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December 4, 2012

UPDATED: Christmas Lights as 'Psychological Warfare'? Only in North Korea

South Korean border residents fear holiday display would provoke bombs.

Melissa Steffan

(Update: The outgoing South Korean government has granted permission for the Christmas lights to be displayed for the first time in nine years.)

The Military Evangelical Association of Korea has agreed to suspend its annual display of Christmas lights amid fears that it might provoke a decidedly Scrooge-like military response from North Korea.

The church group would have erected steel towers strung like Christmas trees within sight of the North Korean border. However, South Korean border-area residents expressed fear that North Korea would interpret the Christmas displays as "psychological warfare"—attempting to bring Christianity over the border into the Communist-run north—and feel compelled to retaliate militarily. As a result, the church group agreed not to display the lights.

The display was also put on hold last year as a "gesture of good will" while North Korea mourned the death of dictator Kim Jong Il.

CT previously reported North Korea's protest of the displays last year, as well as the death of its ruler Kim Jong-Il. CT has reported extensively on North Korea's persecution of Christians.

posted by Melissa Steffan | Comments (2)

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"No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket. Instead, everyone who lights a lamp puts it on a lamp stand. Then its light shines on everyone in the house." Matthew 5:15
I say build the biggest, brightest blatantly CHRISTIAN lights display on the highest hill closest to the N. Korean border and if the communist atheists don't like it...WELL TOUGH NUTS DEVIL WORSHIPERS! The lights will provide inspiration to the Christians in hiding in N. Korea as a sign that God's people are EVERYWHERE and God's word cannot be destroyed. DON'T LET THE DEVIL GET HIS WAY!!

Posted By: JR | December 5, 2012 1:38 PM

Zeal is not the same as witness. If we are interested in communicating the truth of the gospel to the gulag that North Korea has become, we must move past symbolism and considering how we can minister to them. Our goal is not to show how courageous we are but to show how good our God is. I live and work a few miles south of the border with North Korea and know some of those who work for the freedom of all Koreans. Lets help those how are actually ministering to North Koreans and leave the chest-bumping on the basketball court.

Posted By: David Wilson | December 7, 2012 7:42 PM

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