ASIA/NORTH KOREA - Christians all over the world will observe June 25 special day of prayer for North Korea

Tuesday, 6 June 2006

Seoul (Agenzia Fides) - On Sunday June 25 Christians of different confessions in various parts of the world will observe a special day of prayer for North Korea with prayer vigils and special services and prayers.
The initiative launched by a Christian Forum is being supported by Catholic and Protestant and Orthodox Christians. The day will also be an opportunity to focus international attention on the tragic situation of poverty in North Korea .
One special prayer intention will be for religious freedom. In North Korea Christians are not allowed to practice their faith openly and the country’s prisons are full of prisoners of conscience and political prisoners.
Christians in South Korea are deeply committed to praying for their brothers and sisters in the North. “The great need and spiritual darkness in North Korea demands urgent and intense prayer on the part of all believers in Christ”, say the promoters who belong to a network of Catholic and Protestant organisations.
Catholics in the South of the country have never lost hope of seeing the faith flourish once again in the north, says Vicar general in Seoul Fr Matthew Hwang in-kuk, in charge of relations with Pyongyang. Numerous priests from the south are willing for pastoral service in the north and the Church has always worked for national reconciliation .
The Catholic Church began to flourish again in the north in 1989 when the North Korean Catholic Association NKCA was established. Today Catholics in north Korea worship at home and are visited occasionally by representatives of the NKCA. According to the Catholic Church in South Korea in North Korea there are three thousands Catholics and one church which is in Pyongyang. Other sources say there are 12,000 other Christians in the north with two churches in the capital. (Agenzia Fides 6/6/2006 Righe: 28 Parole: 280)


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