Korea Opened Up

As Korea began to loosen its quarantine restrictions for foreign travelers in May 2022, two of our US staff members were able to visit Elim House. The main objectives of that trip were to spend time with our Korea team, see Elim House and meet current residents and to continue building strategic relationships with South Korean churches and key organizations.

A month later in July, one staffer returned to Korea with his family for a longer stay to continue the work that started in May. He and his wife were able to take part in the first Elim House retreat and also had a chance to pilot a few new initiatives. Being able to have our US and Korea team physically in the same place was long overdue and we’re excited to share all the good that came of these recent trips. There are a few more visits planned for our US staff in the second half of the year to explore the new and different ways Crossing Borders might serve the North Korean refugee population in South Korea.

Very Few Defectors Entering South Korea

South Korea’s Ministry of Reunification routinely publishes the number of North Korean defectors entering South Korea each year. As you can see below, the total count of defectors had been as high as 2,914 (2009) and the percentage of women as high as 85% (2018). With the global pandemic shutting down both North Korean and Chinese borders, this number shrank down to just 63 total defectors who arrived in South Korea in 2021. Most sources involved with helping North Koreans with whom we spoke while in South Korea expect even fewer arrivals in 2022.

Not surprisingly, this slowdown has caused the work at the Ministry and at Hanawon to significantly drop off. Related or not, the volume of inquiries of women seeking shelter at Elim House or government-run shelters have also slowed down. Elim House residents have spanned from newer defectors to those who had lived in South Korea for close to a decade so this may be an unexpected coincidence or perhaps just the impact of all the people of Korea adjusting to life after COVID-19.

Time to retreat

A one-night retreat with past and current Elim House residents and our staff was something we’ve wanted to test in Korea, and with a larger team on the ground for the summer, we moved forward with this pilot retreat. Our time together kicked off with Sunday morning worship service at Elim House followed by a quick road trip to the west coast of Incheon where we spent the next day and a half by the water. Four North Korean women attended the retreat and we had an amazing time together digging for clams (more rocks than clams), exercising, playing games, eating and sharing our lives with one another. 

This time away was to be a time of rest and getting into each other’s lives and God allowed for exactly that. God was gracious in providing us with delicious food, hours of laughter, vulnerability and shoulders to cry on. While our time together went far too quickly, we had an opportunity to get a better glimpse into the depth of trauma these women had endured through North Korea and China and how much pain they still carry in their hearts. It broke our hearts to see it up close but also gave us a renewed sense of why God assigned us to do this work halfway around the globe. It reminded us of Psalm 38:18: 

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

Bodily training has value

Charlene is the wife of one of our US staff and is also a seasoned fitness instructor. While on this trip to Korea, Charlene had prepared to teach private classes to groups of North Korean women and also at the retreat. It’s not that South Korea doesn’t have personal fitness instructors. Quite the opposite, actually: workouts like pilate and CrossFit have saturated Korean culture in recent years. While accessible to the masses, including North Korean refugees, we’ve learned that these are not venues where North Koreans (especially women in their 30s-50s) feel comfortable. Whether that is driven by differences in dialect or stature (North Korean women are noticeably shorter than their South Korean counterparts) or even just a self consciousness that persists in everyday life, most of the women who attended had never been to a fitness studio or workout class. 

Refugee women ranging in ages from 30’s to 70’s attended our two workout classes. They arrived early, worked really hard to learn moves they’d never seen, and most importantly, thoroughly enjoyed themselves and took plenty of opportunities to laugh at themselves and each other. Helping these women strengthen their bodies was of some value but it was evident that they gained so much more simply by being together in community.

Kelly

As she patiently waits to receive housing assistance while staying at Elim House, we’ve seen the transforming power of the gospel shape Kelly’s heart. Once a stranger to the bible and Jesus, her hunger for the word and desire to grow in her prayer life have both noticeably grown. She also recently inquired about being baptized and weighed the options of doing it with the pastor that currently leads the Elim House Sunday worship or waiting until she was settled in her new home and a local church. The Lord has really opened her eyes to see and ears to hear and we thank God for bringing salvation to Kelly’s life.

Kelly and our social workers regularly share time together in the word during morning devotionals. They applauded Kelly's determination to learn and pray diligently and it is their prayer that a day will come in the near future where Kelly’s conversations with her heavenly father feels as natural and normal as breathing.

Looking ahead

One of the core values of Crossing Borders is to provide a safe community to refugees.

“Crossing Borders offers North Korean refugees and their children opportunities to thrive by providing physical care, emotional healing and spiritual guidance in a safe community.”

These recent trips to Korea reinforced for us the importance of doing the work of restoring North Korean refugees in a safe community. It is in that place where we saw women allow themselves to be vulnerable and share, to laugh out loud and cry together. It is in that place where God can heal and allow them to experience his warm embrace.

Chuseok is Korea’s fall harvest holiday and when Elim House will host the next retreat with North Korean refugee women. As we prepare for this by sending one of our US staff, we also plan to continue testing new community building events by hosting classes that teach different life skills.

We’re thankful for a season of learning and adapting to ministry work in a place like South Korea. We’re thankful for a fruitful summer and excited to follow God’s leading this fall. We’re thankful for the faithful partners who make this work possible. Please pray for Crossing Borders and our teams in the US and Korea to “devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need,” (Titus 3:14).