Good news from North Korea where AsiaLink partners have been invited to help with a growing medical concern. Japanese Encephalitis is a mosquito-born illness that kills about 20% of people who become infected and gives permanent neurological deficits to many others (mental retardation) who don't die of it directly. It is increasingly prevalent in North Korea.
Prior to large vaccination campaigns in China and South Korea, those countries also had a high burden from this disease. They have nearly eradicated it now in those areas with vaccinations.
We are helping cover the shipping cost for the vaccine (which is being donated) from the point of manufacture all the way to North Korea. Others are covering the costs of syringes/needles, technical consulting/oversight, travel, inland transportation, printing of information materials, etc.
The whole project budget is around £300,000. The total project scope (for this year) is for delivery and administration of around 500,000 vaccinations, targeting children between 1 and 2 years of age across the 5 provinces most affected.
A Beijing court has today found Christian bookstore owner Shi Weihan guilty of “illegal business operation” and sentenced him to three years in prison and a £15,000 fine. Compass reports that Shi’s shop operated legally, sold only books for which he had obtained government permission, and that his Holy Spirit Trading Co. printed Bibles and Christian literature without authorization but only for free distribution to local house churches.
The 38-year-old Shi had been released on Jan. 4, 2008 due to insufficient evidence for the same vague charge of “illegal business operation,” but he was arrested again two month later, on March 19, and held virtually incommunicado. The court ruling appears to have allowed time that Shi has spent in jail to count toward his sentence, a source said, as his prison term was described as running from Nov. 28, 2007, when he was initially arrested, to Nov. 27, 2010.
Others in a printing company who stood trial with Shi appeared to have received similar sentences. A written judgment is expectedwithin 15 days to allow time for an appeal to be filed.
A five year old Christian boy was kidnapped and held to ransom by an unknown group that demanded a $50,000 ransom for his freedom. On May 11th, his body was found riddled with bullets.
There is growing concern that the Christian population in Iraq - a minority group that has shrunk dramatically in recent years because of murders and threats - is under real risk of being eliminated altogether in the country. This is a further clear sign of the danger Christians face every day.
Three Christians are dead and two seriously injured following attacks on believers by gunmen in the northern Iraq city of Kirkuk on the evening of April 26. VOM reports that in one attack, two women, Suzan Latif David and Muna Banna David, were killed in their home. In a separate attack in the same area, Yousif Shaba and his sons Thamir and Basil were shot by gunmen. Basil was killed and at last report Shaba and Thamir were in critical condition. One of the nine men arrested has suspected links to al-Qaeda. Local clergy have condemned the killings, which have sparked fear of further violence against the Christian community.
Ask God to fill those who mourn for these believers with a peace that surpasses understanding in the midst of their grief (Philippians 4:7). Pray for protection for Christians in Kirkuk. Ask God to continue to equip Iraqi Christians to be cross-bearing disciples as they serve Him.
With political negotiations at a standstill and North Korea having recently tested long range missiles, these are difficult days on the Korean peninsula. Most western workers have been told to leave the country including many of our friends. We anticipate this to be a temporary situation.
We still have some important friends working in the country. Please continue to remember them.