In 1997, the North Korean government decided that there were too many people roaming the country. In September, a royal decree was promulgated requiring that all street children be detained and placed in institutions. Some have opined that the real reason behind his action was cover-up. These beggars made the country look suspicious in the eyes of the UN officials who were still there in ’97. I have to save face to a watching world. Jasper Becker, author of the book where I found this information (Rebel regime), decided to visit one of the so-called “9-27” camps, named after the date of the edict. He was surprised by the effects of malnutrition on children who had been nicknamed “flower swallows.” They are compared to birds because they flit from one place to eat to another like their tiny winged counterparts. Here he met …

Chi Gang. 15 years. Four feet tall.

A 13-year-old boy. Three feet six inches.

Kang Minghwa. 16 years old. He appeared to be only 9 years old. Kang’s testimony is chilling. Their impression is that the children were in custody to die out of sight. A mixture of powdered beans and unknown “meal replacements” was fed to the children day after day. And day after day, the children died. Kang crawled through a camp window, then under a railway bridge that crosses the Tumen River into China. Making his way to Yanji, he begged for street food.

Due to the love of Christ manifested by many believers in the area, some children in this condition were cared for. But oh, so many were and are not. To this day, an average North Korean is 20 centimeters shorter and half as heavy as his South Korean counterpart. In the late 1990s, a survey indicated that 2/3 of North Korean children were stunted, living proof that the famine had been going on for some time, that it was not a temporary problem caused by causes. merely natural.

Many nations suffer from natural disasters, including ours. But through modern communications and transportation, the peoples of the Earth come together and have, even from the world’s point of view, a remarkable recovery in a relatively short period of time. Add the love of Christ in many people on Earth, and you can add “miraculous” to the description. But the leaders of NK really believe that they are trying to save their land from the evil influences of a world that hates them. And in doing so, they are slowly allowing the genocide of the Korean people.

Who will have mercy on North Korea? Surely God already does. Now we must.