ICC Note:
A North Korean defector in South Korea recalled that her father always closed his eyes and said something while holding a spoon before he would have a meal. She also remembers a song her father used to sing when she was young and, when she heard it again in South Korea, she found that it was a hymn praising God. With great astonishment, she realized that her father was an underground Christian. Pastor Eric Foley, CEO and Co-Founder of Seoul USA, said, “God never forgets what we pray. And he answers more frequently than we can imagine, just beyond the reach of our awareness, patience, and control.”
10/14/2014 North Korea (DotheWord)– Frequently North Korean defectors in South Korea will look back on peculiar behaviors of parents and grandparents in North Korea and realize with great astonishment that their family members were actually underground Christians.
JBM, one of our Underground Technology students, recently shared just such a story with us. Think on this as you eat your breakfast this morning and your children or grandchildren silently observe your behavior:
My father studied medicine at [X] University in Japan. After he graduated, he opened a hospital in [NK city] and worked as a health minister in NK. My mother was a housewife. Because of my father’s background, I lived well when I was young and had enough food to eat. My mother was also from an educated family. Because my father was a doctor, he was respected by many people. During that time, the Korean War occurred and we ended up being separated from my father and we did not have any news about him. I was left with my mother and sisters and my brothers were left with my grandmother. We had to be scattered and live separately. From that moment on, we had no contact with my father and even now we do not know what happened to him.
Whenever I remember my father, one thing always comes to my mind. My father always closed his eyes and said something while holding a spoon before he would have a meal. I was just five years old at that time, so I did not know what he was doing. However, now I know that he was praying to God before having a meal, and the song he used to sing was a praise song to God. After I came to SK, I realized that the song is from a hymn. The lyrics were “make me whiter than snow,” and I found it in a hymn book. I was so surprised to hear the song the first time in SK that I shouted, “Oh, this is the song my father used to sing before!” Also, one of my relatives was an elder in the church who was killed in the war. I thought that his name was Elder, but later I came to know his duty in church was as an elder.
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