Activist: US Missionary Crosses Border into N. Korea

SEOUL, South Korea -- A Christian missionary from the U.S. has entered North Korea carrying a letter to leader Kim Jong Il in order to call attention to the tens of thousands of political prisoners believed held in the communist state, an activist said Saturday. Robert Park, a 28-year-old Korean-American, crossed the frozen Tumen River into North Korea from China on Christmas Day to urge Kim to release political prisoners and shut down the "concentration camps" where they are held, said the activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the issue's sensitivity.

Park is a missionary from Tucson, Arizona, according to the activist, who works for Pax Koreana, a conservative Seoul-based group that calls for North Korea to improve its human rights record.

"I am an American citizen. I brought God's love. God loves you and God bless you," Park was quoted by two activists as shouting in Korean as he crossed the North Korean border, according to the activist who spoke to The Associated Press.

He said Park was last seen by the two other activists, who saw him enter North Korea near the northeastern city of Hoeryong from the poorly guarded border late Friday afternoon. North Korea holds some 154,000 political prisoners in six large camps across the country, according to South Korean government estimates. The North has long been regarded as having one of the world's worst human rights records, but it rejects outside criticism and denies the existence of prison camps.

North Korean state media did not mention any illegal crossing. The country's criminal code punishes illegal entry with up to three years in prison.

Park carried a letter to Kim calling for major changes in how the country is operated, according to Pax Koreana.

"Please open your borders so that we may bring food, provisions, medicine, necessities, and assistance to those who are struggling to survive,"

Defining Prayer

By Pat Robertson

CBN.com - Prayer is communion with God. It is the closest, most intimate relationship with the Creator you can have.

Prayer is not playing magic games, spinning prayer wheels, reading off a list, or asking for things to be done. It is a communion. "Deep calls unto deep," the Bible says (Psalm 42:7). In prayer the depths of your spirit are in communion with the depths of the Spirit of God. Out of this can come instruction, guidance, or a burden to pray for certain things.

For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Romans 8:26

There are times when we can emit only wordless groanings because we don't know how to pray about a specific situation.

We can learn much from the Lord's Prayer, the model prayer .The first is that if we are to structure prayer, we should begin with an acknowledgment of the One we are talking to -- God, our Father. We should also include adoration, "Hallowed be Your name." We are to glorify and worship His name, His very Being.

Next, we must be concerned about the extension of His kingdom. We ask that men should come to know Him and submit to Him. "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Next to the name and the person of God Himself, the most important thing in prayer is the extension of God's kingdom.

After that, we ask God for our daily bread -- whatever we need to carry out His work. It may be money, a car, food, clothing, a house, or a $20 million budget for a Christian organization. It may be money to feed the poor. It may be a lot of things. We ask Him to give us, day by day, bread that is sufficient for us. That is the petition part of prayer. The first part of prayer is praise, the second is intercession for others, and the third is petition, when we ask for our needs to be met.

Finally, we seek God's protection that we might not be led into temptation and that God will keep us from evil. We ask Him to keep us walking in His

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