Welcome to Stories from Chosin, the audio version of the House of Chosin daily blog posts, available at ChosinHouse.com. Today, human bombs. No, I haven't suddenly switched to talking about Islam. North Koreans, too, have pledged to defend their land and their emperor with their own bodies, their own lives. Christians have long known the principle of self-sacrifice and have produced true martyrs through the ages. The Muslims picked up on this much later. And, of course, we remember the Japanese who came against the American military in World War II in this same selfless way. According to Tom Belke's Juche, it's also a North Korean thing. In March 12 of 1998, the present Kim declared to some of his troops, and I quote, the soldiers of your unit have turned your naval port into an impregnable fortress and become brave soldiers, sailors, ready to defend your leader with your lives as human bombs and make suicidal attacks." Belkey goes on, New Year's editorials of 1996 and 1997 featured Red Flag terminology. Red Flag ideology calls on the people to embrace the spirit of self-reliance, that's juche, the revolutionary struggle and spirit, and to become bullets and human bombs to protect the leader. The 1998 joint New Year's editorial declared, We should firmly defend General Secretary Kim Jong-il and guarantee his absolute authority in every way in the spirit of defending the leader at the risk of life and the spirit of human bombs. typical N.K. wordiness and redundancy, but you get the point. People, just like you and me, willing to give all for their Lord. People who have had very little in this life anyway, willing to lay their lives down before any more of their dreams are met. To serve as a living weapon for a man who has lied to them, hurt them, intimidated them. They pay the ultimate price. Our Lord has told us the truth about ourselves our world, and Himself. He's never hurt us, only brought good things to us, but He asks us to give our lives in the very same way. How many excuses we throw up at Him, only your heart and mine know. But it's time to stop that, that beautiful thing that's on your heart to do for Christ and perhaps for North Korea. Just do it. Rebuke the fear, the distractions, and give your life away. So again, the North Koreans are being used by God to serve as an example to his people. The challenge is there. How about it? Well, thank you for your interest in North Korea. Visit us at chosenhouse.com for more than 160 to 165 other blog posts, written and audio. A live feed of North Korean news, lists of books and other resources, iPod users can now subscribe to the House of Chosun through iTunes or Sermon Audio. We're trying to provide all you need to get an informed prayer life regarding Chosun, the Hermit Kingdom, land of morning calm.