ROC MP Vicar Bishop of Vladivostok Diocese admits failure of mission to N. Korean migrant workers

English translation by Nina Tkachuk Dimas
12-9-2011

In an interview with “Our Kamchatka”, the local diocesan publication, Bishop Innocent (Yerokhin) of Usuri, vicar of ROC MP’s Vladivostok diocese talked about the specifics and results of the mission to North Koreans — reports the correspondent of “Portal-Credo.Ru” . According to Bishop Innokenty, “North Koreans coming to work in the Primorye region are not very numerous and are not ideologically inclined to convert to Orthodoxy.” The vicar of ROC MP’s largest Far Eastern diocese noted that they perceive us “as a purely external witness of Orthodoxy — they live in our land.”

Comparing the current situation with that of 100 years ago, under the Primorye Korean Orthodox mission, the ROC MP hierarch said, “some of them (the North Koreans – ‘Portal-Credo.ru’)” enter our temples, but there is no active missionary work as there was under the favorable conditions of the early XX century < ...> At present, missionary work among migrants has not found a foothold.” Ministering to the North Koreans is limited to caring for the ROC MP’s Vladivostok diocesan Orthodox church in Pyongyang. In particular, Vladivostok diocesan delegations visit the capital of N Korea several times a year

Nevertheless, Bishop Innokenty (Erokhin) indicated that missionary work among migrants is one of the tasks to be undertaken.

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