Prayer for Peace: The Saga of a Korean War Survivor

When the Korean War began in June of 1950, Aesop Rhim was a teenage boy living in Chosan, a town near the Yalu River in North Korea. His entire high school class was drafted to serve in the war. After his military training ended, Aesop began his long march to the southern front with his army unit, passed the 38th parallel and Seoul. He witnessed the ravages of a war-torn South Korea. At a nearby war zone, Aesop’s unit was on patrol in what became a battlefield, near the Pusan Perimeter. Aesop agonized over his conscription in an unwanted war and what he was experienced.

 Soon after, his unit was attacked by American tanks; chaos and death were everywhere. Aesop jumped into a river and abandoned all his belongings that identified him as a North Korean soldier. He emerged on the other side of the river thankful to be alive. There he resolved to defect from the North Korean army. He tried to reach the house of his childhood friend, Heungki, a young Korean who with his family had escaped to South Korea before the war. He exchanged letters with Aesop.  

 On his way, Aesop struggled for an arduous few days of walking, exhaustion and starvation. After several deadly skirmishes, he was captured by the South Korean local guards and they severely beat him. Death seemed imminent. Aesop prayed for God’s mercy while imprisoned. When the South Korean army arrived in the town, the unit officer was his home-town senior and recognized Aesop. The officer was amazed. A miracle had occurred. The officer separated Aesop from the other captives and arranged to give him temporary South Korean soldier status, which allowed Aesop to join the South Korean army advancing toward North Korea.

While serving as a South Korean soldier, another misfortune hit Aesop as he became sick with tuberculosis. He was sent to a sanitarium where he feared death again. However, after he recovered from the illness, the army discharged him from service. When the war ended, Aesop was a young man, with no place to stay. He then discovered his destiny as a Christian of deep faith in a church and embarked on a new life journey.  He graduated from a fine arts college in Seoul University and became an artist, and then immigrated to the United States for advanced study. There he met his wife, Sunhee, and the young couple moved to Chicago, where Aesop graduated, majoring in design from the Illinois Institute of Technology and settled his family in Chicago.

In 1997, he had the opportunity to travel back to North Korea on a peace mission and was finally reunited with his siblings. There he witnessed the deprivations of North Korea. At the time, Aesop was shocked to learn from his sister that in the winter of 1975, his older brother was sent to a concentration camp along with his family and his mother. It was a devastating moment for Aesop, but he prayed for God’s guidance and mercy for his family and North Korean people. 

When Aesop returned from Pyongyang, he encountered 9/11 terrorism in New York, and resolved to use his art as a tool for peace. He created the Prayer for Peace exhibitions, shown in many places in the United States to this day. Aesop’s artistic efforts reflects his prayer for peace. In the meantime, Aesop dedicated himself to the missions for peace to the world, such as Mexico and Uganda and sending medical supplies to North Korea. Aesop’s Prayer for Peace became Aesop’s life and art. 

This book is Aesop’s prayer for peace.