North Korea

American evangelist and humanitarian chief Franklin Graham said it is vital for the United States government to hold direct talks with North Korea, expressing support of the U.S. move to send an envoy to Pyongyang this week for discussion.

Graham, who had just visited North Korea in October for humanitarian purposes, pointed to former President Richard Nixon and communist China as examples of using dialogue to open the path to improved relations between two at-odds countries.

“I’m not saying that we agree with them, but you got to talk to them face to face,” Graham said, according to OneNewsNow. “Look what happened when Nixon…went into China, secretly…to meet with Mao Tse Tung, who had killed like 60 million of his own countrymen." more >>

The head of an organization that supports persecuted Christians blasted the World Council of Churches for claiming that the Church in North Korea has freedom.

Calling the WCC's comments “unbelievable,” Glenn Penner, chief executive officer at The Voice of the Martyrs Canada, wrote on VOM’s persecuted church weblog: “Freedom? Some limitations? Challenge to do mission in a different societal system? Where do I begin to pick apart such a singularly silly statement?”

Penner’s stinging words were in response to comments made by Prawate Khid-arn, a leading WCC representative and general secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia, after his first visit to North Korea. more >>

The head of the World Council of Churches preached to a North Korean congregation Sunday, emphasizing the importance of cooperation and unity in a country known for its reclusiveness and for having the most heavily militarized border in the world.

By invitation of the Korean Christian Federation of North Korea, WCC General Secretary Dr. Samuel Kobia shared with the nearly 200 members of Bong Soon Church in Pyongyang the letter that the Apostle Paul had written to members of the new church in Corinth at a time when problems of divisions had emerged.

“There are two main learnings I want us to reflect on this morning,” said Kobia on the first day of a four-day visit. “The first is that we are called to take care of each other. The second is to recognize the need for nurturing the unity which is given to us by Jesus Christ.” more >>

U.S. Evangelist Franklin Graham has concluded a three-day trip to North Korea that included meetings with high-level government officials and visits to his ministry's humanitarian assistance projects.

In a brief dispatch, North Korea's state-run news agency reported that Graham and his delegation had left the country Thursday after having arrived two days earlier to present $190,000 in equipment and supplies for a new dental center being built in Pyongyang.

During his stay, Graham also had a "friendly conversation" with North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun and offered a gift to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il through the country's vice parliamentary speaker, Kim Yong Dae, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) had reported. more >>

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches will begin his pastoral visit to churches in North Korea on Saturday.

Responding to the invitation of the Korean Christian Federation of North Korea, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia will visit the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from Oct. 17 to Oct. 20. During his stay, the WCC head and the accompanying delegation will meet with churches as well as government officials to learn about the situation of congregations in the reclusive state, according to WCC.

Kobia is also scheduled to preach at Bong Soo Church in Pyongyang. more >>

U.S. Evangelist Franklin Graham had a "friendly conversation" Wednesday with North Korea's foreign minister, the reclusive nation's news agency reported.

Graham, who heads the international relief agency Samaritan's Purse, arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday in an effort by the Christian leader “to help improve better relations and to have better understanding" between United States and North Korea.

"I'm going as a minister of Jesus Christ with a message of peace and that God loves each one of us regardless of our borders or politics," the evangelist said before departing. more >>