June 24, 2004

Dear Friends in God’s mission,

During my summer vacation, I will make a trip to North Korea to see my three half brothers and two half sisters and a cousin.

It’s a tragic story I share with you. I saw these kinds of stories in movies, but I never thought it could actually happen to me. I was born in North Korea. During the Korean War my mother and elder brother and I escaped to South Korea. Afterwards we never heard about our father’s whereabouts. We believed our father died during the war.

But five years ago, my brother, who is a nuclear power engineer in the States, went to North Korea as a consultant to North Korea’s nuclear power plant. At that time he met our cousins and was told that our father survived the war and remarried. He passed away in 1991 and our stepmother also died several years later. They left five children. To my mother, who has not remarried, it was shocking news. Three years ago my brother went back to North Korea and met our half brothers and sisters. To make a long story short, now I am going to see them and a cousin.

My itinerary

I will meet my brother in Beijing on July 8, 2004, and then get a visa for North Korea. I will leave for North Korea on July 10 and return on July 17 to Beijing. I get back to Taiwan on July 19.

Please pray or my safe journey and for this unthinkable meeting.

Grace and peace,

Choon S. Lim from Hualien

The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 96