For some, this means sending messages over the border, for others itвЂ™s helping defectors adjust to the South, and for still others, it involves paving the way for reunification. While Moon Jae-in, Kim Jong-Un and Trump conduct a complicated diplomatic dance, religiously based, grassroots initiatives take small steps forward. He is willing to start with reconciliation, but his long-term goal is a united peninsula. Unlike his conservative predecessor, Park Geun-hye, who was impeached and sentenced to prison for abuse of power and corruption, Moon is a former human rights attorney. South Koreans have worked hard for success and many do not want to jeopardize their high standard of living to help their вЂњpoor cousinsвЂќ in the North.Д«ut President Moon Jae-in, the son of North Korean refugees, has his own ideas about reconciliation and reunification. The economic challenge is equally daunting. The political difficulties of bridging the difference seem insurmountable, especially with Kim in power. South Korea is a wealthy, democratic one.

North Korea is a poor, totalitarian state. Younger Koreans have pragmatic as well as ideological reasons for opposing reunification. So today, about 58 percent of the population does favor a reunited peninsula, but their numbers are falling. For the time being, however, young folks are a minority. In 2017, the governmentвЂ™s Institute for National Unification found that 71.2 percent of 20-something South Koreans oppose reunification. While many of these older Koreans still want to see the two countries reunited, young people do not share the sentiment. Many had relatives in the North and could not imagine a permanent separation. Indeed after the Korean War, many South Koreans yearned for a reunited nation. Their preference is reunification: one democratic country where Christianity is openly practiced. AP Photo/Ahn Young-joonДuring our visit, we found that many Korean Christians are wary of KimвЂ™s overtures to Moon, including talk of reconciliation. They support U.S policy and, like many evangelical and вЂњprosperityвЂќ churches in the U.S., believe that Donald Trump is GodвЂ™s man.ДЄlmost 30 percent of South Koreans are Christians. Large Korean megachurches, like their American counterparts, tend to be pro-democracy, pro-free market and anti-communist. Today, almost 30 percent of the country is either Protestant or Roman Catholic, with conservative evangelicals playing a significant role in the nationвЂ™s politics and culture. Both Confucianism and conservative Christianity emphasize traditional gender roles, strong families, and respect for authority. ThatвЂ™s because Christianity was the AmericansвЂ™ religion, and many South Koreans wanted what America had вЂ“ wealth, freedom and вЂњdivine blessings.вЂќД¬onversions soared and among the most successful churches were those espousing values similar to Confucianism, the Chinese philosophy that migrated to Korea some 1800 years ago, and is deeply embedded in its culture. Alan Mittelstaedt, CC BYДЄmerican support for the fight against Communism and its aid in postwar reconstruction boosted ChristianityвЂ™s popularity. Many of the worldвЂ™s largest churches are located there, and many South Korean political and business leaders are staunch Christians.ДЄ church in South Korea. Even though half of all South Koreans are religiously unaffiliated, Christianity has had an outsized influence in the country. My students had many questions about the role of religion in the land of K-pop, including ChristianityвЂ™s involvement in either promoting or preventing improved relations between the North and South.

And there were rumors of a Trump and Kim parlay to follow. When we landed at SeoulвЂ™s Incheon Airport, the warm diplomatic tailwinds of the Winter Olympics had thawed relations between the North and South. I watched these events unfold with interest since two months earlier, I had traveled to South Korea with 12 journalism students to report on ongoing religious, political and cultural developments. On June 1, however, following a meeting with a high ranking North Korean official, President Trump announced that he plans to meet Kim Jong-un.

South Korean president Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met for the first time Kim took some serious steps toward denuclearization and Kim and President Trump agreed to talk, but Trump abruptly canceled the historic meeting. A lot has happened on the Korean peninsula in the last few weeks.

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