Persecution in North Korea
Being discovered as a Christian is a death sentence in North Korea. If you aren’t killed instantly, you will be taken to a labor camp as a political criminal. These inhumane prisons have horrific conditions, and few believers make it out alive. Everyone in your family will share the same punishment. Kim Jong-un is reported to have expanded the system of prison camps, in which an estimated 50,000-70,000 Christians are currently imprisoned.
Last year was the 20th year in a row that North Korea had been ranked as the country where Christians face the most extreme persecution on the World Watch List. This year it was ranked 2nd because of the intense increase of persecution in Afghanistan. However, North Korean Christians continue to face extreme persecution in every element of their public and private lives. Though the North Korean authorities claim that COVID-19 has had little impact in the country, North Koreans call it the “ghost disease” – because people are so malnourished already that they die very quickly from COVID-19. The pandemic has led to tighter security at the Chinese border, and a stranglehold on the black market, which many use to survive.
Any Christian, anywhere in North Korea, is extremely vulnerable to persecution. The North Korean authorities’ control goes beyond the borders: Secret agents in China are tasked with finding and abducting North Korean Christians who have fled the country.
We often don’t know that names of the tens of thousands of people who are imprisoned in these horrific conditions, including at least 50,000 of our brothers and sisters. Even though we don’t know their names, God does. And we can pray for them and ask God to be with them, and to bring them justice. However, we do currently know a few names of Christian prisoners in North Korea, learn their stories and how to be be praying below!
Pastor Kim Jung-wook
Pastor Kim Jung-wook was Abducted in October 2013, he appeared in press interview in February 2014 in Pyongyang, no updates since. He was one of the devoted field workers in the third country, serving legal and illegal North Koreans traveling to China. In 2008, he started safe house and shelter ministry at the border areas by offering job opportunities to North Koreans, becoming their friends, teaching them the Word of Gospel, and encouraging them to be the true disciples of Jesus in their home country. In October 2013, while secretly reaching inside North Korea, he was captured by the guards and was charged for allegedly spying and trying to set up underground churches. He was sentenced to hard labor for life.
Pastor Kim Kuk-Gi
Pastor Kim Kuk-Gi was abducted in October 2014, he appeared in press interview in March 2015 in Pyongyang, he was sentenced to hard labor for life in June 2015, No updates since. He was a South Korean pastor and a devoted field worker for North Koreans, actively served North Korean travelers at the border area between China and North Korea. Pastor Kim and his wife managed the safehouse and shelter ministry, providing a place to stay and food to eat for the wandering legal and illegal North Korean travelers in the third country. They supported both the physical and spiritual needs of the North Koreans by providing funds and daily necessities, and they also used secret deliveries to support the needs of the families of North Korean Christians and their farming industry by sending various electric gears, clothes, and medicines.
Choe Chun-gil
Christian worker Choe Chun-gil was abducted in December 2014, he appeared in press interview in March 2015 in Pyongyang, he was sentenced to hard labor for life in June 2015, No updates since. He participated in field projects near the border area between China and North Korea, was abducted in December 2014 in charge of espionage.
Kim Won-ho
Kim Won-ho, a North Korean defector with South Korean citizenship, was a helper of safehouse and shelter ministry near the Chinese-North Korean border. He was abducted in March 2016, and there has been no updates since. It is speculated that he be detained in North Korea. There are two more North Korean defectors with South Korean citizenship, Ko Hyun-chul and Ham Jin-woo, who are speculated to be detained in North Korea.
Zhang
Korean-Chinese Deacon Zhang Abducted in November 2014, sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. No updates since. He used to participate in and help shelter and safe house ministry near the border area between China and North Korea, where legal and illegal North Korean travellers were supported with both physical and spiritual needs before returning to their home country as Jesus’s disciples.
Please Pray
Pray for North Korea’s secret believers, that God will continue to strengthen them, provide for their needs and keep them safe. Pray for the believers who are imprisoned. Pray for comfort and strength for them, and that even in prison, they would know God’s presence and love. Despite the risks, we have heard stories of believers sharing the gospel with others, even in North
Korean prison camps. Pray that North Korean believers will shine as lights in the darkest places on earth. Ask that God would bless the work of Open Doors’ secret networks in China, and give wisdom and discernment to those providing vital aid and fellowship to North Korean believers.
