Is NK Activist Following 1st Protestant Martyr?

By J.R. Breen

Contributing Writer

Was Robert Park, the American Christian activist, who crossed into North Korea on Christmas Day shouting ``God loves you’’ consciously walking in the footsteps of the first protestant martyr in Korea?

When Park entered North Korea, he made it clear he was fully accepting the possible dangers that lay ahead.

``I do not want President Obama to come and pay to get me out,’’ said Park in an interview with Reuters, before his crossing into North Korea. ``Until the concentration camps are liberated, I do not want to come out. If I have to die with them, I will.’’

A British friend of Park’s, who wished to stay anonymous due to the sensitivity of his work with North Korean refugees, has confirmed that Park told him he had been inspired by reading the story of Robert Jermain Thomas, a Welsh protestant missionary killed in Pyongyang.

One week before his Christmas Day crossing, Park wrote a letter to the husband of the author of a book about Thomas, Stella Price, saying how he had been ``very moved’’ by the ``amazing biography.’’

Robert Thomas arrived on the peninsula in 1865 when Korea was closed to missionaries. He was on a secret trip to distribute Bibles for the National Bible Society of Scotland.

He learned some of the language and returned in 1866 as interpreter on an armed American trading ship, the USS General Sherman, arriving at a time when secret Catholic believers were being persecuted.

Thousands were executed, including several foreign priests. The ship was attacked near Pyongyang and no one survived. Thomas was reportedly beheaded giving a Bible to his executioner.