Video: A prayer for North Korea at the DMZ
Online now, find our recent coverage of tensions on the Korean peninsula. The story focuses on Sang Yang, who speaks in the video. Yang is a Church of Christ minister and director of the Bible Correspondence Center, or BCC, in Seoul, South Korea. His journey from poverty to providence parallels the story of his country — now one of Asia’s most affluent nations.
Usually I don’t get great photos in airports, but I scrambled to un-bury my camera and shoot when I saw this royal procession in the international terminal at the Incheon Airport in Seoul, just before returning to the U.S. (Photo by Erik Tryggestad)
Yang — and many of his fellow Korean Christians — long for the day when they will be reunited with family members in North Korea. The two nations have been separated by the Demilitarized Zone for 60 years.
Also online, find a report on a recent Korean Mission Forum in the Fort Worth, Texas, area. The forum featured Malcolm Parsley, a longtime missionary in South Korea, and Stephen Wolf, who worked with Churches of Christ there while he was stationed in Korea with the U.S. Air Force. He and his family plan to return to the peninsula and help plant new churches.
I was blessed to meet Yang during two lengthy layovers in Seoul. I was en route to and from the Philippines, where I tagged along on a mission trip sponsored by Bread for a Hungry World. Look for features from the trip soon. (A big thanks to the ministry’s director, Bobby Moore, for booking flights for me that allowed me to get a brief glimpse of South Korea.)
Yang took me to an amazing Korean barbecue restaurant during my first layover. I hoped to return the favor by making him a YouTube sensation, just like Korean rapper Psy, whose “Gangnam Style” video is the most watched in YoutTube history. (I’d even settle for “I Murdered my Wisdom Teeth” numbers.)
No such luck … yet. (By the way, I viewed a few seconds of Psy’s new video before stopping it. Yuck. Psy, let me be among the first to welcome you to the status of one-hit wonder.)
Here’s another video that doesn’t have a lot of views, but I hope you find it inspiring nonetheless. The video features baptisms at the Church of Christ that meets in the BCC’s facility. You’ll hear some Korean a cappella singing in the video (with English subtitles).
