Expanding Community Classes to Seoul in 2024 - Elim Community

Growing in Size and Spirit

In November, two staff members, Jacob and Dan, went to visit our operations in South Korea. They participated in an English class at Elim Community. It was different from the class that Dan or Jacob taught earlier in the year. The atmosphere was lighter. People were having a great time and laughing with each other. When the instructor asked the group questions, they responded enthusiastically. They were having fun.

At dinner after the class, one of the refugees told us that, for refugees who work full time, leaving the stress of work and coming to the Elim Community class to share that time together and laugh was a great stress reliever. Furthermore, for those at home all day, not having anyone to talk to, coming to class to dialogue together, laugh together and then eat together is also a great way to be in a community that understands this great need.

Life for anyone living in South Korea can be lonely. It is common for an office worker to be at work 60 to 80 hours per week. Apartments are usually small, designed for sleeping and eating and not much else. North Koreans also feel a sense of disconnectedness in their new country. Though they have earned a hard-fought freedom, refugees say that there is little sense of community. One refugee who attends our English class said to us that strangers talk to each other in North Korea. He recalled frequently riding an overnight train and meeting people who eventually became lifelong friends. This simply doesn’t happen that often in the South.

North Koreans need a space where they can gather without judgment. Elim Community English classes have been designed to teach practical English skills in this safe community environment.

Later, in December, as the semester ended, we wanted to celebrate with an end-of-year party where we recognized our students for good attendance and scholarship. The attendees got dressed up, ate good food and played games. Most importantly, they became an even tighter-knit community. While dressing up and attending a Christmast party may not be uncommon to most folks, this event was a gift to most of the refugees. Our English teacher said the one thing she would change for next year’s party is to bring a megaphone. People were laughing so hard that it was hard to get their attention.

SEOUL

With the strength of this community built around Elim Community classes in Incheon, we felt confident in expanding our community classes for North Korean refugees into Seoul, South Korea’s capital and largest city, where most North Koreans in South Korea live. We are partnering with another regional Hana Center in Seoul, the South Korean government’s resettlement agency dedicated to helping North Koreans. Classes in Seoul launched this January and we look forward to sharing more with you in the coming months.

“She smiled and said how great it was to be able to eat together with people like this that evening.”

At dinner with students after an English class in Seoul, one of the North Korean women shared that she had defected from North Korea alone, tried to get married and make friends in South Korea, but ultimately failed and ended up living alone. She smiled and said how great it was to be able to eat together with people like this that evening. One of our newer staff members expressed how she felt more deeply with each passing class how much joy this small event brings to the North Koreans in attendance.

Our prayer is that our Incheon and Seoul classes reach those who need community and the hope of Jesus the most!

A Mother's Love - Elim House Summer Retreat 2023

Last summer, we piloted our first summer retreat for current and past residents of Elim House. God graciously provided the group last year with a time of rest, delicious food, hours of laughter, vulnerability and shoulders to cry on. Our team returned to Korea this June for two weeks to serve at Elim House and Elim Community. They taught English and workout classes, spent time cooking for and ministering to the women at Elim House and finished the trip with our second summer retreat. 

This is the second year for Jacob, one of our team members, and his family to make this summer trip. The main difference this year was having his mother-in-law, Hannah, join the team. Hannah has faithfully followed Jesus for many decades and through many trials. She had always wanted to experience being on a missions trip and the Lord finally allowed that to happen this summer. 

Hannah’s presence was immediately felt, not just by the women at Elim House but by our South Korea team as well. She was quick and constant with her words of encouragement and affirmation with everyone she encountered. As a first generation Korean American, Hannah had no trouble communicating with everyone at Elim House. She lovingly held the hands of our Elim House residents and as she heard their stories, prayed over them and consoled them. As an experienced restaurateur while living in the States, Hannah blessed the women by cooking and sharing meals with the women of Elim House.

Eight North Korean women attended this year’s summer retreat. Though it was her first time at one of our retreats, Hannah was intentional in getting to know the women and was often seen spending one-on-one time with many of them. She had heard about North Korean refugees through Jacob and Crossing Borders in the past. But now face to face with this group of women, she was hungry to learn about each of their stories. As she listened, she cried with the women, encouraging them to hope in the Lord with their own lives and with the fate of their loved ones still in China and North Korea.

The second day of the retreat started with Hannah’s home cooking and visits to a few key locations along the Northern Limit Line, which divides the North Korean coast from South Korea’s five coastal islets near Incheon. As the group visited these sites that look towards North Korea, one stop included an unexpected chorus of a well known reunification song while another stop finished with raising hands towards North Korea as the group cried out to God to heal the land.

Looking towards North Korea, the women who attended the retreat prayed together for their homeland.

As their time in Korea drew to a close with the ending of the retreat, with tears in their eyes, each of the women took turns embracing Hannah to say goodbye and insisted that she come back next year. We knew God would use Hannah to show love and compassion to the North Korean women on this trip. Yet, we were still amazed to see how deeply the women were impacted by her loving presence and her steadfast faith.

Elim House Summer Retreat, June 2023

A mother’s love is precious and irreplaceable. We’re so thankful for God’s providence and provision in sending Hannah to Korea this year. We pray Hannah and other moms will bless future trips to Elim House.

Top Headlines from North Korea - June 2023

Looking across the water at North Korean farmland from South Korea

NEW FAMINE STRIKES AS NORTH KOREAN FAMILIES STARVE TO DEATH

• Latest reports and interviews gathered in North Korea suggest the country is facing the worst food crisis since the 1990s due to a shortage of supplies amid border closures during the pandemic and Kim Jong-un choosing to invest in developing nuclear weapons.

• Pyongyang had always relied on importing grains, fertilizers and machinery from China to feed its 26 million citizens and recently fortified borders have made it impossible for people to smuggle in food to sell at black markets.

• “At first, I was afraid of dying from COVID-19, but then I began to worry about starving to death,” described a construction worker, who claimed that food supplies were so low that five people from his village had already starved to death.

• A resident from Pyongyang told the BBC that she heard of people who killed themselves at home or disappeared into the mountains to die in their sleep because they could no longer make a living.

• North Korea economist, Peter Ward, expressed concerns that “middle-class people are seeing starvation in their neighborhoods.”

• The government used the past three years to pass new laws to further control people’s lives, particularly in relation to defection. A resident commented that “If you even approach the river now you will be given a harsh punishment, so almost nobody is crossing,” while another said, “We are stuck here waiting to die.”

Source:

The BBC

The Independent 

KIM JONG-UN BANS SUICIDE AS NORTH KOREANS CHOOSE TO END THEIR LIVES

• North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, defined suicide as an “act of treason against socialism” and secretly issued a suicide prevention order during an emergency meeting with party leaders after media outlets revealed that families committed suicide due to hunger and poverty.

• An official mentioned that there were 35 known suicide cases in Chongjin and nearby Kyongsong county this year alone, most of which involved whole families ending their lives together.

• According to the South Korean National Intelligence Service, suicides in North Korea had risen by about 40 percent compared to last year.

• Violent crimes in North Korea are also on the rise as people struggle under extreme hardships.

Source:

Radio Free Asia

Hindustan Times

UCA News 

NORTH KOREA VOWS TO FULLY SUPPORT RUSSIA AGAINST UKRAINE

• Kim Jong-un pledged to “hold hands” with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in a message to Moscow marking Russia’s National Day.

• Kim defended Putin’s stance in the Russia-Ukraine war, stating that “Justice is sure to win and the Russian people will continue to add glory to the history of victory.”

• The North Korean leader sought to deepen ties between the two countries after calling for “closer strategic cooperation” in their common aim to build “a powerful country.”

• Pyongyang has been accused of providing weapons to Russia in exchange for food in violation of security council sanctions. Reports also suggested that North Korean workers were sent to Russian-occupied Ukraine to help in construction.

Source:

The Guardian

Reuters 

USS Michigan, a nuclear-powered submarine, approaches a naval base in Busan, South Korea, Friday, June 16, 2023. (Source: Gang Duck-chul/Yonhap via AP)

NORTH KOREA TALKS DEFENSE STRATEGIES AS U.S. SENDS SUBMARINE TO SOUTH KOREA

• According to state media reports, Kim Jong-un attended a Workers’ Party’s Central Committee meeting to discuss improving the country’s struggling economy and reviewing defense strategies to “cope with the changed international situation.”

• The Committee convened the plenary meeting after the U.S. sent a nuclear-powered submarine to South Korea.

• Pyongyang denounced the U.S. and South Korea for their joint military exercises, which were labeled by the North as invasion rehearsals.

• Meanwhile, North Korea used the U.S.-South Korean drills as a pretext to develop its own weaponry, including test-firing around 100 missiles since the start of 2022. 

Source:

Al Jazeera

Taiwan News