Message in a Bottle: N. Korea May Have Banned Christmas, but Well-Wishers Send Hope by Sea

Message in a bottle. (Credit: Unsplash)

Christmas is banned in North Korea because of course it is -- it’s North Korea, a communist hellhole rife with starvation and misery that should be the subject of many classes at Claudine Gay's Harvard University but of course is not because they'd rather study DEI.

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That doesn’t mean the people of the Democratic People's Republic are forgotten, however. Despite the country being mostly isolated from the modern world, people have found an old-fashioned way to communicate messages of hope and love this holiday season: messages in bottles sent by sea.

The effort is modeled after the WWII Berlin Airlift:

Flash drives celebrating the holiday, and including Bible readings, were launched into the Yellow Sea in bottles so that the currents will carry them to the shores of the North Korean peninsula.

"We should be doing everything we can to get information into North Korea by land, by sea and by air," says Suzanne Scholte, chair of the Washington, D.C.-based North Korean Freedom Coalition which sponsored the messages. The operation is part of the group's "Operation Truth," which Scholte says, "is modeled after the Berlin Airlift, to get critical help to the starving people of North Korea." 

 Watch as they send their messages of love and holiday cheer – and even food –across the oceans:

So far, they’ve already launched 17 message campaigns, and each bottle contains enough rice to feed a family of four for a week, a Bible on a flash drive, and a U.S. $1 bill.  

Nine North Korean escapees are among those sending the hopeful messages.

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Scholte has a strong message to deliver to the people of North Korea:

"We must communicate to the people in power in Pyongyang that they have friends and allies in Korea and America, who have only one desire for them: to share with the benefits of a free people, to give them a life of home instead of despair," she said.

"Those in leadership positions in the DPRK regime wake up in the morning with only two choices in their lives: being slaves devoted to Kim Jong Un or death and their families' deaths. That is why so many began escaping -not just for food, but for freedom, for a better life."

But the effort faces serious obstacles, as the communist dictatorship has shown few signs that it is willing to give up its authoritarian, complete failure of a system of government. "North Koreans are brainwashed from childhood to hate Americans as their enemy and believe that America occupies South Korea,” Scholte says, “making them live in misery while North Korea prospers as a paradise under the Kim dictatorship."

Nevertheless, bottle by bottle, the North Korean Freedom Coalition hopes to bring those struggling under the tyrannical regime some hope for a better life. While it’s unlikely to topple Kim’s autocracy, it’s nevertheless a touching effort on this honored day.

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Meanwhile, censorship and government overreach isn’t just a North Korean phenomenon – it’s happening right here in America. Big Tech constantly works overtime to mute our message here at RedState. If you like stories like this and want to support independent journalism, consider joining our VIP program, where you get access to videos, podcasts, and extras not available to non-subscribers. Most importantly, though, you get to be part of our awesome, raucous discussion boards, where you’re free to say what you really think.

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In the meantime, Merry Christmas, and be grateful that you don’t live in North Korea. I would be remiss if I didn't leave you with this classic gem:

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