Things continue to be very difficult in North Korea.  In fact, so many things are causing problems from government policy to the weather that people are speaking out and complaining as never before. A recent trip to China by Jang Sung Thaek, Kim Jong Un's uncle and right hand man, far from bring better economic news (as had been hoped) has resulted in major increases in the exchange rate as people hoard Chinese money.  Even the national security forces are having a hard time feeding themselves and the situation in North Korea's bread basket region of Hwanghae Do is particularly dire as flooding followed drought. Many news reports casually mention people starving to death.  To make matters worse, Kim Jong Un's new economic measures include seizing private fields that people were allowed to create following the famines of the late '90s.  It is these private fields attached to homes and on steep hillsides that have actually provided a significant amount of food for the overall economy in recent years.  Farmers are very upset.  The government's response to all this is to put in place price controls that will only aggravate the situation and prove ineffective.  At the same time, the Supreme People's Assembly meets and makes some decisions about compulsory education but not a word about the economy.  What the government is doing is selling gold from its reserves to raise cash needed to replace that spent on the Kim Il Sung 100th anniversary celebrations and failed missile launch.  In the face of growing famine and flood devastation, South Korea offered aid but it was rejected as not what was wanted.
 
The reality is such that defections have been increasing including a single group of twenty who fled in September.  The number of street kids or kkotjebi (swallows) as they are called, is increasing as well. Many of these homeless children cross the border and make their way eventually to refugee camps. There are some 400 North Korean kids without parents in South Korea.  Pray especially for these children.  They need food, health care, stability and a safe place to grow up.  They need homes.
 
The annual Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue was just held in China.  North Korea and its nuclear program were the main topic of discussion.  This is an ongoing attempt to get world leaders discussing real issues in the region.  We pray that these meetings and others like them bear positive fruit.
 
Ben Torrey,
Director
The Fourth River Project, Inc.
www.thefourthriver.org
 
Journalist: US Policy Must Aim to End North Korean Regime
Melanie Kirkpatrick, former deputy editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal and author of the new book Escape from North Korea: The Untold Story of Asia’s Underground Railroad, says the United States isn’t taking a tough enough stance on North Korea. “We can’t work with them and we shouldn’t pretend that we can,” she told LIGNET managing editor Fred Fleitz this week in a televised interview. Official U.S. policy, she says, should be “the downfall of the Kim family regime” and the unification of the Koreas. Also, she says, the United States should publicly denounce China for its policy of arresting North Korean refugees and sending them back to face life in prison, or worse.

From: LIGNET ‪<This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>‬

Let’s continue to agree in prayer for a new day for North Korea and for His liberation of its longsuffering people and especially its children. Pray for the reunification of the two Koreas.