Worldwide prayer initiative aimed at North Korea

PYONGYANG, North Korea — Celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the great Pyongyang Revival opened June 25 with a global prayer initiative for spiritual awakening in North Korea.

Although the revival in 1907 is regarded as one of the greatest awakenings in Christian history, the spiritual and physical climate in the reclusive communist country is now “hell on earth,” according to Suzanne Scholte, chairman of the North Korea Freedom Coalition.

The Global Week of Prayer for North Korea focuses attention on a country where Christians are systematically persecuted and millions of people live with chronic hunger, according to the World Food Program. An estimated 2 million North Koreans died during a severe famine in the 1990s.