Salvation is Delivered By a God, Not a Nation

In today's Korea JoongAng Daily, this was the final sentence in this editorial regarding the upcoming North Korean-South Korean negotiation:

(x) It must be remembered that South Korea holds the key to its (North Korea's) salvation.

The point being made here is that North Korea's economy is in tatters, and as a result, desperately needs economic assistance.  However, salvation is not really the correct word here.  A more appropriate word would be survival. 

Salvation is defined as being the deliverance from the power and effects of sin. 

Survival is defined as being the act or fact of living or continuing longer than another person or thing, or the continuation of life or existence.  

The implication of the word salvation is that the one that is giving salvation is a deity, a god.  It is a word that commonly has religious overtones.  In other words, the final sentence above implies that South Korea holds the key to some sort of economic deliverance from the power and effects of sin.  Either this editorial is comparing South Korea to a god, or the choice of the word salvation is incorrect.  The correct sentence should be:

(o) It must be remembered that South Korea holds the key to its (North Korea's) economic survival.

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