THE KUKMIN DAILY

“It is not easy to unconditionally forgive and love North Korea. But if we continue feeling like victims, ultimately we will be left with only feelings of ’han’ (helpless resentment). The North Korean government is not good, but we should never give up loving North Koreans.”

So said Rev. Oh Dae-won (David Ross, 81, photo), the founder of Youth with a Mission Korea (YWAM Korea). He is involved with the Reunification Vision Camp, organized by six Christian organizations including Revival Korea and Peace Corea, and is delivering messages to the young participants at the camp. I met him on January 27 at the Team Vision Center in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul. What are his messages this time?

Rev. Oh said, “For the reunification of the Korean peninsula, the Korean church should focus more on holiness and reconciliation than on revival. The road to reunification begins when the ‘han’ is transcended to become ‘hanmaeum’ (one heart)... We need to reflect on ourselves first, and avoid the sins of blessing-seeking and secularism, so that the Holy Spirit may help us. When we include and love not only North Korea but all the ‘others’ who think differently from us, God will grant us the gift of reunification.”

He worries about the recent blockage in South-North relations following North Korea’s nuclear provocation, because the situation has led South Korean society, including the church, to re-escalates hatred for the North.

These days Rev. Oh prays every day for the release of Rev. Im Hyun-soo, a Korean Canadian who is his long-time friend, and who was detained and recently sentenced to life in prison at hard labor in North Korea. Oh said, “Persons detained in North Korea such as Rev. Im will be released only when South-North relations improve.”

He also said, “Reunification can start with the building of friendly relations with former North Koreans. Loving them should come before supporting them with money… There are some 29,000 overseas Korean missionaries dispatched by the Korean church. That is about the same number as the North Korean defectors now residing in Korea. We need to make sure they don’t feel lonely in South Korea, and provide them with opportunities for learning, especially the young leaders.”

Rev. Oh also suggested that non-governmental exchanges between the South and the North should become more active, through collaboration with the Korean diaspora around the world. “There is a need to provide spaces for this outside the Korean peninsula, for example, through cultural and sports exchanges with North Koreans. Seven million Korean diaspora is a sufficient number, and they have a strong network that can make this possible.”

Rev. Oh paused repeatedly during the interview to exchange cheerful high-fives with lecturers and former North Korean participants in the camp, who greeted him as they passed. He said that in the camp he had found the hope for reunification. Most of the 150 participants are young women and men, among whom 20 are former North Koreans. Rev. Oh said, “I hope we can nurture them through the Word, as experts in law, economics, politics and other areas, to become the reunification generation.”

Articles and photo by reporter A-young Kim (cello08@kmib.co.kr), with Yeara Ahn-Park (yap@kmib.co.kr)


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