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The Mission to North Korea

The article that follows this one is unusual for the depth of insight and direct experience with which its author writes on the religious psychology of North Korea. Ben Torrey has put readers of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research in his debt both by editing George Kap-Hun Kim's translation of Hyun-Sik Kim's article and by supplying an introduction that situates Kim's life and work within the wider context of mission to North Korea. Torrey himself grew up in South Korea, where he joined with his parents in pioneering Jesus Abbey, a community of prayer high in the Taebaek Mountains of Kangwon Do. Following graduation from college in the United States, he directed a community service organization for over two years and then, with his wife, Liz, spent a year in Korea at Jesus Abbey. Upon returning to the United States for the second time, the Torreys settled in Connecticut, where Ben served as a self-supporting pastor with the Evangelical Apostolic Church of North America while working in the fields of computer systems development and knowledge management. Seeing the need for the church and South Korean society to prepare properly for the inevitable opening of North Korea, Torrey, in conjunction with Jesus Abbey, began the Fourth River Project in 2003. He was also given responsibility to direct Jesus Abbey's Three Seas Training Center. The Torreys returned to Korea in October 2005 in order to pursue this work full time.—Editor