Christian school had a summer field trip to historical sites.

By Eunhye Hong / Principal, Christian School

“No!! He’s only sixteen !! How can you do that! ” I screamed and cried violently, wailing and waking up from a dream. It was the third night of the itinerary. That morning we went to the North-South Love School, the only North Korean youth school established by North Koreans in South Korea. It was an alternative school to educate North Korean defectors and second generation North Koreans who came to South Korea through the North-South Love Network. Among the second generation of North Korean defectors, there were children born to mothers who were sold to China at very young age. That night I cried in my dreams if it hurt me so much.

Our students at Christian school under University of the Nations, Jeju take a trip each year. As a five-year school, there are two outreach trips, two history and cultural tours, and one graduation trip. This year was a tour of Korean history and culture, and our theme was “New Korea.”

The first day’s schedule began with lecture by Imhul, a missionary at YWAM Goyang base. It was time to have a historical and political perspective on the justification for reunification, and most of the students learned about the various types of reunification process through this lecture, such as absorption reunification, one nation two systems, or federal system. And we headed for Yeonmijeong. It is a place where you can see the land of North Korea in Ganghwa-do. There, we worshiped and praised and proclaimed God’s promises toward the land of North Korea and returned.

The next day, we went to the Camp Greaves in the DMZ, following the Yongsan War Museum and the DMZ Tour (Imjinak, Dorasan Station, Dora Observatory, 3rd Tunnel, and Unification Village). God gave us a good weather, so we could see North Korea without a telescope.

On the third day, we visited the South-North Love School, met with North Korean defectors, and had lunch together. And then we visited to Yonsei University to see Gwang Hye-won and Underwood Memorial Center, and listened to the history of the missionaries. Two students paired in one group placed flower at the missionary’s grave. In the evening, I climbed up the cable car to Namsan Tower and watched the night view of Seoul.

On the fourth day, we visited the North Korean Resource Center, where we were able to look at a vast amount of information about North Korea, including North Korean textbooks and North Korean newspaper published on the 2nd of September.

We gave a small group mission there. The students had to discuss things together and buy something to commemorate the history and culture visit with meaning. Each team bought a set of chopsticks, two masks, and five bundles of flowers. As two chopsticks can play their part, North and South have to work together, crying mask before unification, smiley mask after Korean unification, harmony and each flower word means unification.

It was the last night that we had a time to reflect on what we learned through lectures and hands-on learning through the “Challenge Golden Bell” time. Afterwards, at the debriefing time, the students all shared a deep understanding of the importance of unification and promised to pray for it.