It’s a dangerous time for North Korea (and the world) now that Kim Jong Il is dead. Nicholas Kristof of the NY Times shared this snip on Facebook moments ago.
North Korea is by far the most repressive and totalitarian country I’ve ever visited; it makes Syria or Burma seem like democracies. In North Korea, homes have a speaker on the wall to wake people up with propaganda in the morning and put them to sleep with it at night. The handicapped are sometimes moved out of the capital so they won’t give a bad impression to foreigners. And triplets, considered auspicious, are turned over to the state to raise. And now this nuclear armed country is being handed over to a new leader, presumably Kim Jong-un, still in his 20’s. The last transition was a dangerous time, as Kim Jong Il tried to prove his mettle by challenging the world, and this one mayl be as well. Look out.
As always, we pray for the soul or Kim Jong-Il. May he find the peace that he couldn’t find here and let us all pray for peace in the world, especially in North Korea. May the new leadership find more peaceful ways to lead their country and promote freedom over the oppressive ways of the past.
May we all find peace in this season that preaches the same.