From a Christian perspective, it is hard to ignore some of the spiritual connections to the decline of Chosun. It had been drilled into the population that the first words to be spoken every morning were, "Oh Great Leader Kim Il Sung." The first word a baby learned was "Kim Il Sung." Before every meal, "Thank you, great Kim Il Sung." With this man trying deliberately to take the place that only God can rightly claim in a man and nation's life, why should God honor this nation with prosperity?

Little by little, a Joseph-like famine (as in Genesis) began to take over North Korea. Before it was over, a job in the food industry was the best deal going. Coal disappeared, and citizens trekked to the mountains for wood fuel. When the trees were gone, the dirt had no place to go put down, clogging the rivers, slowing the water supply. A curse slowly enveloped the land.

Those looking for human causes want to dump all guilt on the present leader, who took over when the famine was getting to its worst stages. But some of Dad's policies, linked to the unchanging nature of the Communist way, not to mention some Confucian stubbornness, must share the blame. Things had gotten pretty bad by the time Kim Junior took the throne.

One side effect of deterioration was the eager desire of many to get out. In Siberia, North Korean men were drawn to a job opportunity that involved incredibly hard work in a frozen wasteland. But here was food. And a certain amount of dignity . Not only that, there were "free" people, relatively speaking, in Siberia. Off they went.

Those who stayed behind were increasingly vulnerable to a slow painful death. It is estimated that 80 to 90 percent of NK's people developed stomach ulcers. When the digestive juices flow, but there is no food in the stomach to be digested, the acid has no place to go but through the wall of the stomach.

Trees on mountains, food in bellies, simple little things we all take for granted. All denied to these descendants of the "morning calm." Many still suffer. But even more to be pitied is the man or woman whose hungry soul shall perish without Christ.