Dr. Jim Collier's Insights & Strategies

It was announced today that former U.S. president Jimmy Carter was able to secure the release of Aijalon Gomes from a North Korean prison.  He had been detained since January 2010 for illegally entering the country from China.  He has been described as a 31 year old activist who frequently protested human rights violations in the North.

Without getting into all of the political stuff it is safe to say that U.S. relations with North Korea have gotten markedly worse since the Cheonan warship sank in March, 2010.  Former president Carter has been critical of the present administrations two track diplomatic tactic of sanctions and pushing for nuclear disarmament.  It is easy to see why North Korea asked for Carter to come and get Gomes.

Who is Aijalon Gomes and why did he decide to go to North Korea in the first place?  While seeking to answer this question I found out some interesting things about this man. Aijalon is a practicing follower of Jesus Christ and is a close friend of Robert Park who himself was imprisoned in North Korea earlier in the year for the same violation.  They both attended Every Nation Church of Korea which is a church plant of King’s Park International Church in North Carolina.

Marshalette Wise who trains English teachers in Seoul saud, “Aijalon Mahli Gomes attends church every Sunday in Seoul and refuses to quit his teaching job in South Korea despite the stress of being in a foreign country.

For two years, Gomes taught English about an hour-and-a-half from Seoul at Chungui Middle School. He appears to be a quiet, contemplative man but something happened inside of him that caused him to embrace the plight of those suffering in North Korea.  Could it have been the Spirit of Christ stirring our brother to leave his comfort zone and act boldly or was he just some misguided individual who made a bad decision?

“I don’t know exactly why he did it but I’m sure he felt that God was saying to him good can come out of this,” says English teacher Marius van Broekhuizen, who attended the same church as Gomes and Parks.

“To an outsider, it seems incredibly stupid what he did, but Aijalon stopped living for himself a long time ago,” Van Broekhuizen says. “If you know him, you would understand that everything that he did was to benefit the people around him. And I’m sure he was convinced that what he did could in a way help the people of North Korea to be free again.”

Van Broekhuizen says he talked and prayed with Gomes nearly every week for more than a year.  Van Broekhuizen speculates that his friend went to North Korea to find purpose in his life.

“Aijalon’s focus moved away from just having a good time to meaning something to the people around him — from first living for his own pleasure toward loving people and being sacrificial and that,” Van Broekhuizen says. “We did have a good time together, definitely. But it was more a deep relationship, than just a fun relationship, and I learned a lot from him.”

The pastor of the church they all attended said,  ”I don’t know why it happened, but, it just, amazingly, just two members from our church going to North Korea,” says Simon Suh, pastor of Every Nation Church. “I just want people to know that from my message, or our church orientation, that we don’t encourage people to go to North Korea.”

Pastor Suh says Gomes and Park may have been drawn to the North because of what he described as passionate prayers by defectors now living in the South, many of whom attend their small church.

“There are several occasions that we’d been really praying for the family members who came from North Korea, and hiding in our shelter in China,” Suh says. “We’ve been specifically praying for those people, and I believe that Aijalon was very much moved about those events.”

“Aijalon and I had several counseling sessions where he really wants to pray and find out God’s will. A lot of times he really didn’t know whether he needed to stay in Korea or go back to the United States. So he said, ‘Pastor Simon, that’s just one of the prayers that I’m constantly praying: What is next in my life?’ ”

Joo Gyung-bae, a North Korean refugee who is also a member of the congregation, remembers sharing his life’s struggles with Gomes during prayer meetings. He says Gomes didn’t talk much, but you could see he cared more deeply than others, especially about the people of North Korea and the extreme hardships they face.

“He loved us more than anyone,” Joo says. “His heart really ached for us, unconditionally — that’s how he felt when he left us, with no hope for any reward. I trust in Mr. Gomes because I believe that Jesus sent him, and that he carried Jesus’ love with him.”

It appears to me that Aijalon Gomes became more and more concerned about the numerous other prisoners in North Korea and had to do something.  His conversations with Robert Parks, his friend and former fellow prisoner, no doubt played a part in spurring him to act.  Parks is still suffering trauma from his time in prison in North Korea and there are rumors that he may have been sexually tortured.   This all probably weighed in on the heart and conscience of Gomes.