Each year, around August Christians are invited to join a prayer for the reunification of Korea, prepared by the National Council of Churches in Korea.

The prayer is traditionally used close to August 15, celebrated as Liberation Day in both North and South Korea, marking the date in 1945 when Korea won independence from Japanese colonial oppression, the World Council of Churches reports.

Ironically, however, it also was the day when the peninsula was divided into two countries.

This year, the National Council of Churches in Korea will incorporate the prayer in the closing service of an International Ecumenical Peace Convocation on 13 September, gathering with international partners in Seoul.

The division of Korea or the partition of Korea began at the end of World War II on Sept. 2  1945, with the establishment of a Soviet occupation zone in the north and a U.S. occupation zone in the south.

On June 25, 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea in an attempt to re-unify the peninsula under its communist rule, according to Wikipedia.

The subsequent Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953, ended with a stalemate and has left Korea divided.

Churches are encouraged to translate this prayer into their national languages and share it with their congregations, according to a WCC statement.

"Divided through the violence of imperialism, this land has long been marked by distrust and hostility," the prayer reads. "Bring an end to war and lead us toward a peace agreement."

Korea is home to the largest congregation in the world, the Yoido Full Gospel Church (Pentecostal), with 800,000 members. Korean churches have sent thousands of missionaries to all parts of the world, according to the WCC.

The prayer continues, "Creator God, You open each morning with the radiant sun and adorn the night sky with the moon and the stars. God of Life, who embraces and cares for all creation, we praise your holy name with all our hearts and minds. We come before you as your people, seeking first your kingdom and your righteousness.

"We pray especially for the Korean Peninsula, which continues to bear the wounds of eighty-one years of division. Divided through the violence of imperialism, this land has long been marked by distrust and hostility.

"Bring an end to war and lead us toward a peace agreement. Grant that both sides may respect each other's official names and political systems, put an end to hostility, and walk together on the path of peaceful coexistence.

"Renew the Korean Peninsula with the grace of reconciliation and just peace, and let the peace of this land become a witness of hope for Asia and for the whole world."

Whilst Christianity thrives in South Korea, North Korea is the most dangerous country in the world to be a Christian, while Nigeria is the deadliest, according to the Open Doors World Watch List 2026 (WWL) published in January, cited by Christianity Today.

It says the closed-off communist country headed by supreme leader Kim Jong Un severely punishes anyone caught with a Bible or practising the Christian faith.

Christians must worship "in utmost secrecy" and the result is a church "driven deeper and deeper underground as the pressure intensifies"