02.16.10 | North Korea’s “dear leader” Kim Jong Il turns 69 today. The second leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) succeeded his father, Kim Il Sung, in leading the country in 1994. Kim Jong Il continues to be idolized by the people of North Korea even while his people live in poverty and he extravagantly maintains the world’s fourth largest army.

Of North Korea’s 23.9 million people, 64 percent are unreligious and only 1.5 percent is evangelical. True believers are persecuted but government-sponsored religious groups try to present an image of religious freedom.

A popular song in DPRK boasts, “We cannot exist without you, Comrade Kim Jong Il! The motherland cannot exist without you!” Pray that North Koreans would learn of Christ and turn such praises to their Redeemer, the God of the Universe.