Claudia Rosett has written that all too rare column, a comparison between a genuine hero (Robert Park who walked into North Korea to plead freedom for its citizen-slaves) and a murderous killer in the service of Allah (the Underwear Bomber). Somehow, in recent weeks, I had missed the story of Robert Park, a 28-year-old missionary, about whom Rosett writes:
An American of Korean descent, Park offered himself up peacefully, on Christmas Day, for the cause of life and liberty for others. He went to northeast China, and from there walked across the frozen Tumen River into North Korea. Witnesses told reporters that as he went, he called out, in Korean, messages of God’s love, as well as “I am an American citizen.” He took with him a letter to North Korean tyrant Kim Jong-il, asking Kim to open his country and shut down his prison camps.
It is now almost three weeks since Park vanished into the shadows of North Korea. As he expected, he was seized by North Korean authorities. . .
Do read the rest of Rosett's column. And remember to pray for Robert Park. We may also ponder Rosett's closing words:
But Park, with his deliberate act of self-sacrifice, chose to embody a message that should be bracing for Americans to honor and remember: That it is not the place of free men to accommodate evil, but to call it what it is, and challenge it – not on its own terms, but on ours.
Update: Park’s final interview with Reuters is here. (HT: Wintery Knight Blog)