When Will President Bush Liberate North Korea?

I grew up in a strongly Socialist household. Our family supported what we perceived to be liberation movements in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Thus, I had little hesitation in supporting the liberation of Iraq. To me, it was the reactionaries who were opposed. I felt their arguments – it was about oil, it was about Halliburton, it should be done through the United Nations – were smokescreens, destined to keep the Iraqi people enslaved.

But I had another reason. Just as it seemed in the 1960s that a successful war of liberation in one country might spread to other countries, so today we can hope that the liberation of the Iraqi people might lead to freedom for others.

In particular, my heart breaks at the suffering of the people of North Korea.

My wife is Korean. Both her parents were born in North Korea, and escaped to the South during the war of the early 1950s. I read all I can about conditions there. Can anything be more depressing? When will President Bush end the North Korean holocaust?

Yet just as I know that many sincere people strongly oppose US actions in Iraq, so too is there no real agreement on what could and should be done to ensure that never again will people suffer as the North Koreans are.

So I would commend an editorial from Chosun Journal, an excellent website devoted to exposing the atrocities of the North Korean regime:

The Chosun Journal has often been accused of being too one-sided and polemical. As the editor, I am mostly to blame for this unfortunate indictment. It is unfortunate because The Chosun Journal's staff itself is made up of liberals and conservatives, Christians and agnostics, diverse people with opposing points of view. What binds us together is our common desire for the North Korean people to live free. However our differing strategies on how best this can happen often does not come across very clearly through this site. So here is a brief unfiltered glance into the minds and hearts of CJ staff members that echo the range of views held by our readers. As you will see, no one has a monopoly on the truth.

Read the entire editorial. It’s particularly relevant to Christians pondering our responsibilities to our world. Here is one example:

Churches should not get involved in politics. They would only end up being exploited by various political parties, losing their mandate and credibility to share the gospel in all the earth. Our commission is to preach the word of Christ and to baptize in His name, not to change governments or dictate policies. Moreover, prayer is the most important and powerful activity of the Church. To discount that fact reveals a tremendous lack of faith. Only the Holy Spirit through our prayers can revive the apathetic and selfish.

January 8th, 2004