If your Christian faith is discovered in North Korea, you could be killed on the spot. If you aren’t killed, you will be deported to a labour camp and treated as a political criminal. You will be punished with years of hard labour that few survive. And it’s not only you who will be punished: North Korean authorities are likely to round up your extended family and punish them too.  

There is no church life in North Korea. It’s impossible to gather for worship or prayer, and even secret worship and prayer is at great risk. Official spies could inform on you and so could your neighbours or teachers. 

Recognizing any deity beyond the Kim family is considered a threat to the country’s leadership. ‘Anti-reactionary thought laws’ were enacted in December 2020. These made it even clearer that being a Christian or owning a Bible is a serious crime and will be severely punished.