South Korea

South Korea's Heart for the World

By George Thomas and Lucille Talusan
CBN News

February 16, 2007

CWNews.com – SEOUL, South Korea - June 22, 2004, Korean missionary Kim Sun Il is beheaded by Iraqi terrorists.

Kim was an interpreter for a South Korean firm but also shared his Christian faith with Muslims.

Among the belongings sent back to his brother, Pastor Jang Jin Kook, were a Bible, storybooks in Arabic, and pictures of Kim with Iraqi young people with whom he shared God's love.

(Translation) "It was his life wish to be able to have the faith that he could die for Christ and be able to serve Him," said Pastor Jang.

Pastor Jang says he has forgiven the Iraqis who murdered Kim and finds comfort in God's purpose for his brother's death.

Pastor Jang Jin Kook said (translation), "After his death, a lot of nonbelievers came to Christ. My parents who used to be atheists became Christians and went to church. My older sister also got saved and now she is teaching kids in Sunday School."

Kim was just one of thousands of South Korean Christian missionaries willing to risk their lives to spread the Gospel around the world. Thirty of the 100 missionary sending groups based in Korea target Muslim nations.

Husband and wife team, Young Wok Sung and Young Mi Kang, are preparing for their trip to Kashmir, northern India, this year.

Wok (translation) said, "There are not many missionaries in India…And there are many Muslims in Kashmir in Northern India. I like to teach computer to the youth and share with them about Jesus Christ."

The couple is part of Interco-op. It's an organization that is reaching out to Muslim nations, doing humanitarian work and holding prayer marches.

Mi says that God called them to India following a cancelled prayer march in Afghanistan.

"I was denied the Afghan visa, so I was stranded in Northern India for 2 ½ weeks," Mi said. "But there are no regrets. When I saw the little children …they were very poor, begging with their mother the whole day -- I cannot give them material things, but God gave me the heart of a mother to take care of them and touch them with God's love."

Pastor Choi Han Woo is the director of Interco-op. He says since 9-11, Asians are more effective than Westerners in evangelizing Muslims.

"Because Islamic peoples, so many hate Christianity because of their experience from Western countries, empires, colonizing powers. This is a historical problem," says Pastor Choi.

Koreans are very zealous when it comes to missionary work. In fact, in the last several years, they've managed to send close to 14,000 missionaries in some 160 nations.

This year, South Korean churches will celebrate the centennial of the 1907 Pyongyang revival. In the meantime, they are praying for a second revival, which they hope will lead to reunification of the two Koreas and the mobilization of a hundred thousand more missionaries by the year 2030.

Translate Page