and The Age of The Powerful Nation”

• Professor Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul states that the novel comes at a critical time to remind the North Korean people that “we can survive this - since we are great.” North Korea’s economy is at its worst in several decades following the coronavirus pandemic.

• Reflecting on Kim’s meetings with leaders such as former president Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the biography states “There has never been a time when all the world has been this focused on our peoples’ greatness and dignity in our 5,000-year history.”

• The book is 621 pages, with seven chapters and 17 subchapters. Its biographical nature does not rely on the usual mythical proportions for North Korea’s leaders, but highlights Kim Jong Un’s “ever prevailing” nationalistic love for his people.

Read More:

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2021/03/01/nkorea-kim-biography-trump-summit-north-korea/8141614616834/ 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/north-koreas-new-must-read-is-kim-jong-uns-biography-11614780001

https://www.crossingbordersnk.org/blog/70-and-17/2019/2/11

North Korea expected to resume trade with China in April

• North Korea’s border city with China, Sinuiju, has recently erected a "disinfection facility” as the two countries may resume trading in low volumes.

• Trade between the two nations may resume as soon as April 2021.

• North Korea’s trade with China dropped by more than 80% in 2020, having a devastating effect on North Korea, which relies heavily on China for 90% of its total trade volume.

Read More:

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2021/03/03/NKorea-China-border-trade-resume-NKorea/8211614780067/ 

https://www.reuters.com/article/northkorea-china-trade/n-koreas-trade-with-china-plunges-80-as-covid-19-lockdown-bites-idUSL4N2JU23B

A recent report published by the Citizen’s Alliance for North Korean Human Rights accuses the North Korean government of being a “pyramid scheme” upheld by exploitative labor

• The report is a summary of North Korea’s political and economic infrastructure and its inherent reliance on prison labor

• North Korean prison camps are accused of using children as young as the age of seven and pregnant women to collect quotas of coal, prepare explosives, and work in mineshafts.

• Whilte previous reports on North Korean prisons noted downsizing, the new report cites expansion in mining operations in North Korea within political prison camps.

• It is estimated that the coal mined at these prison camps contributed to approximately $200 million attained through coal shipments made to China, Russia, Myanmar, and Syria in 2017.

Read More:

http://eng.nkhumanrights.or.kr/data/n_r_reports/20210224170215.pdf

https://www.npr.org/2021/02/26/971672936/north-koreas-network-of-prison-camps-funds-weapons-programs-rights-group-says

Biden’s cabinet members to visit South Korea and Japan to discuss East Asian foreign relations this month.

• Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin are preparing a visit to Japan and South Korea from March 14-18. This will mark the Biden Administration’s first international trip conducted by cabinet officials.

• Scott Snyder, director of the program on U.S.-Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations urged the Biden Administration to “indicate parameters and framing for potential follow-up dialogue opportunities” with North Korea through “a private channel of communications.”

• “North Korea will remain our most immediate threat to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific,” noted Commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Philip Davidson.

• Secretary Blinken stated at his confirmation hearing in January - “We have to review, and we intend to review, the entire approach and policy toward North Korea because this is a hard problem that has plagued administration after administration.”

• What the final approach of the Biden administration toward North Korea still remains to be seen.

Read More:

https://www.crossingbordersnk.org/blog/the-biden-administration-holds-unpredictable-solutions/2021/1/28

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/04/politics/blinken-austin-japan/index.html

https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/early-signals-north-korea-seen-key-keeping-door-open-diplomacy

U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises have been cancelled in Spring.

• The military exercises conducted between the U.S. and South Korean militaries have raised tensions with North Korea in the past. The springtime drills for 2021 have been cancelled due to COVID-19.

• The cancellation may be in an effort to avoid provoking  or raising animosity between North Korea and the U.S.

• South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff stated that the decision to cancel the drills were contingent on “the status of the pandemic and diplomatic efforts to achieve denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula.”

Read More:

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2021/03/07/us-and-south-korea-scale-back-military-drills-over-virus-north-korea-diplomacy/ 

North Korea’s nuclear weapons facilities are showing new activity

• The International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi stated in March that “The DPRK’s nuclear activities remain a cause for serious concern.”

• North Korea’s coal-fired steam plant at the Yongbyon nuclear complex is showing activity after a two-year hiatus. It may indicate that preparations are being made to extract plutonium or handle radioactive waste.

• This may be a continuation of Kim Jong Un’s promise to expand North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and an attempt to apply pressure on the Biden administration to return to diplomatic talks regarding sanctions.

Read More:

https://www.crossingbordersnk.org/blog/north-koreas-missile-tests/2021/2/16 

https://apnews.com/article/south-korea-north-korea-united-nations-nuclear-weapons-f01c79c4c7ab26520ad7c0f97e19b1ff 

The current favorite to succeed President Moon, Ruling Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yon, urges the Biden Administration to push for North Korean denuclearization

• “I understand the Obama administration’s ‘strategic patience’ was perhaps unavoidable due to the situation on the Korean Peninsula, with no inter-Korean talks taking place,” remarked Lee in an interview. “But that policy basically gave North Korea the time and conditions to strengthen its nuclear arsenal. I would like to ask Biden to prioritize the North Korea denuclearization issue, and in order to do that you have to acknowledge a wider role for South Korea to play in that matter.”

• Lee also states that China may be an important ally in resolving the North Korean nuclear dilemma and establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Read More:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-04/south-korea-president-hopeful-prods-biden-over-north-korea

Updates from China and South Korea: Crossing Borders Quarterly Update Q1 2021

Key happenings from the field and within Crossing Borders from the missions field

Dear friends and supporters of Crossing Borders,

Thank you for your continued support for our work. 2020 was an unexpected one for all of us and for Crossing Borders. 

We expanded our reach to another country in the midst of a global pandemic. I cannot stress how difficult this was and I also cannot take credit for any of it. The Lord was gracious in opening the door for us. 

We were also able to acquire key talent that I am so confident will set us up for further growth and success in the years to come. I can say with confidence that Crossing Borders is better equipped than ever before to both streamline and grow our operations.

Please find below our updates from Q1 of 2021:

Elim House

In January, we took in our fourth Elim House resident. Though we were well short of our initial estimate of 12 residents due to COVID restrictions, we are thankful that we had the year to refine our operations and strengthen our partnerships.

In December we took in a new Elim House client we call “Eunice.” She was our third resident. Eunice has a long and interesting story. But, just to give you a short background, Eunice has some mental issues and has problems remembering details about her past. She said that she escaped North Korea accidentally by falling into the Yalu River. In our years and years of ministry this is by far the most bizarre way that any North Korean has reported her reason for escaping.

Eunice (right), having Christmas dinner at Elim House.

“Julie,” our fourth resident, came to us in January. Julie and her son arrived at Elim House from a medical facility where she was treated for physical abuse from her husband. She expressed how good it felt that there were only women around at Elim House. Julie and her son slept a lot for the first few days. She was able to receive counseling and care from our staff. She and her husband sought relationship help with a therapist from a partnering organization. After about a month in Elim House, she went back home with her husband, who vowed to seek help in order to change.

Julie making dinner at Elim House.

Of the four residents we’ve helped through Elim House, two are still with us. Our missionaries have shared the Gospel message with all of the women and by God’s grace, they’ve all professed their faith in Jesus. Only one of the four residents had heard the gospel message prior to coming to Elim House. Our missionaries continue to pour into these new believers through their sacrificial care, hosting Bible studies and teaching them about their Father in heaven who calls them precious.

In caring for our first residents, we were able to get more clarity on why God allowed Elim House to exist and where we need to focus:

1. To share the gospel with North Korean refugees. 

2. To give abused women time to heal so that they can plan their next steps. 

Though we plan to add services for Elim House residents that will help them to assimilate and to be more productive, these are our primary goals. Our world is fallen and filled with chaos. We will counsel and try to bring about change in these women but only the Holy Spirit is able to truly transform and heal their hearts.

China Operations

One thing our refugees in China have in common with the rest of the world is the fact that they too have shifted almost entirely to online meetings. Limited by COVID, we were able to have a virtual time of worship with some of the refugees in our network. Unfortunately, not all of the refugees in our network have access to reliable internet services so not everyone was able to attend.

Like the US, it is difficult for people in China to gather in person for worship. Our staff in China also have difficulty getting into the small villages where our North Korean refugees live. Nevertheless, our ministry continues in China. We have been able to send payments from our COVID relief fundraising campaign into the country, as well as continue to send payroll payments into the country.

We are able to keep regular contact with our refugees, via smartphones in order to ensure our money is reaching them and also to minister to them. Though we are limited in what we can share with them over mobile apps, we are thankful for this means of communication.

In the midst of COVID, we were encouraged to hear an update on Lois, one of our refugees and a faithful believer. Lois started a business a few years ago selling items that are common in North Korea but hard to find in China. Through her business, she is able to connect with North Korean refugees in her area and works to develop relationships with them for the purpose of inviting them to one of our church-plants in her area.

God has shown favor to Lois’ business to bear much fruit, financially and in the lives of other refugees. Her business is not only something that helps Lois generate income, it is also an organic and effective evangelism tool.

Lois organizing items for her business.

Organizational Update

Despite the economic hardships that many organizations faced in 2020, God graciously grew Crossing Borders 5% year-over-year. We are moved by God’s continued faithfulness and for our gracious supporters.

We’re also excited to share that the Elim House social worker position has been filled. She is a pastor’s wife and has served North Korean refugees in her church for the past three years. She started working at Elim House at the end of February. Our staff has been impressed with her passion for the North Korean people and are looking forward to working with her in the future.

Thanks again for your partnership. We are truly grateful for our loving supporters. 

Thank you and God bless.
Best,
Dan Chung

Breaking Down North Korea: February 2021 Headlines

Recent North Korea news found around the web

North Korea made headlines in January and February with actions that affect both its own people and the world.

Vaccine hack

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported on February 16, 2021 that North Korea attempted to hack Pfizer’s servers to steal coronavirus vaccine information.

• It was unclear exactly when the Pfizer hack occurred or if it was successful

• Pfizer did not comment on the hack

• Through Covax, the World Health Organization’s vaccine sharing program, North Korea is expected to receive nearly 2 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine

• Read more on US News

Economic demise

In the COVID pandemic, North Korea’s economy continues to spiral. Kim Jong Un has criticized his cabinet for the failure and has fired a senior economic official.

• North Korea’s lack of technology and farm productivity had already caused 40% of North Korea’s population, 10.1 million people, to lack food security prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• In 2020, border closure with China caused North Korea’s trade to drop by 75%.

• North Korea’s factory outputs are at their lowest since 2011.

• Prices of imported food have quadrupled.

• The UN Food and Agricultural Organization estimates that half of the country is currently undernourished.

• Read more on apnews.com

Torture, incarceration and slavery

A landmark Human Rights Council report has accused North Korea of torture, inhumane incarceration, and slavery.

• Those convicted are charged with “crimes that constitute the exercise of fundamental human rights” such as sharing information, accessing media, or practicing religion.

• North Korean prisons focus on the “systematic infliction of severe physical and mental pain or suffering upon detainees, through the infliction of beatings, stress positions and starvation...”

• The Council has reported inhumanity equivalent to slavery: “the extraction of forced labour can amount to enslavement if it is accompanied by aggravating circumstances that effectively destroy the juridical personhood of the victim...”

• The United Nations General Assembly is set to review the newest report on North Korea published by the Human Rights Council in February.

• Read more

Buying nukes with stolen cryptocurrency

A confidential report to the UN Security Council accuses North Korea of having stolen over $300 million to produce a nuclear arsenal.

• An anonymous country has filed reports to the UN claiming that North Korea has stolen $316.4 million in virtual currency from 2019 through 2020.

• The same accusation has reported that these hacked funds were used in the production of nuclear material and building ballistic missiles

• The report, which currently held by the United Nations Security Council, is confidential and most likely be released in the next 6 months

• Read more on cnn.com

Discipline Kim Yo Jong?

It is unclear if Kim Yo Jong, sister to Kim Jong Un, is being punished for making hostile provocations toward South Korea 

• Kim Yo Jong, who became more vocal and visible in the summer of 2020 in Kim Jong Un’s mysterious absence, has recently been demoted from "first vice department director" to "vice department director” in North Korea’s Party Congress.

• Experts are unsure whether the demotion is simply due to changes in the North Korean politburo or an intentional punishment for her inflammatory actions and remarks against South Korea in June of 2020.

• In January, Kim Yo Jong continued to criticize South Korea’s leaders, calling them a “truly weird group” with a “hostile approach toward the fellow countrymen in the north.’

• Read more on cnn.com

The darkness of North Korea continues and is a reminder for us to intercede in prayer for both the leadership that pursues these acts and the people of North Korea that suffers as a result.

North Korea’s Missile Tests

North Korea has developed and advanced its missile program over the past thirty years with increased range and payload capacity. Kim Jong Un has launched more missile tests (33+) since coming to power than the two former North Korean dictators combined.

In January 2021, Kim Jong Un unveiled North Korea's newest ballistic missiles claiming it to be "the world's most powerful weapon". Could it be nuclear?

Related article: Why North Korea hates the US and keeps stockpiling weapons and nukes

The Korean War and North Korea’s Culture of Hate

“Nuclear missiles” is a term that has become ubiquitous in headlines covering North Korean news over the past several years. Most people may simply chalk Kim Jong Un’s obsession with nukes to his distrust of other world leaders and the general madness the entire Kim regime projects. But what drives Kim to incessantly up the nuclear ante almost 70 years after the end of the Korean War? A look at the history of the Korean peninsula tells a story of a nation divided while fighting against outside reign and with two outcomes that couldn’t be more different.

Japanese soldiers landing at Yeongjong Island in Korea.

History of the North and South

Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula ended with the victory of Allied forces in World War II Four countries (US and the Soviet Union, the UK and China) agreed to divide Korea at the 38th parallel and accept Japanese surrender on both sides. Korea was to remain under this Four-Power Trusteeship for up to five years while a system of autonomous rule was established for a unified Korea. After several years of failed discussions between the US and the Soviet Union, two separate governments came into existence in the north and south in 1948.

The northern region (present-day North Korea) established a communist government, backed by Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union while the southern region (South Korea) established a democratic government with US support and with the UN closely monitoring. With the backing of two global superpowers, the two states started to operate independently. This short period that split the nation laid the foundation of anti-US sentiments in communist North Korea.

The Korean War

Just five short years after the end of World War II, the relationship between the two Koreas deteriorated further when the North invaded South Korea in 1950 (the beginning of the Korean War), which triggered a US retaliation within days. The United States sent about 90% of the troops that were sent to aid South Korea while China fought on the side of North Korea, with the Soviet Union providing military equipment.

After three years of a bloody war that cost over a million lives on both sides, fighting ceased on July 27, 1953, with the signing of an armistice agreement between Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Chinese People’s Volunteers and the UN. It also drew the demilitarized zone (DMZ) across the 38th parallel, which has come to be known as the most dangerous border in the world. No peace agreement has been signed as the two countries are technically still at war. 

US Military presence

The United States has had a military presence in South Korean since the Korean War. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), present day South Korea has the third highest deployment of US troops anywhere in the world. Additionally, neighboring Japan is host to more US forces than any other nation, with over 47,000 deployed, the majority being naval personnel, and an aircraft carrier permanently deployed to Yokosuka, Japan.

In 2017, following North Korea’s missile tests near US bases in Japan, the US installed its controversial Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defence system at Seongju in South Korea. The THAAD in South Korea is operated by the US army and is a transportable, ground-based missile defense system which could shoot down North Korean short and medium range missiles in the event of war.

“American Imperialism”

North Korea teaches its citizens that the United States started the Korean War -- and only the Kim family can protect them against the US. North Korea views the US as an imperialist and capitalist colonizer with a long history of exploitation and has reinforced this by way of censorship, control of access to information, and anti-US propaganda.

Fast forward to present day, South Korea’s economic prosperity has brought this once war-torn country within reach to be the world’s seventh greatest in income per capita and with potential to join the G7 in 2021. All the while, just north of the DMZ, sanctions brought on by Kim Jong Un’s incessant nuclear threats and a global COVID-19 pandemic has global watchdogs concerned about a repeat of the devastating famine of the 1990s. Yet, due to North Korea’s extensive brain-washing and control over information and media, those on the inside are clueless to this massive disparity.

For the North Korean regime, America is to be blamed for the Korean War and all of the aftermath. The anti-American narrative is inescapable and indoctrination begins as early as kindergarten. Through it, Kim Jong Un is able to justify billions in nuclear weapons to protect his dictatorship against this American “bogeyman” while his people starve and his nation remains trapped in the past. Sadly, this kernel of hate still drives Kim’s nuclear ambitions today.   

In the second part of this series, we will explore North Korea’s recent development of its nuclear arsenal and the toll that it has taken on the struggling nation.

The Biden Administration Holds Unpredictable Solutions

In the first part of our coverage of recent relations between North Korea and the US, we focused mainly on Kim Jong Un’s predictably erratic actions over the past four years.

The questions that political analysts have regarding the Biden Administration’s approach to North Korea cannot be summed up simply into a binary of “to be Trump, or not to be Trump.” There are several possibilities, a few of which analysts have explored.

Scenario one: Biden will build on Trump’s diplomatic results.

The CATO Institute and The National Interest recently published a paper composed by a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and specialist in foreign policy, Doug Bandow, on how Biden may be able to further a single powerful strategy of the Trump administration in negotiating with North Korea: diplomatic ties with China. A better relationship with Beijing, according to Bandow, may result in cooperation in establishing red lines on North Korea’s ongoing nuclearization and armament. China, who does not want an erratic and unpredictable nuclear neighbor, is still North Korea’s greatest ally and lifeline. While the Trump administration’s demands for China to simply enforce its sanctions on North Korea were not effective and Trump’s relations with Xi Jinping, President of China, bottomed out at the end of his term, there may be avenues for Biden to negotiate.

Scenario two: Biden will return to a traditional approach to North Korea.

While a traditional approach to North Korea would not entirely rule out the possibility that the Biden administration will build on the Trump administration’s attempts to negotiate through China, Biden may not directly ingratiate himself with North Korea’s leaders in the same method shown by former President Trump. According to a series on nuclear diplomacy from the United States Institute of Peace, Biden may return to “principled diplomacy” exercised by presidents prior to Trump with expectations that direct negotiations with North Korea will not yield predictable or promised results. North Korea is unlikely to approach the United States with the precondition that disarmament and denuclearization must be on the table. The Biden administration may equally be unwilling to create a forum for discussing concessions in sanctions against North Korea without these exact preconditions. While not provocative, this approach would be considered a stalemate.

Scenario three: COVID Diplomacy and a “Peace Offensive”

A “peace offensive” is a term used to describe a campaign that is designed to clearly communicate intentions to resolve conflicts by a nation, thus causing its unfriendly counterpart to relax its own efforts toward violence. In the case between the United States and North Korea, much of this may hinge on North Korea’s desperate attempts to gain access to COVID-19 vaccines.

According to the Brookings Institute, it is likely that North Korea is suffering from COVID-19 outbreaks that will soon heighten the country’s need for relief from trade sanctions. The nation will need economic assistance. North Korea’s needs may open the door for American diplomacy to become a more attractive option. Recent reports have also revealed that at least six pharmaceutical companies in the US, UK, and South Korea may have become targets for North Korean hackers seeking information on COVID-19 treatments. This may be because information on the vaccine is simply valuable internationally or the regime believes that the vaccines would be useful for the nation.

A rare opportunity

“COVID diplomacy” and a “peace offensive” may go hand in hand as the Biden administration finds a rare opportunity for engagement with North Korea in the midst of this health crisis. Biden’s approach to international politics may be solidified through both reparations of mistrust and simple decency. Outside support for treatment capacity, access to vaccination, and health security will be needed to ensure that the nation survives  this global disaster. With medical supplies and the possible relief from sanctions, North Korea may be finally willing to come to the negotiating table.

Related Posts

Part 1: An Unpredictable Threat to President Biden: North Korean Diplomacy 

Words, Weapons, and War

North Korea's End Game

North Korea: a Nation Built on Rhetoric

Hot and Cold: North Korea’s Shifting Diplomatic Tone in 2018

An Unpredictable Threat to President Biden: North Korean Diplomacy

North Korea profoundly shaped Trump’s first year as president. Trump’s diplomacy has left a mixed legacy. Will relations with North Korea soil or solidify Biden’s presidential reputation?

It has been a tumultuous season of anticipation in the United States as for almost three months, the results of the American elections have been held in contention. Eagerly eyeing the results were not just the country’s own citizens but nations around the world. As President Joe Biden steps into office this month, analysts are setting their eyes on one of the biggest threats that shaped Donald Trump’s first year in office - North Korea.

Trump’s “Will They, Won’t They” Relationship with North Korea

At times, it seems unclear as to what exactly Trump’s oscillating diplomatic relationship with North Korea resulted in. Relations between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un seemed to swing from one extreme to another.

In 2017, the first year of Trump’s presidency, the Nuclear Threat Initiative (or NTI) recorded 20 confirmed missile tests over the course of twelve months in North Korea, sixteen of which were successful launches. Some of these tests were aggressive displays of force, as recorded by CNBC. In early September of 2017, North Korea tested its most powerful nuclear bomb to date, according to seismic readings. Later in the same month, Japan placed its citizens on high alert as two missiles travelled over the country and into the sea. North Korea also displayed its largest and most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching anywhere in the US in November.

But 2018 diplomatic relations with North Korea transformed dramatically. As if a switch had been flipped, both leaders, Trump and Kim, began heralding promises of disarmament and peace. The newly turned page of diplomacy culminated in a historic meeting between the leaders of the United States and North Korea in the spring of 2018. Analysts, however, were concerned as North Korea never stopped production of fissile nuclear material. As former President Trump percolated over “love letters” and “falling in love” with Kim Jong Un in September of 2018, it was at times difficult to remember that the two leaders were goading one another with insults like “dotard” and “rocket man” almost exactly a year prior. 

The confrontational insults returned only two months later, in December of 2018. Relations between North Korea and the United States began to grow sour once again throughout 2019 and 2020. Though Trump and Kim met in Vietnam in February 2019, negotiations ended early and abruptly as neither party could reach agreement on disarmament. Representatives from North Korea who spoke with American diplomats later that year accused the United States of inflexibility in negotiation or diplomacy. North Korea began to rebuild the missile facilities it had torn down in 2017, seemingly digging up the very hatchet it had buried in agreements with the Trump administration. North Korea resumed missile launches, testing 27 rockets from January through December of 2019.

In 2020, even in the midst of a global pandemic, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Son Gwon issued the following statement: “Never again will we provide the U.S. chief executive with another package to be used for achievements without receiving any returns… Nothing is more hypocritical than an empty promise.” After the destruction of the Inter-Korean Joint Liaison Office in June of 2020, Seong-hyon Lee, an analyst of the South Korean Sejong Institute remarked that North Korea’s ongoing destabilization of relations with South Korea was an attempt to escalate tensions with and demolish the diplomatic achievements of the Trump administration, throwing more chaos into an already restless year.

North Korea Prepares Unpredictable Challenges

As it became clearer that the Biden administration would take office in 2021, North Korea began a strategic sequence of events to set the table for an inevitable showdown with the incoming Biden administration. The position that North Korean leaders have prepared has mixed messages.

On January 8th, Kim Jong Un made a series of speeches in Pyongyang through Workers’ Party meetings over the course of eight days. “Our foreign political activities should be focused and redirected on subduing the U.S., our biggest enemy and main obstacle to our innovated development,” announced Kim. “No matter who is in power in the U.S., the true nature of the U.S. and its fundamental policies towards North Korea never change…”

Kim further promised to advance nuclear weaponry with more precise and powerful rockets in the upcoming year. The weapons, however, Kim stated, were designed to grow North Korea’s leverage in meetings with the United States and that he did not intend to “rule out diplomacy.” Instead, North Korea must “drive diplomacy in the right direction and guarantee its success,” according to Kim. John Deulury, a historian of the Yonsei University in Seoul, noted that Kim’s works were "not exactly an olive branch, but it's not slamming the door, by any stretch of the imagination, either.”

Days later, North Korea’s state television aired a national military exhibition in which the nation unveiled its newest models of submarine-launched missiles and solid-fuel weapons. Both types of weapons are designed to expand North Korea’s capability to strike foreign targets with nuclear missiles. Assessing the footage, Professor Leif-Eric Easley of the Ewha University in Seoul, stated that the feature content was very likely to be a provocation toward the new Biden administration.

Biden’s Burden

It is not yet clear what North Korea’s stance will be toward the new American president. Whether 2021 can expect more missile launches or willingness to take steps toward some form of limited diplomacy remains to be seen. The timing of Kim Jong Un’s hostile words against the US could seem coincidental. But before a global audience and in the early days of his presidency, it burdens Biden to make the right strategic response as North Korea continues to be a threat to both South Korea and the US.

Related Posts

Words, Weapons, and War

North Korea's End Game

North Korea: a Nation Built on Rhetoric

Hot and Cold: North Korea’s Shifting Diplomatic Tone in 2018

Could North Korea be Headed Towards Another Famine?

North Korea is in trouble again. And though this is not news to most people who follow the reclusive country, there are a few factors that make this situation uniquely alarming. Some believe North Korea is headed into another great famine.

Failed Five Year Plan

Five years since taking power, in May 2016, Kim Jong Un laid out a five year plan to create economic independence for North Korea. This plan came on the heels of the UN tightening sanctions in March following the North’s recent nuclear tests and focused largely on energy including the need to improve their electricity supply with higher coal output and develop domestic sources of energy, including nuclear power.

Kim Jong Un charged that the country must “solve the energy problem and place the basic industry section on the right track, and increase agricultural and light industry production to definitely improve the lives of the people.”

At a Worker’s Party meeting this January, Kim confessed that the five year plan “immensely underachieved in almost all sectors.” He laid out yet another plan to grow every industry, but like the former failed plan, it probably has no teeth.

www.kremlin.ru

Impact of COVID-19

Though Kim Jong Un’s claims of the entire nation being free of COVID-19 can’t be confirmed, the global pandemic has not left North Korea’s already fragile economy unscathed. Border closures have plummeted trade to an estimated 80-percent drop in the first 11 months of 2020 compared with the same period in 2019, according to Song Jaeguk, an analyst at the IBK Economic Research Institute in Seoul. And the suspension of international flights due to COVID-19 have completely erased the contribution of tourism revenue to the North Korean economy.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported in December 2020 that “the entire public transportation system across the country has been suspended since the beginning of this month under the instruction of the central government to prevent COVID-19 infections.” This was a surprising move by a country claiming to be free of the Coronavirus.

Typhoon & Flood Damage

Three powerful typhoons, Maysak and Haishen made landfall on the Korean peninsula within two weeks last September, delivering heavy rain and widespread flooding to parts of both North and South Korea. 

38 North’s damage assessment from 2020’s typhoon season is that “while weather conditions were particularly dire this year, there is currently no evidence, based on currently available information, that the overall damage was unprecedented”.

Collective impact

On their own, the challenges confronting North Korea listed above may seem unfortunately normal for the hermit kingdom. However, with the confluence of tightened UN sanctions, COVID-19 and flood damage, many estimate that North Korea is facing the most challenging situation since the great famine of the 1990s.

Kim Jong Un’s recent pledge to enhance North Korea’s nuclear capabilities and missile program will continue to increase UN scrutiny and consequences. His rejection of South Korea’s olive branch in the form of pandemic relief will likely bring the country further down their economic spiral as the spread of COVID-19 worsens this winter.

God have mercy

North Korean winters are already long and brutally cold. Food shortages are imminent given decimated trade volume and recent typhoons and flood damage. While Kim Jong Un celebrates his new promotion, we can’t help but to worry about the potential of another North Korean famine this winter.

In what is one of the bleakest periods of recent North Korean history, we seek out God’s mercy for Kim Jong Un. Lord, please open his eyes and humble him before your glory, that he may turn from his ways. Please hear the prayers of the saints in North Korea and have mercy on them. Oh Lord, would you relent from disaster so that the world may know of who you are. Amen.

18 Facts about Crossing Borders on our 18th birthday

Happy New Year! We hope 2020 ended well and, like us, you’re excited for all that 2021 has in store.

With the turn of each new year Crossing Borders also celebrates a new birthday. 2021 is the year when we turn 18 and we thought it was a great opportunity to share the different ways God has grown us as an organization over the past eighteen years.

1. Crossing Borders turned 18 on Jan 1, 2021

2. After co-founder Mike Kim’s eye opening trip to China in 2001, Mike and Dan Chung decided to launch Crossing Borders in 2003

3. The name Crossing Borders was thought up by founders Mike Kim and Dan Chung at a Borders Bookstore

4. From 2003 to 2012, Crossing Borders was a 100% volunteer-led organization

5. Crossing Borders currently employs 6 field staff, 2 missionaries, 3 full-time staff in China and soon, our first social worker in South Korea

6. Crossing Borders has formally helped 432 North Korean refugees with direct support and hundreds more with indirect support such as one-time financial aid, sharing of the gospel or providing medical care

7. God brought 40 new refugees under our care in China during 2020 

8. Our missionaries have been on the field with Crossing Borders for 12 years

9. We’ve helped 6 refugees escape from China to South Korea during the 12 years our missionaries have been with us 

10. We've hosted 8 summer retreats in China for women & children

11. 3 refugee kids are currently being supported to receive college/vocational training

12. Crossing Borders currently works with 14 underground/house churches in China to find, onboard and care for refugees

13. Our missionaries fled China 2 times to avoid being arrested by the Chinese authorities

14. Elim House launched in July 2020 to provide shelter and care for North Korean women in South Korea

15. Elim House housed three women and two children in 2020

16. We have raised an estimated $4M to help North Korean refugees since 2003

17. Donors from across 28 different countries have financially supported our work

18. Despite COVID-19, 2020 was our biggest year for funds raised to help refugees. Thank you!

As we reflect, it is clear to see God’s unwavering love and faithfulness on us and the refugees we serve. Every milestone and accomplishment listed above is only by God’s grace and with support from our generous partners. How amazing our God is and His love for the marginalized.

We are so excited to see how God will move in 2021!

Happy New Year!

Looking Ahead to 2021

At the end of each year, my wife and I like to take stock of the past year. We jot down the good things, the bad, the funny and enjoyable. And we keep these yearly musings in a single folder for us to go back to. I have a feeling that our 2020 document will be full of unique challenges and blessings.

As I begin to reflect on 2020 and specifically with Crossing Borders, I’d like to share three prayer requests and three things that give me hope.

Three prayer requests for 2021: 

1. Continued growth - Crossing Borders has been growing despite the pandemic. We opened operations in South Korea this year and our China operations are slowly growing despite major restrictions on the movement of our missionaries and staff. We hope and pray that, as global restrictions lift, Crossing Borders will be able to help more and more North Korean refugees. 

2. Coronavirus restrictions to lift - This year has been difficult for us because of the hampered movement from country to country. South Korea requires that all incoming travelers quarantine for 14 days in a government facility. China requires the same and to travel anywhere within the country, an additional seven days is required. As these restrictions lift, we can resume ministering to our refugees face-to-face again.

3. A social worker for Elim House - If the COVID-19 vaccines are as promising as the studies show, movement in South Korea will no longer be hampered and as a result, we will likely have more residents in Elim House. This year our missionaries have been working around the clock at Elim House while managing our field operations in China remotely. This is a herculean task and is wearing on them. COVID-19 has restricted the number of job applications that we would have normally received for this position. Please pray that God provides a faithful and capable social worker for Elim House. 

Three things that make me hopeful: 

1. Time - December 31 will mark the passage of another year. This is painfully obvious but as difficult as 2020 has been, it has to end at the stroke of midnight on January 1. Time moves us forward. And as the days, months and years go on, we will be able to process what took place this year. In Psalm 90:12, Moses asks God to “teach us to number our days so that we might gain a heart of wisdom.” I am looking forward to a different year but I am also looking forward to the perspective that time will give me on this year. 

2. Resilience - Working with North Korean refugees has taught me that human beings are truly resilient. North Koreans are not by nature more resilient than other people. They have simply been put in a situation where their innate, God-given resilience is used. As humanity turns the chapter from COVID-19 to the future, I am confident that those of us who have been blessed to survive or avoid the pandemic will not only move forward but thrive in the years to come. 

3. God’s past faithfulness - January 1 will also mark Crossing Borders’ 18th birthday. We have seen many things as an organization (add a global pandemic to the list) and we have survived them all, by the grace of God. Sometimes it seemed as if the world was against us. We have had all kinds of conflict, internal and external. We have had to fire corrupt staff. We have seen other missionaries and organizations get kicked out of China. And yet here we are. The thing that has always been true about this work is that it is impossible to take credit for any of this. God has made it abundantly clear that it was Him. So whatever 2021 brings, for better or for worse, I can rest that He is in control.

From all of us at Crossing Borders, we wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas and happy New Year!

Adopting from North Korea

The situation in North Korea

Many orphans live on the markets and in train stations of North Korea, wandering about in the cold, searching for food and shelter. North Korean street orphans are called Kotjebi (꽃제비), which means “flower swallows”, a species of bird known to constantly search for food and shelter.

The number of orphaned North Korean children grew over the past three decades as many died during the famine from the 1990s and many women who were moms were trafficked to China. Many orphans were sent to North Korean state-run and private orphanages. Stories from both types of orphanages are equally treacherous, fraught with instances of forced labor, overcrowding and lack of food and supplies. Physical and sexual abuse is also a heartbreaking reality in North Korean orphanages.

Kim Jong Un wants the world to believe he cares for orphans. He has established orphanages for foreign delegates to see as evidence of his work, yet much of the aid sent is rifled through, leaving orphans with “almost nothing”. Many orphans run away to live with grandparents or relatives while those with no alternatives try to survive on their own. Like flower swallows, they wander the streets begging for food and looking for shelter.

It is unknown how many children are orphaned in North Korea today.

Adopting North Korean Orphans

In January 2012, President Obama signed into law the North Korean Child Welfare Act of 2012. This new law calls for the U.S. State Department to advocate for the "best interests" of North Korean children, which includes helping facilitate adoption of children living outside of North Korea lacking parental care. Unfortunately, there are no specifics on how to accomplish these goals nor is it able to help orphans still in North Korea. While the law showed promise, there has been little progress since this act was signed.

Adopting directly from North Korea would require the involvement of the North Korean court system, proper documentation of a search for the child’s birth parents and legal permission for that child to leave North Korea. All three of these requirements are impossibilities. Without seismic changes to Kim Jon Un’s rule, the best chance at helping orphaned North Korean children will be limited to those who have escaped their homeland and become “stateless”. Steve Morrison, founder of Mission to Promote the Adoption of Kids (MPAK) explains more in the following video.

North Korean Orphans in China

There are as many as 40,000 orphans who have escaped to China, according to Kim Yong-Hwa, founder of the North Korean Refugees Human Rights Association. These children are stateless and likely without proper care in China.

In our next piece, we will dive deeper into the Chinese adoption system and how North Korean refugees, including orphaned children, are impacted.

Related articles and videos:

• Article - North Korean Orphans

• Video - Is it possible to adopt a North Korean orphan?

Raise Them Up: Our Ministry that Empowers Through God's Love

It would be incomplete to address the safety of North Korean refugees on earth without addressing the state of their eternal security in heaven. Our help for North Korean refugees is always delivered with the Gospel message, which is a hope that will never disappoint (Rom 5:5). Refugees are not required to believe what we believe but many do in faith. In a recent 2020 survey, 93 percent of 89 North Korean refugees polled in China said they heard the gospel for the very first time through Crossing Borders. We thank God for this opportunity to provide both physical and spiritual food to refugees.

The Power of God

The majority of North Korean refugees in China are in need of financial aid, medical care and counseling.  But receiving material help doesn’t make their challenges disappear. Life in China is still difficult for North Korean refugees. And life in South Korea is often riddled with disillusionment. Placing hope in new circumstances or in our help may even disappoint when their quality of life doesn't dramatically improve.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  - Roman 1:16

Most of the refugees we meet have been abused, neglected and are often hopeless. This is why the gospel is so sweet: it is indeed the power of God for salvation! For a people who have lived through so much evil and abuse, only the power of God can reveal that Jesus is the one true hope that they have longed for. We want to bring relief to the suffering but it is only the power of God that can bring salvation.

Manna

Earthly provisions where rust and moth destroy are short lived. Hunger for more only increases over time. While money and material help may provide temporary relief, only God can provide sustenance that eternally satisfies. 

 “[God] fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. - Deuteronomy 8:3

The original word for “manna” translates to “what is it.” Manna was a new concept that God used to not just simply feed the Israelites but to teach them daily dependence on Him. God uses our team to deliver physical food to North Korean refugees. Our continual prayer is for refugees, their children and their families to live with complete dependence on our heavenly Father.

Intimate love

The need for self worth and belonging is innate to all of us; we all long to be valued and cherished. Many North Korean refugees struggle to find self worth because it was always defined for them by the North Korean state. Upon fleeing to China, their self worth often degrades because they are considered illegal migrants and fugitives.  This lack of self-worth is further exacerbated for women who have been trafficked.

Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you,

- Isaiah 43:4

God calls us precious, honored and loved. The God of this universe, our creator and loving Father looks to us and defines us as His precious and beloved. Our prayer is that God would allow every refugee to experience His intimate love and for all past versions of their self value to be overwhelmed by their true identity as God’s beloved.

Empower through God's love

Through education, we hope to raise up many refugees and their children out of poverty. By breaking the cycle of poverty, our hope is that the next generation will be empowered to be agents of change in China.

It is our mission to meet the wide range of needs North Korean refugees have in China. God continues to supply every need for us and our field workers through supporters around the world. Thank you for your love, prayer and generosity this year and this Giving Tuesday. We hope to provide far more than what we planned for over the next two years. Most importantly, we pray that refugees and their children be confronted by God’s love through the work we’ve been called to do.

Raise Them Up with Self-Worth: Breaking Free from Worthlessness

Lack of Agency

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) defines the sense of agency as “the feeling of control over actions and their consequences.”  In short, it is a feeling of being in the driver’s seat instead of things simply happening to you.

From the moment a trafficker takes control over a North Korean life, that person’s sense of agency is gone. Some carefully and patiently save up enough money to pay the broker’s fee to be taken across the border into China while others are unknowingly sold to brokers. No matter how it starts, North Koreans who flee into China are at the mercy of others as they enter into a foreign and hostile land.

Unable to work

In North Korea, most women are the primary breadwinners of the household while husbands typically hold low paying government jobs or serve in the North Korean military. Upon arrival in China, it is a drastic shift to go from the role of breadwinner to unable to work altogether. North Korean refugees living in China don’t have any government protection or rights, including the right to work. In fact, working in a public setting increases the likelihood of being caught by the Chinese police and sent back to North Korea.

Refugees also have very little control over their situation and surroundings. They escape to or sold into a foreign land with a foreign language, with no family or support. They flee North Korea for freedom and opportunity but are met with neither. Lacking agency and support often leaves North Korean refugees feeling vulnerable and hopeless.

Made for work

Have you ever considered why God took six days to create everything? He’s an all powerful God with limitless creativity. Why not do it all in a single instant? The account of creation in Genesis 1 is God’s example for us to work and to appreciate the work of our hands. To further affirm His point, in chapter 2, God appoints Adam to work:

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it”
Genesis 2:15

God created people to crave and enjoy work. It gives people a chance to put their talents on display for the good of others and for God’s glory. It is work that also gives the sense of agency: the ability to labor, earn a living and make decisions on how to spend the money.

Vocational training

Working legally is not an option for North Korean refugees in China. However, many refugees risk their safety to work at small restaurants or sell food and goods at local markets for cash. Vocational training would give these women more options to independently earn a living: a craft known to us as a “side hustle”. Not dissimilar from other parents around the world, refugees want to work hard and provide a brighter future for their children. Refugees under our care want to earn money to provide better education for their children, send money back to family in North Korea or pay for their passage out of China into South Korea. With assistance from Crossing Borders, many can have access to trusted vocational training resources to help reach their goals.

Hope for Refugee children

Life is hard for refugees but we are more hopeful for the next generation. Many refugee women choose to stay and struggle in China rather than risk getting caught while escaping through the Underground Railroad. Living in China, their children also experience first-hand the effects that abuse, neglect and poverty has on the mom and the family. However, providing financial support for these children’s education gives them a fighting chance to escape the same cycle.

We want to empower this next generation to break the cycle of abuse and poverty. If their awareness of the suffering they and their moms endured and the increased access gained through education pushes them to be agents of change, we are hopeful that they can and will do far more than we’ve ever been able to do as outsiders. And beyond providing worldly opportunity, we point these children to Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who provides, and Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals. Our prayer is that they will carry the torch forward into parts of China that we don’t even know about.

Raise Them Up from Isolation: Breaking Free from Social Confinement

Not Welcomed

Safety for refugees in China is to minimize contact. The majority do not have family in China. Neighbors can’t be trusted. The police are a threat to their livelihood. As a result, North Koreans in China stay confined to their homes.

North Koreans living in China not only bear the stigma of living as a refugee, they live in a country that is foreign and hostile to them. There is no protection by the Chinese government for refugees, even for those who fled an oppressive country like North Korea. Rather, the government encourages the reporting, arresting and repatriating of refugees back to Kim Jong Un’s regime. North Koreans in China are a stateless people and not welcomed.

Trafficked

Most escapees from North Korea are women who once served as the primary breadwinner of their households. They sought China as an opportunity to earn money to send back to their families to survive or pay for passage out of North Korea. But en route to their own escape, many fall victim to trafficking by opportunistic brokers at the Chinese border. North Korean women are deceived by would-be “good Samaritans” only to be trafficked to Chinese men and families. Many are abused during and after their sale. These women will bear these scars and shame for the rest of their lives. Social confinement is their means of hiding the past.

Impoverished

The other driving force behind their social isolation is poverty. As we covered in the first part of our education series, trafficked North Korean refugees alack access and opportunity in China and most live in poverty. Poverty is generally known to drive down confidence and participation, especially in women and girls. Those struggling with poverty self-isolate as a way to avoid judgement from others.

The confluence of these forces makes isolation the only option for many North Korean refugees.

Restoration

We seek the restoration of refugees and their children in our work.

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. - Galatians 6:2

The apostle Paul encourages those in the church to carry each other's burdens. Life is already taxing for North Korean refugees. Imagine how much greater the burden when they have to shoulder it on their own. 

Underground churches and field workers in our China network welcome refugees with refuge and rest. Most have been conned, abused or neglected. Many have lived completely void of social interaction. When introduced and integrated into communities of other North Koreans refugees who speak the same language and have walked a similar road, emotional healing begins in many refugees. Life is meant to be lived together and isolation can be a silent killer.

Self worth

One’s self esteem is sourced both from internal (abilities, performance of good deeds, independence) and external (peer approval, contribution to those around us) factors. Barred from access and opportunity, it is difficult for any person to maintain a sense of self worth. Unable to escape this stigma, many refugees and their children we encounter live each day burdened with guilt, shame and bouts of depression.

We may take for granted opportunities to work or access to education. These are privileges we wish we could provide for all of our refugees and their families. While turning that into a reality in China is generally difficult, we have seen refugees and their children thrive when given access to school and work opportunities.

Who you say I am

Access and community are both crucial to North Koreans living in China. As important as these may be for refugees to fight poverty and isolation, there is greater work to be done in their souls.

 ”Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; 
instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; 
therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; 
they shall have everlasting joy. 
Isaiah 61:7

These are promises God made to the Jews returning out of captivity. These same promises, through grace, extend to all followers of Jesus today. This is the greatest good we can pray for for North Korean refugees and their children. We pray that by calling upon the name of Jesus, He would replace their shame and dishonor with peace and everlasting joy! How great our God is and how true His promises.

Please pray for North Koreans living in China under these conditions. Would you also pray about providing education for our refugees and their children through our upcoming Giving Tuesday campaign?