Dec_week3 2025 North Korea Prayer

1. North Korean Students and Parents Must Be Responsible for Classroom Heating... Heading to the Mountains to Gather Firewood

A school located in Namyang Workers' District, North Hamgyong Province, North Korea. / Photo = Daily NK
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Recently, reports have emerged that in some regions of North Korea, parents are going to the mountains to gather wood to heat their children's classrooms. As the price of firewood in the market has significantly increased this year, a system of parents taking turns as "fire duty" for a day, instead of paying in cash or in kind, is spreading. The burden of classroom heating is originally the responsibility of the school or local administrative body, but it has long been passed on to students and parents. The price of one cubic meter of firewood was around 200,000 North Korean won last year, but it has risen to 500,000 won this year, more than doubling. Homeroom teachers sent out notices giving parents the option of choosing between cash, payment in kind, or fire duty. If they pay cash, it is used for a bulk purchase. For payment in kind, a set amount is submitted and stacked in the classroom. For those who cannot pay cash or in kind, fire duty is applied, where students take turns being responsible for one day's heating. It is reported that due to the increase in firewood prices this year, many parents have opted for fire duty. In one class at a junior secondary school in Hamhung City, only 8 out of 27 students paid cash, and the rest chose fire duty. When fire duty is chosen, parents and students often go up the mountain directly to gather wood. There are even cases where students are absent for a day or two to gather firewood. However, the green wood they bring back in a hurry does not dry, making it difficult to light and producing heavy smoke, which significantly disrupts classroom instruction. [Dec 11, 2025. Daily NK / View article https://buly.kr/DwFMG56]
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“Who is like you, O Lord? You rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who plunder them.” (Psalm 35:10)
Students and parents are responsible for heating classrooms in North Korea, but with the price of firewood more than doubling, the majority cannot afford to pay cash or in kind, forcing parents, and even students who must take absences, to go directly to the mountains to gather wood. Lord, have mercy on the next generation in North Korea who are in such a poor educational environment, and swiftly grant them appropriate educational conditions and the right to learn.
May this cruel child abuse, where young students who should be studying in classrooms are driven to the mountains to gather firewood in the cold winter simply because they are poor, be swiftly stopped.
May God personally be a help to the North Korean residents and young students who are suffering due to inadequate clothing and heating in the sub-zero weather, so that they may get through this winter well. May the Lord personally provide the daily bread for the North Korean people, protect their lives and health until the Gospel Unification comes and they can freely believe in Jesus, and shield them from the cold.

2. Avoidance of Winter Mt. Paektu Revolutionary Site Expeditions... "Is it Worth Paying Money for Suffering?"

North Korea's Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the Workers' Party, reported on the 6th, "The march of young students from across the country to the revolutionary battle sites in the Mt. Paektu area climbed Mt. Paektu on the 5th." / Photo = Rodong Sinmun/News1
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As North Korea encourages winter expeditions to the Mt. Paektu revolutionary sites, the burden and discontent among residents are growing. Expeditions are being organized by various Party and labor organization units, including Sinuiju City, North Pyongan Province. While the authorities package it as voluntary participation, residents perceive it as political mobilization that is difficult to refuse. The Mt. Paektu area in Ryanggang Province experiences severe cold with temperatures consistently dropping to -20 to -30 degrees Celsius in winter. Participants must endure forced marches in the extreme cold under the pretext of experiencing the 'Spirit of the Freezing Wind.' The winter Mt. Paektu expedition is also evaluated as being virtually equivalent to military training. All expedition costs, including uniforms, lunch boxes, and transportation, are borne by the individual. The basic cost is about $100, with actual expenses reaching $150 to $200. Cynicism is spreading among residents that they are paying money to buy suffering. Each unit uses expedition participation as a standard for evaluating loyalty and political attitude. A source pointed out, "Although the core of the Mt. Paektu expedition was originally the study of revolutionary traditions, the problem is that it is now becoming a structure where competition for loyalty among units and the avoidance by residents occur simultaneously." [Dec 12, 2025. Daily NK / View article https://buly.kr/5JOECQ0]
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"He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free" (Psalm 146:7)
North Korean residents are suffering in the bitter cold, bearing massive costs due to the winter Mt. Paektu expedition forced by the North Korean authorities in a competition for loyalty. Look upon the North Korean people who must endure forced marches similar to military training in the bitter cold under the pretext of revolutionary tradition, and swiftly end the coercion of the North Korean authorities who forcibly mobilize residents.
May fitting leaders and a regime be established in North Korea that respect the lives and human rights of the residents, and prioritize the residents' food, clothing, housing, and livelihoods over the survival of the regime, in a manner pleasing to God.

3. North Korea Fully Highlights 'Welcome Ceremony' for Returning Russian-Dispatched Troops... Kim Jong Un's Speech Completes the Dispatch Narrative

(Pyongyang Rodong Sinmun = News1) = North Korea's Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the Workers' Party, reported on the 13th, "A grand welcome ceremony for the 528th Engineer Regiment, returning after carrying out the Party's combat order in an overseas operational area, was held on December 12th at the April 25 House of Culture Square in the capital city of Pyongyang." [Available for use only in the Republic of Korea. Redistribution prohibited. DB prohibited. For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. Redistribution Prohibited] rodongphoto@news1.kr
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A welcome ceremony for the returning 528th Engineer Regiment was held on December 12th at the April 25 House of Culture Square in Pyongyang. Kim Jong Un personally attended the ceremony, which was joined by officials from the Party Central Committee and the Ministry of National Defense, commanders of the People's Army, families of the Engineer Regiment fighters, and Pyongyang citizens. In his speech, Kim Jong Un emphasized that the Engineer Regiment achieved brilliant combat success by carrying out combat missions in Russia's Kursk Oblast. The welcome ceremony was structured as a political ritual, including a direct speech by Kim Jong Un, posthumous honors and medal presentations for the fallen, and condolences to the bereaved families. The Rodong Sinmun reported that the Engineer Regiment returned after carrying out the Party's combat order in an overseas theater of operations, leading to the interpretation that North Korea intends to fully publicize the dispatch by revealing the fact of overseas operations through a political event presided over by Kim Jong Un. Kim Jong Un stated, "I feel relieved that everyone has returned," and in his speech, he mentioned the 120 days of waiting. Professor Lim Eul-chul of the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University noted the trend in which the Rodong Sinmun featured this welcome ceremony prominently, following its earlier report on the construction of the Overseas Combat Merits Memorial Hall. The ceremony was also evaluated as the final stage in completing the political narrative to officially incorporate the overseas operation into history. [Dec 13, 2025. News1 / View article https://buly.kr/CM0XS9V]
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"The Lord frustrates the plans of the nations and thwarts the purposes of the peoples." (Psalm 33:10)
North Korean experts evaluated the Rodong Sinmun's report on the welcome ceremony for the returning 528th Engineer Regiment, attended by Kim Jong Un, as a step towards officially incorporating the overseas operation into history. Lord, prevent the human rights-violating troop dispatch and the resulting casualties that the Kim Jong Un hereditary dictatorship perpetrates for the purpose of earning foreign currency to maintain the regime. May such actions not be justified as state activity and repeated.
Comfort the bereaved families of the many North Korean soldiers who lost their lives while being forced into dangerous missions like mine clearance after being deployed to Russia. May the young soldiers of North Korea never again become victims of war.