South Korea Takes Down Christmas Tree, Concession To The North?


South Korean officials have dismantled a 60 foot steel Christmas tree known as Aegibong. Government officials say that taking down the Christmas tree has nothing to do with improving diplomatic relations but it may still be a delight for Kim Jong Un. North Korea is officially atheist and has long seen the tree as “religious propaganda,” since it was placed about two miles away from the border.

The Christmas tree has served as an gauge for the diplomatic tension between North and South Korea.

The steel tree was first built in 1971 when tensions were high a couple of years after the Korean Air Lines YS-11 hijacking. According to the New York Times, it sat on a high peak about two miles from the border and at 60 feet, stood tall and bright enough for North Koreans living in border towns to see its illumination.

According to the Guardian, the government stopped lighting the tree in 2004 as relations warmed and then resumed the tree lighting ceremony in 2010 after North Korean attacks that killed 50 in the South.

Nowadays, the relations between the two countries, still technically at war, seems mixed. In the past two weeks, troops have exchanged fire twice — luckily, no one was harmed. However, North Korea once again opened up diplomatic channels with a high-profile visit. The dismantling of the Christmas tree might be an indication that the approach went well.

Nevertheless, South Korea says that they are taking down the tree because there is a danger of it collapsing in the near future. It was 43 years old.

North Korea has been making positive gestures of its own.

North Korean officials recently released Jeffrey Fowle, one of three American citizens being detained in the Hermit Kingdom. The order for his release reportedly came directly from Kim Jong Un after he considered requests from President Obama.

Like the Christmas tree, Fowle’s arrest had a strong religious element to it. The Ohio municipal worker was labeled an enemy of the state when he left a copy of the bible in a restaurant bar. His family insists that he was not on any kind of missionary trip — evangelical Christian belief is strictly against the law in North Korea — instead Fowle claims he was on vacation.

The American government is still pushing to get the other two American captives released. Sweden maintains an embassy in the reclusive country and helped secure Mr. Fowle’s freedom.

Whether the Christmas tree really has anything to do with diplomacy remains unclear but the South Korean Christian community will have to make do with one less steel tower.

[Image Credit: AP/Voice of America]

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