Pyongyang, the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or North Korea, was once called the "Jerusalem of the East" because there were so many Christians there. After a brutal war with the US left the country in rubble, however, things changed--but how? We talked to Derek Ford, member of the PSL and organizer of a recent delegation to the DPRK, to find out what the country is like. We also read two articles by Korean scholar Dae Young Ryu, one from 2006 called “Fresh Wineskins for New Wine: A New Perspective on North Korean Christianity” published in the Journal of Church and State and another one from 2007 called “Religion, Politics, and Church Construction in North Korea” published in Theology Today, which we recommend for lots more great reading.

Also we mentioned you should also listen to the episode Tyler Hill did with Derek on the podcast Gods and Ghosts, "It's Fun to Stay at the DPRK!" (https://soundcloud.com/critmedia/its-fun-to-stay-at-the-dprk?in=critmedia/sets/gods-ghosts) (also yes we did almost name this episode "It's Fun to Pray at the DPRK" but we don't want to be too derivative)

Music by Amaryah Armstrong and theillalogicalspoon