What is God Doing in North Korea?

North Korea

Population: 25.5 million

Capital:    Pyongyang

People Groups:   6

Main Religion: Atheist 64%

All Christians:  1.6%

A North Korean escapee, who said that he fled his country because he was “starving to death” has issued an urgent prayer request to Christians around the world. “Please pray for a great revival in my country,” said the man, who asked only to be known as “Mr. Lee.” He went on, “I want every North Korean to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour and only by God’s power is that possible. When I lived in North Korea, I never once heard about Jesus and so I know it will take a miracle for so many in my nation to be saved.” The North Korean said that he was an arts teacher in North Korea where his whole family’s income was only $1 US per month. “Back in 1996, I decided to make a trip by boat to China to sell some goods there so my family and I could survive,” he said. “When I went back to North Korea, I was arrested as a smuggler and sent to prison for a month.” He revealed that he then decided to try and go back to China and he succeeded and then something extraordinary occurred. “While I was in China, I met three missionaries from South Korea who traveled there as missionaries,” he explained. “They shared the Gospel with me and there and then I gave my life to Jesus Christ.” Eventually, he began the tortuous escape route that took him to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, and then he was able to finally get to South Korea where he was welcomed with open arms. Still, he said he missed his family and was “mourning” for them, but as he’s grown in his faith, he said, “I was able to overcome my fears.” The North Korean now attends the Manmin Joong-Ang Church in Seoul and concluded by saying, “One day I want to become a minister.”     Assist News Service, May 2004

Christians are seeking ways to send aid into North Korea, a country where human-rights groups say religious freedom is nonexistent. One medical missionary says Christianity is the communist nation's biggest fear. Humanitarian relief experts report that more than 4 million people have died of hunger since 1995. Anyone caught criticizing President Kim Jong-Il is arrested and subjected to hard labor, torture, starvation, biochemical experimentation, or execution. "Kim Jong-Il does not allow any god besides him," German doctor Norbert Vollertsen, who traveled to North Korea, taking video and still images of the starved and dying, said.  "Christianity is their main enemy because they know about the power of Christianity." Christians on the outside haven't lost hope for North Korea. Tim Peters, an American missionary and founder of Helping Hands Korea, has lived in South Korea for 13 years. His ministry sends food into North Korea through proven smugglers who have managed to get food into the hands of the most needy. Besides its normal monthly shipments, the ministry delivered 19 tons of baby food to a northeastern province last year. Last summer, Vollertsen and supporting activists attempted to launch helium balloons carrying small, solar-powered radios from South Korea's northern border into North Korea. Vollertsen hoped the radios would give citizens access to the outside world.  Charisma News Service, January 2004

North Koreans who have successfully fled to China paint a picture of the terrible life in their nation: indescribable needs and persecution, permanent surveillance, and control even of thoughts. "The years of famine have cost the lives of millions; all religious practise is strictly forbidden, except the worship of dictator Kim Jong-il and his deceased father Kim Il-sung," writes missions agency Open Doors. The population has been trained to spy on each other; every person is in a political unit of five in their workplace, and families are grouped in twenties to a 'social peoples' unit' led by one person reporting to the State. Christians are considered political criminals; they often  disappear, being executed or interned in labour camps, where they are kept like animals inside electric fences, making goods for export under brutal conditions.  And yet there is hope. Reliable sources speak of 300,000 to 400,000 Christians living in North Korea, their number continually growing. They meet in small groups of four or five people, hidden behind thick curtains, with no singing, because that is far too dangerous. These house churches organise themselves in networks which meet in remote caves. The number of Christians among the North Korean refugees in China has grown significantly in recent years. Some Korean house churches in China focus on evangelising and discipling them. "I believe that once the North Korean borders are opened, God will use North Korean Christians to spread the Gospel in Asia," says one North Korean refugee. "Now is a time of preparation."   Open Doors, Joel News International, December 2003

The first missionary to Korea, Robert J. Thomas, was ordained on June 4, 1863, at a little church in Hanover, Wales. he and his wife left in July, sent by the London Missionary Sociaty, arriving at Shanghai, China. His wife died soon after arrival. In 1866, having evangelized for a few months in Korea and learning the language, Thomas rode the American ship, General Sherman, along the Taedong Rivver (where the capital of North Korea is today). The Sherman became grounded on a sandbar. The Korean soldiers on shore were suspicious and scared. They boarded the ship waving long, flashing knives. When Thomas saw that he was going to be killed, he held out the Korean Bible to them saying, "Jesus, Jesus." His head was cut off. Twenty-five years after Thomas' death, someone discovered a little guest house in this area with some strange wallpaper. The paper had Korean characters printed on it. The owner of the house explained that he had used the pages of this book do paste on the wall to preserve the writing. Not only the owner, but many of the guests would come in and stay to "read the walls." This was the Bible that Thomas had given to his murderers.   Voice of the Martyrs, August 1997

A South Korean pastor speaking at a missions conference in Germany in early March 2000 reports that despite brutal oppression and the death of some 3 million people through starvation, around half a million of North Korea's 23 million inhabitants are Christians. North Korea has around 1 million political prisoners, in addition to over 100,000 Christians imprisoned in concentration camps, sometimes without shelter, food or medical aid. Reportedly, anyone discovered with a Bible is considered to be a 'South Korean spy' and executed, according to the many reports. Despite these conditions, the number of underground churches is growing. Northern Korean Christians have formulated five principles, which they recite together with the Lord's Prayer in their secret meetings: 1. Our persecution and suffering are our joy and honor. 2. We want to accept ridicule, scorn and disadvantages with joy in Jesus' name. 3. As Christians, we want to wipe others' tears away and comfort the suffering. 4. We want to be ready to risk our life because of our love for our neighbor, so that they also become Christians. 5. We want to live our lives according to the standards set in God's Word. These dedicated believers are living in the center of the demonic persecution and authority. They are a testimony of the power of God's love to sustain a people committed to Him.   Prayer News Alert, April 2000

 

There will be no public observance of Christmas in North Korea; it doesn't appear on the government-printed calendar. But Christians in South Korea fervently pray for openings to share God's Word across the border to their kinsmen. They also use creative tactics to reach unbelievers and to strengthen believers who must practice a very private faith. They launch balloons printed with Scripture texts. They also cast plastic baggies filled with Scripture booklets into a bay near the border. And they transport Bibles over the Chinese / Korean border in the dark of night. Bible League partners carry out their work with great discretion. Said one partner; "We have an unspoken arrangement. I get the Bibles in, and a few key people pass them to Christians who need them. But we can't even utter a word about it to one another." The threat of persecution is that severe. Many North Korean people are waiting for their first copy of the Bible. North Korea remains one of the most oppressive countries in the world; for Christians any celebration will occur secretly, possibly within small, underground house church meetings. The Communist Party leadership has no room for God; they proclaim: "Man is the master of everything and decides everything." In the capital city, Pyongyang, Korean people still bow to bronze statues of former leader Kim Il Sung, who died four years ago. Every citizen--from government officials to workers in the fields--wears a lapel pin bearing Sung's photo. The desire for God's Word is great. Believers in North Korea have no other source of encouragement in a land which has desperately blocked outside influence. The Bible League Report, December 1998