Dozens of churches and Christian organizations across South Korea and several countries will join a 21-day prayer campaign beginning June 5, focusing on the release of three missionaries held in North Korea and what organizers call "Gospel reunification" of the Korean Peninsula.
The 20th Seire Peace Prayer Meeting, organized by Peace Korea, will run through June 25 and include 48 participating churches and organizations from South Korea as well as congregations in Germany, Russia, France, the United States and Indonesia, according to Christian Daily Korea.
Three missionaries — Kim Jeong-wook, Kim Guk-gi and Choi Chun-gil — remain detained in North Korea. Organizers told Christian Daily Korea that churches have prayed continuously for their release for a decade. Since the gathering began interceding for detained missionaries in 2017, five individuals have been released, according to Peace Korea.
At a press briefing in Seoul, organizers were joined by Missionary Kim Moses, who was previously detained in North Korea and has since been repatriated, and by Kim Jeong-sam, a family representative of Missionary Kim Jeong-wook, who remains held.
This year's meeting carries the theme "See, I Am Doing a New Thing," drawn from Isaiah 43:19.
The Seire gathering, which began in 2007, is modeled on the Old Testament account of Daniel praying for his people over 21 days. Organizers describe it as a cross-denominational Korean church prayer movement. Over the years, it has marked a series of significant anniversaries connected to Korean church and national history, including the 70th anniversary of the Korean War in 2020 and the 70th anniversary of the armistice agreement in 2023.
"We hope that the Korean church will point the world toward the Gospel, and that the Korean Peninsula will become one within the Gospel," organizers said, according to Christian Daily Korea.
A companion prayer book, structured around the 21-day format, includes devotionals from pastors of 21 churches alongside biographical columns exploring martyrdom and faith in biblical, Korean church and world church history. Special prayer topics include the return of the three detained missionaries, the unity of the Korean church and the restoration of Christian communities in North Korea.
Organizers said they hope to see "reconciliation and unity between the churches of South and North Korea," and called on Christians to pray for the roughly 25 million people of North Korea who, they said, remain without open access to the Gospel.
Daily worship recordings will be available via YouTube from June 5 through June 25. Further information is available through Peace Korea's website at peacekorea.org.
