How does a mind -- born into comprehensive tyranny, conditioned for loyalty, fed on lies --
eventually change? What shifts or clicks or breaks?
"I cannot pinpoint one event," says Kim Seung-Min, a former North Korean army officer who defected in the 1990s. "I was very loyal to Kim Jong Il and to the party." His father was a well-known professor and writer; his mother a journalist. But he recalls the leaflet drops from across the border that showed pictures of South Korea. "One image stuck with me. People were wearing all sorts of different clothes. That was remarkable to me."
In such profound isolation, even the possibility of picking your clothes can spark a revolution of the mind.
Gerson goes on to tell of defectors, of Chinese cells on the border helping escapees, and technologies helping to crack the isolation of North Korea.
With strategic options relating to North Korea limited, an information assault on the regime assumes greater urgency. The irreplaceable National Endowment for Democracy supports Free North Korea Radio. But neither South Korea nor the United States shows much creativity or commitment in applying new information technologies to help the spread of freedom.
News like this remind Christians like me to pray for Koreans and for those devoting themselves to helping. These are the front-line heroes of our day. Read the whole article.