SEOUL: 17th January 2005 --  Since most readers of austraLasia outside of Korea would be struggling to read this month's Korean Salesian Bulletin, a brief overview of its central topic for the month - evangelisation, the Korean Church and North Korea - might be helpful.

    The SB Korea devotes 10 pages this time (out of 44) to the topic, with photos of North Korean life and of the only officially open Catholic Church in Pyongyang.

    Just what is the reality? 2005 witnesses a sad anniversary of 60 years of separation of North from South on the peninsula.  This period has also been one of intense propaganda against the Church and of very little penetration by the Church into North Korean society.

    But the story is different when it comes to those from North who have headed South.  As of December 2004, 6000 refugees were living in the South, 100 arriving per month.  The number of refugees has increased notably in the past five years.  The South Korean Catholic Church has been mobilised for some years to deal with this situation.  The Bishops Conference and Religious have seen to it that in all dioceses and parishes there is a welcome and help to adapt to life in the South.  The Salesian Family has been part of this process for much of its organised existence (SDB, FMA and CSM in particular).

    The strategy to evangelise the refugees is seen as a bridge to some future time when the Church will be able to carry out work in the North.

    Since 2001 the Salesian answer has been especially via the Don Bosco Youth Centre (SDB) and the Mazzarello and Laura Centres (FMA) in Seoul.  Dozens of North Korean youth have been helped through these centres: vocational training, group homes, boarding, a place to be with a family when they arrive without any family, assistance at enculturation into a capitalist society.  Some of these have become active in society, some have begun a journey of faith and a few have asked for baptism.

    The SB contains an account of an interview with a girl living in an FMA group home, sharing her feelings and experiences.