AT PRESENT, the high level negotiations of the North and South Korea continues albeit with hitches and rhetoric.
But most of the South Koreans I met say they have relatives in North Korea and that the best would be to have just one Korea.
Two years ago, my husband and I visited the U.S Base in Seoul.
They had included a tour which included a visit to the border and the Demilitarization Zone; he went down the tunnel with all the other tourist, but I chickened out, scary for me.
After the tour and reading the literature he realized that they were there in the 1970s for a military exercise which unknowingly was to thwart a planned North invasion through the tunnels.
At lunch during the tour, our guide said that when some of the North Koreans came over to the South, they cooked their rice cakes with wooden saw dust because that was what they do in North Korea.
I love their rice cakes but with that story, I refrain eating them during that visit.
My first visit to South Korea was being a part of a winter school in 1993-94 through the Ullim Missions and Together in Christ Mission (Kapangan, Benguet).
It was Ruth Kim, the missionary of Kapangan who brought this school together.
We were in Seoul from November to January based in a house which also doubled as our training school.
That was where I had my first winter snow.
One afternoon I was sitting tutoring and all of a sudden we heard clapping and everybody went to the windows to witness the first snow falling, and eventually covering the grounds white with snow.
I remember it well as it seemed to have lightened everyone’s spirit.
Then this Korean man came and said “come we take snake” I said “no thank you” and he came three times and my response was the same. Until finally, he came with a plate and said, “Come.” And I realized he was saying “snack” not “snake” olala dummy me. The snack was delicious.
The winter school has two classes, the Koreans and the Filipino group. Koreans learning English and missions; the Filipinos were having a mission’s school.
I was teaching cross culture missions, and two Americans, Billy and Eddie, were teaching English. Ruth Kim was also teaching missions. Ruth was a persistent and God-loving Korean woman who has a passion for the lost.
Music was also briefly taught by Coppe Mero, but he left in less than a month and went back to the Philippines. Coppe and Adela Mero now have a ministry in Nagaland.
I lost contact with the other members of the training staff.
Our days started at 6 a.m. with personal devotions, followed by breakfast and lessons from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. with lunch at 12:30 p.m.
After dinner was prayer for missions and our day ends at 10:00 pm where we can either watch movies, have chat time or sleep. But it looks nobody really sleeps in South Korea.
I remember one dawn, we were awakened and told to prepare because we are traveling to the prayer mountain, maybe the Koreans knew about it because they were prepared before the Filipinos.
And we went to Yonggi Chu Church or Yoido Full Gospel Church. It was huge and has cross monument before we go to the half circle main sanctuary.
Service was held at the sanctuary, where we were handed earphones for the translations. Translations included English, Japanese and other languages.
After that we joined a prayer group in a different area where we prayed though until midafternoon, it was lunch fasting time.
Watching how the Koreans pray put us to shame. They can kneel and pray for hours, with bottle of water beside them. After prayers we went to another church and they served us Ginseng chicken soup
There is a small whole chicken or chick in a bowl with ginseng and soup. It was a first time for me but it was delicious and nutritious, I ate it all except the bones.
Now we call the Korean prayer style as “popcorn” where everyone was praying at the same time.
Now, we join others to continue praying for a unified Korea, as most Koreans desire that to happen.
Many South Koreans have relatives left in the North. The boundary train can bring them as far as Germany if it were operational, but must past through the North.
May the Lord favor them.