{"id":47375,"date":"2023-07-12T14:00:51","date_gmt":"2023-07-12T05:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/?p=47375"},"modified":"2023-07-13T13:18:32","modified_gmt":"2023-07-13T04:18:32","slug":"vomk-report-262","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/2023\/07\/12\/vomk-report-262\/","title":{"rendered":"VOICE OF THE MARTYRS KOREA OFFERS BIBLE DANCE THERAPY FOR NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”47364″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”Voice of the Martyrs Korea recently began a Bible Dance Therapy class for North Korean defectors enrolled in its Underground Technology discipleship training school. Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley, a former student of famed Korean traditional dancer Lee Mae Bang, is the instructor. She explains why she created the class and why it is having such a significant impact on the students.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:1.2em|text_align:left” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal” el_class=”headline”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are three complex issues which North Korean defectors face when adjusting to life in South Korea which have particularly stood out to us in relation to their discipleship,\u201d sa<\/span>ys<\/span> Representative Foley:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cFirst, North Koreans struggle to adapt to Christianity in South Korea because the South Korean approach to Christianity requires a South Korean cultural and linguistic base which North Koreans do not have. This problem presents itself most clearly in the preaching and reading of the Bible because the South Korean Bible was translated by and for South Korean scholars, not ordinary Koreans.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cSecond, North Koreans struggle to adapt to social life in South Korea because the social life they are accustomed to in North Korea is communal in nature. It involves eating, singing, and dancing together with one\u2019s neighbors. But South Koreans tend to form their social life <\/span>on the basis of<\/span> preference, convenience, and privacy. For these reasons, it is less common for South Koreans to form relationships with neighbors or invite people into their homes. This can contribute to North Koreans feeling depressed, as their main method of giving and receiving relational support does not work in South Korea.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cThird, many North Koreans suffer from trauma, depression, and related mental health issues. The main support which the government <\/span>provides for<\/span> them to help them treat this aspect of their settlement in South Korea is financial coverage for antipsychotic, antidepressant, and sleep medication prescriptions. While this medication may help them to bring their mental health issues under control, many of them report the persistence of symptoms and develop dependence and tolerance to the medication.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”47367″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Dr. Foley leads an individual Bible Dance Therapy session with a North Korean defector student.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230f0f0f|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Representative Foley says the creative answer to these three problems is what she calls \u201cBible Dance Therapy<\/span>\u201d.<\/span> She explains why she uses each of the words in the class title.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\u201cThe <\/span>first word is \u2018<\/span>Bible<\/span>\u2019<\/span>,\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201cVoice of the Martyrs Korea has been helping North Koreans to see <\/span>that <\/span>the John Ross Bible translation, <\/span>the first translation of the Bible into the Korean language, was <\/span>translated by North Koreans<\/span>. <\/span>Although the Bible in widest usage among Koreans today is South Korean-centered and scholastic, it has not always been so. When North Koreans learn about the history of the Bible<\/span> in Korea<\/span>, they uncover that the<\/span> faith and practices of the North Korean <\/span>underground church are<\/span> the oldest and <\/span>best-established<\/span> form of Christian faith in Korea<\/span>.<\/span> This encourages <\/span>them greatly<\/span>.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cThe second word is \u2018<\/span>Dance<\/span>\u2019,\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201c<\/span>If you give North Koreans music and a <\/span>wide-open<\/span> space<\/span>, they know what to do and are happy to do it. <\/span>Dance <\/span>has been a formative part of most of their lives up until their arrival in South Korea. In South Korea, dance is relegated to the studios and to the clubs and is not commonly practiced as a recreational communal activity in the lives of ordinary people. Giving North Koreans space and occasion to dance helps them to <\/span>maintain<\/span> a healthy communal life that is native to them.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cThe third word is \u2018<\/span>Therapy<\/span>\u2019,\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201c<\/span>Dance therapy provides an alternative form of dealing with trauma, depression, and other mental health issues for North Koreans whose main form of handling these issues, medication, has been largely ineffective until this point.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”47371″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Students in the Bible Dance Therapy class practice the fan dance.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230f0f0f|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Bible Dance Therapy then encompasses all of these things in its focus<\/span>,\u201d says Representative Foley<\/span>. <\/span>\u201c<\/span>It serves to help North Koreans to overcome trauma and mental health issues through learning about and expressing the history of the Korean Bible through dance.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Currently 6 students are <\/span>participating<\/span> in the program. Representative Foley says she intentionally keeps the enrollment small due to the amount of individual work <\/span>required<\/span> with each student. \u201cI teach the students <\/span>as a group <\/span>the movements that compose several basic traditional Korean dances, and then I work with them <\/span>individually <\/span>to develop their own dances<\/span> to work through their traumas and difficulties,\u201d says Representative Foley.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]One of the students, Mrs. <\/span>K (name withheld for security reasons), suffered the death of her young child due to cannibalism at the hands of neighbors during North Korea\u2019s \u201cArduous March\u201d famine in the 1990s. Unable to sleep despite heavy medication, Mrs. K came to the Bible <\/span>D<\/span>ance <\/span>T<\/span>herapy class at the urging of a fellow student. Representative Foley says that Mrs. K has been among the best dancers, with her dance routine a favorite among the other students. \u201cShe\u2019s <\/span>experienced<\/span> a kind of healing that can\u2019t come from medicines,\u201d says Representative Foley.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Representative Foley says that t<\/span>hrough Bible dance therapy, North Korean student<\/span>s are learning that they <\/span>don\u2019t<\/span> need to become more South Korean culturally <\/span>in order to<\/span> become Christian. <\/span>Mrs. J<\/span> (name withheld for security reasons), one of the Bible <\/span>D<\/span>ance <\/span>T<\/span>herapy students,<\/span> has been learning that the Bible did not first come to South Korea, but to North Korea. \u201cI thought that South Korea had <\/span>the <\/span>history of Christianity<\/span>,\u201d says Mrs. J. \u201c<\/span>But, through the <\/span>Bible <\/span>D<\/span>ance<\/span> T<\/span>herapy class<\/span>, that idea was broken.<\/span> I got to know about Missionary Robert Thomas <\/span>[one of the first missionaries to Korea, martyred near Pyongyang] <\/span>and learned about how the Bible first came to Korea.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”47373″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”North Korean defector Bible Dance Therapy students practice at a \u201cwide open space\u201d\u2014a campsite.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230f0f0f|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Upon learning about these things, Mrs. J sa<\/span>ys<\/span>, \u201cI am so happy and excited that we have come to know Jesus Christ through the dedication and service of our missionaries<\/span>. <\/span>I <\/span>don\u2019t<\/span> want to imagine what would have happened to me if I did not know Jesus Christ<\/span>. <\/span>Through the martyrdom<\/span> of missionaries like Robert Thomas<\/span>, many <\/span>North Korean <\/span>women were able to share Jesus, and now I <\/span>am able to<\/span> meet Jesus and share the gospel.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Representative Foley says that the students have decided to do a public performance in October, but additional help will be needed from volunteers <\/span>in order to<\/span> make that a reality.<\/span> \u201cWe need a donated space where we can perform, with lights and sound equipment,\u201d she says. She is also hoping <\/span>that Korean Christians with gifts in performing traditional Korean instruments will come forward to volunteer their services to help. \u201cIt is a pioneering effort,\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201cWe began because we saw that the need for this kind of therapeutic activity was so great for North Korean defectors. But I am only one dancer. There is a need for many Korean Christians to aid us in this effort.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Individuals interested in learning more about Voice of the Martyrs Korea\u2019s North Korean ministry can visit <\/span><\/span>https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/<\/span>en\/<\/span>northkorea\/<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/span> Korean Christians with gifts in traditional Korean dance and music can contact the ministry at 02-2065-0703 for more information about volunteering.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”47364″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”Voice of the Martyrs Korea recently began a Bible Dance Therapy class for North Korean defectors enrolled in its Underground Technology discipleship training school. Voice of the …","protected":false},"author":659,"featured_media":47365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[857,235,869,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-russian-special","category-special-column","category-china-special","category-vomk-report"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["ko","en","zh","ru"],"languages":{"ko":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"zh":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"ru":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/659"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47375"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47396,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47375\/revisions\/47396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}