November 2016 Persecution Magazine (2 of 3)
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WWW.PERSECUTION.ORG<br />
NOVEMBER <strong>2016</strong><br />
PERSECU ION<br />
North Korea<br />
Explore the Bizarre World <strong>of</strong> North Korea:<br />
A state-created false religion, a national<br />
counterfeiting operation,<br />
and first-hand tales <strong>of</strong> tragedy<br />
and escape from the world’s<br />
worst persecutor <strong>of</strong> Christians<br />
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INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN
Our Prayer for North Korea<br />
Chilgol Church<br />
Chilgol Church in Pyongyang,<br />
North Korea, is one <strong>of</strong> only two<br />
Protestant churches in North<br />
Korea. It exists as propaganda<br />
for foreigners to convince<br />
visitors that North Korea has<br />
religious freedom.<br />
By Sandra Elliot<br />
This issue <strong>of</strong> <strong>Persecution</strong> is the<br />
second in a rare two-part series on<br />
North Korea. Christians there face<br />
the worst imaginable persecution in<br />
the world, but the hermit kingdom<br />
may be slowly unraveling.<br />
North Korea is a totalitarian<br />
regime with<br />
little to no regard for<br />
the lives <strong>of</strong> its own<br />
people. In fact, North<br />
Korea is concerned<br />
with only one thing<br />
and that is blind<br />
loyalty. Twenty-five<br />
million people are<br />
imprisoned in a state run by an iron-gripping,<br />
exorbitant, and ludicrous family name.<br />
False Religion<br />
The ideological underpinning <strong>of</strong> the<br />
DPRK is the all-inclusive philosophy <strong>of</strong><br />
Juche (see page 18). Within the parameters<br />
<strong>of</strong> this socio-political-religious concept,<br />
the Kim family is the supreme authority<br />
and spiritual head and the state <strong>of</strong> North<br />
Korea is the provider <strong>of</strong> all things. There<br />
are roughly 100,000 Juche research centers<br />
spread across North Korea meant<br />
to indoctrinate the population into this<br />
false ideology. This is part <strong>of</strong> the North<br />
Korean design to undergird and sustain the<br />
regime’s power and longevity by playing<br />
on human beings’ need to believe in and<br />
live for something.<br />
Christianity poses a direct and potent threat<br />
to the ideological framework <strong>of</strong> Juche. Juche<br />
dictates that your state and leader are your<br />
religion and god. Christianity says that there<br />
is only one God and we are all His children,<br />
created in His image, equal before Him.<br />
Nationality is <strong>of</strong> minor importance.<br />
As a result, Christians suffer greatly for<br />
their faith in North Korea as their neighbors<br />
and friends are automatically pitted against<br />
them in their practice <strong>of</strong> Juche. Christians suffer<br />
the cruelest form <strong>of</strong> torture, imprisonment<br />
and execution in North Korea, as the state sees<br />
their faith as an existential threat to its claim.<br />
And rightly so. The love <strong>of</strong> Christ and the<br />
spread <strong>of</strong> His message by His followers is the<br />
most lucid threat to the Kim regime.<br />
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The Kim family is<br />
the spiritual head <strong>of</strong><br />
North Korea and is<br />
the provider <strong>of</strong> all<br />
things.<br />
Office 39<br />
The Tower <strong>of</strong> the Juche Idea on the Taedong River was built as a monument<br />
to the regime’s religion <strong>of</strong> Juche (see page 18). Creative Commons<br />
photo from flickr by David Stanley.<br />
At the end <strong>of</strong> World War II, the Korean peninsula was divided. See page<br />
30 for some possiblilites that could affect the future <strong>of</strong> this nation.<br />
So how does North Korea maintain the<br />
loyalty <strong>of</strong> its people aside from Juche?<br />
Well as with many things in life, through<br />
money and fear mongering. The DPRK is<br />
the only government in the world that has<br />
established a branch <strong>of</strong> government which<br />
collects illegal funds to operate effectively.<br />
Office 39 is basically a secret branch<br />
<strong>of</strong> government that engages in illicit economic<br />
activities to create a slush fund for<br />
the running dictator <strong>of</strong> North Korea (think<br />
“mafia”). This includes counterfeit money<br />
laundering, black market weapons trade,<br />
and insurance fraud that crosses international<br />
borders. All this illegal cash serves<br />
to buy loyalties, build a nuclear arsenal,<br />
maneuver around sanctions and support<br />
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INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN<br />
the lavish lifestyle <strong>of</strong> the Kim’s and other<br />
elites.<br />
North Korea depends on Office 39 to<br />
carry out its criminal activities domestically<br />
and internationally. Perhaps the easy<br />
solution to ending the terroristic Kim reign<br />
is to choke them financially.<br />
Defectors<br />
Most <strong>of</strong> what we know about North Korea<br />
comes from the testimonies <strong>of</strong> defectors and<br />
escapees <strong>of</strong> the DPRK.<br />
On pages 23-27 you can read the personal<br />
accounts <strong>of</strong> some who have heroically<br />
escaped the hermit kingdom. They have faced<br />
death, torture, enslavement, and great loss in<br />
their journey to freedom. Once free, they must<br />
overcome the trauma <strong>of</strong> their past and face the<br />
real world as they never thought they would.<br />
Thankfully, our Lord Jesus is sovereign and<br />
merciful. In Sammy’s story you will see how<br />
the untiring and powerful prayers <strong>of</strong> a mother<br />
for her son’s salvation came to fruition. We<br />
also interviewed New York Times bestselling<br />
author and TED star, Hyeonseo Lee. The Lord<br />
provided all the strength she could ever imagine<br />
when facing impossible circumstances.<br />
Their stories reveal the true nature <strong>of</strong> North<br />
Korea and the power <strong>of</strong> Christ at work in saving<br />
lives.<br />
Future <strong>of</strong> North Korea<br />
But Christ can do more. While we celebrate<br />
and thank Him for the salvation <strong>of</strong> individuals<br />
within North Korea, we beg Him for more.<br />
The future <strong>of</strong> North Korea, according to many<br />
scholars, is dimly lit and destined to fail (see<br />
page 30). The severity and harshness <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Kim Jong-Un regime is creating discontentment<br />
and likely rebellion among his inner circle<br />
<strong>of</strong> loyalists. China, while still the strongest<br />
ally to North Korea, has also recently defected<br />
in their alliance and support to the regime. But<br />
most importantly, Christians are finding new<br />
and creative ways to get the Gospel inside the<br />
DPRK.<br />
The Gospel, in and <strong>of</strong> itself, disqualifies the<br />
Kim claim on these 25 million people. When<br />
North Koreans learn <strong>of</strong> the true God, they will<br />
undoubtedly recognize the counterfeit ones.<br />
As ambassadors and followers <strong>of</strong> Christ, our<br />
contribution to the freedom <strong>of</strong> North Korea is<br />
to pray He opens the eyes <strong>of</strong> the blind.<br />
As you read through the pages <strong>of</strong> this<br />
month’s magazine, pay close attention to<br />
what you could do beyond praying for North<br />
Korea. Join us in our efforts to free the prisoners<br />
<strong>of</strong> North Korea and spread the Gospel to a<br />
desperate and desolate people. Remember the<br />
word <strong>of</strong> your Savior:<br />
I will build my church, and the gates <strong>of</strong> hell<br />
shall not prevail against it. I will give you the<br />
keys <strong>of</strong> the kingdom <strong>of</strong> heaven, and whatever<br />
you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and<br />
whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in<br />
heaven. - Matthew 16:18-19 (ESV)<br />
3
False Religion<br />
and the Repression<br />
<strong>of</strong> Christianity<br />
By Sandra Elliot<br />
Chaju<br />
Political Independence<br />
Yielding to foreign<br />
pressure or idea (i.e.<br />
Christianity) is<br />
abominable<br />
In early 1907, a city that was known<br />
for its debauchery was set ablaze<br />
with a powerful revival after years <strong>of</strong><br />
prayer. Fifty thousand people were<br />
converted to Christianity in 1907<br />
alone! Afterwards, there were so<br />
many Christians living out their faith<br />
that Pyongyang, the present North<br />
Korean capital, became known as<br />
“The Jerusalem <strong>of</strong> the East.” The<br />
Pyongyang Great Revival lasted through 1910.<br />
Two years later, a baby was born – the<br />
son <strong>of</strong> Christian parents and grandson <strong>of</strong><br />
a Christian pastor. The baby’s name? Kim<br />
Il-sung, the founder <strong>of</strong> North Korea.<br />
Kim was intimately familiar with<br />
Christianity and witnessed Christians choose<br />
martyrdom over worshipping the Japanese<br />
Emperor during Japan’s colonization <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Korean peninsula. Recognizing the power <strong>of</strong><br />
Christianity, he wanted the worship directed<br />
at himself. So he took Christianity, removed<br />
God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy<br />
Spirit, and set up himself, his wife and son<br />
as the new trinity. This false religion was<br />
later complimented with the addition <strong>of</strong> a<br />
full-fledged ideology known as Juche. It is a<br />
counterfeit religion that is deathly afraid <strong>of</strong> the<br />
true version, and rightfully so.<br />
The Philosophy <strong>of</strong> Juche<br />
Juche (JOO-chay). It’s not a word with<br />
which most <strong>of</strong> us are familiar. In fact, I doubt<br />
any one <strong>of</strong> us knows how to correctly pronounce<br />
it upon reading. Juche. It means selfreliance,<br />
in some sense or another. It has been<br />
described as Kim II-Sung’s “original, brilliant<br />
and revolutionary contribution to national and<br />
international thought.”<br />
In the Democratic People’s Republic <strong>of</strong><br />
Korea (North Korea), it is the reigning philosophy<br />
and the<br />
most adhered-to<br />
line <strong>of</strong> thinking. In<br />
1972, when Kim<br />
II-Sung established<br />
his iron grip<br />
on North Korea,<br />
Juche became the<br />
autarkic state ideology<br />
<strong>of</strong> the nation.<br />
Any other beliefs,<br />
Christianity included,<br />
are considered<br />
a threat to Juche<br />
Chawi<br />
Military Independence<br />
Violence is the best<br />
way to defend the<br />
nation<br />
and the survival <strong>of</strong> the state <strong>of</strong> North Korea.<br />
If you want to understand North Korea, you<br />
must first understand this twisted ideology <strong>of</strong><br />
self-reliance and the extensive irony under<br />
which it operates.<br />
Kim II-Sung, upon instituting Juche as a<br />
national thought, explained it as so:<br />
“This means holding fast to an independent<br />
position, rejecting dependence on others,<br />
using one’s own brains, believing in one’s<br />
own strength, displaying the revolutionary<br />
spirit <strong>of</strong> self-reliance.”<br />
Why is this so blatantly and grossly ironic?<br />
If you know anything about North Korea, you<br />
know that it is a nation obsessed with controlling<br />
its people, specifically the minds <strong>of</strong> its<br />
people. So by use <strong>of</strong> this “self-reliance” and<br />
self-determination, Kim II-Sung enslaved a<br />
whole nation into thinking as one and believing<br />
this as freedom.<br />
The regime at the time instructed the North<br />
Korean people in Juche by using an analogy<br />
<strong>of</strong> the human body. Kim II-Sung, the great<br />
leader, was the brain in which decision making<br />
and issuing orders are the primary role.<br />
The government is the nervous system that<br />
channels information to the bone and muscle<br />
(the North Korean people) who must, in turn,<br />
Juche<br />
These components<br />
<strong>of</strong> Juche illustrate the<br />
self-sufficiency <strong>of</strong> this<br />
false religion.<br />
Charip<br />
Economic Independence<br />
To establish total political<br />
independence, North<br />
Korea must be selfsufficient<br />
physically execute the orders <strong>of</strong> the brain.<br />
This is probably the greatest example <strong>of</strong><br />
the success <strong>of</strong> socialist revolutions in that the<br />
masses have rallied around and supported<br />
leadership under a single ideology and line <strong>of</strong><br />
thought. Now we must better understand what<br />
it is they believe/are indoctrinated with.<br />
There are three main components to Juche<br />
ideology: (1) chaju, which means political<br />
independence, (2) charip, which is economic<br />
independence, and (3) chawi is military independence.<br />
Chaju is the central tenant <strong>of</strong> Juche in that<br />
it is the obsessive focus on state sovereignty.<br />
This basically means that yielding to ANY<br />
foreign pressure or tolerating ANY foreign<br />
ideas (i.e. Christianity) is an abomination.<br />
Chaju is basically a justification for the political<br />
grip <strong>of</strong> the Kim family and the hermit<br />
kingdom style <strong>of</strong> North Korea.<br />
Charip, meaning economic independence,<br />
is the material basis for chaju. To establish<br />
total and supreme political independence,<br />
North Korea must be totally and supremely<br />
self-sufficient.<br />
Lastly, chawi, the military independence <strong>of</strong><br />
Juche ideology, sees violence as the best way<br />
to defend the nation. It is decidedly belligerent<br />
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JUCHE<br />
Kim Il-sung<br />
Kim Il-sung<br />
Kim Jung Sook (wife)<br />
Kim Jong-il (son)<br />
Writings and teachings<br />
<strong>of</strong> Kim Il-sung<br />
North Koreans are required<br />
to worship Kim Il-sung with<br />
all their heart and might<br />
Fear<br />
On Self<br />
Man is master <strong>of</strong> the world<br />
and his own destiny.<br />
North Koreans must hang<br />
pictures <strong>of</strong> Kim family in homes<br />
and bow to worship.<br />
Spy on your neighbor<br />
North Koreans gather regularly<br />
to admit their wrongdoings.<br />
and overly presumptuous, referring to outside<br />
ideology as imperialistic and aggressive.<br />
The Repression <strong>of</strong><br />
Christianity<br />
In light <strong>of</strong> these tenets <strong>of</strong> Juche, it’s easy<br />
to understand why the North Korean government<br />
is so adamantly against Christianity.<br />
Juche ideology allows the Kim family to act as<br />
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Founder<br />
Trinity<br />
Holy Text<br />
Worship<br />
Motivation<br />
Reliance<br />
Master<br />
Images<br />
Others<br />
Confession<br />
CHRISTIANITY<br />
Jesus Christ<br />
God the Father<br />
God the Son<br />
God the Holy Spirit<br />
The Bible<br />
“Love the Lord your God with<br />
all your heart and with all your<br />
soul and with all your mind.”<br />
Matt. 22:37 NIV<br />
Love<br />
On God<br />
Jesus in submission<br />
to God.<br />
“You shall not make for yourself<br />
an image in the form <strong>of</strong> anything in<br />
heaven above or on the earth beneath<br />
or in the waters below. You shall not<br />
bow down to them or worship them.”<br />
Ex. 20:4-5 NIV<br />
Love your neighbor<br />
“Therefore, confess your sins to<br />
each other and pray for each other<br />
so that you may be healed.”<br />
James 5:16 NIV<br />
stand-in gods to the North Koreans. In Juche,<br />
you rely on your nation, your teaching and<br />
your leader…and no one else. Juche is your<br />
absolute religion, false though it may be.<br />
There are estimated to be some 200,000 to<br />
400,000 Christians living in North Korea today.<br />
Of that number approximately 60,000 are serving<br />
in prison and labor camps for their faith.<br />
Prison camps in North Korea closely resemble<br />
the concentration camps <strong>of</strong> WWII, which killed<br />
almost 12 million people. It doesn’t take much<br />
to end up in such a dreadful place.<br />
Christians in North Korea can be prosecuted<br />
for propagating religion, possessing religious<br />
items, carrying out religious activities, or having<br />
any sort <strong>of</strong> contact with religious persons.<br />
Secret police are integrated into society at the<br />
most intimate level. For this reason, Christians<br />
in North Korea must keep their faith an absolute<br />
secret.<br />
Those who are found out easily suffer arrest,<br />
torture, imprisonment and execution. Perhaps<br />
the greatest challenge and tragedy is that<br />
Christians are <strong>of</strong>ten turned into authorities by<br />
their own neighbors and friends.<br />
Juche means total loyalty to the government.<br />
You do not love your neighbor in Juche, you<br />
spy on him. You do not feed the poor in Juche,<br />
for that man is not self-reliant. Christianity is<br />
the anti-juche, the greatest threat to the Kim<br />
dynasty and pet nation. This is why North<br />
Korea fears Christianity and makes examples<br />
<strong>of</strong> anyone daring to accept this faith.<br />
Stories from defectors paint horrifying illustrations<br />
<strong>of</strong> living conditions and punishments<br />
inflicted on the Christian population. For<br />
example, reports tell <strong>of</strong> ‘execution by train’ in<br />
which the authorities go to the extreme trouble<br />
<strong>of</strong> having men and women tied to railroad<br />
tracks and run down by trains. This is not a<br />
simple execution to rid a threat; this is a terrorizing<br />
form <strong>of</strong> persecution.<br />
When looking at the history and timeline<br />
<strong>of</strong> Juche, one can easily see spiritual forces <strong>of</strong><br />
evil at work. This false religion and counterfeit<br />
Christianity is not just the work <strong>of</strong> one crazy<br />
man but was birthed through him.<br />
In 1907, there was one <strong>of</strong> history’s most<br />
amazing revivals in Pyongyang. Thirty-five<br />
years later, the Soviet Union installed Kim<br />
Il-sung as a puppet leader who went on to<br />
lead the Korean War that killed 2.5 million<br />
people. After the Korean War, he consolidated<br />
his power and then went on to strangle<br />
Christianity.<br />
As Christians, we know that our battle is not<br />
against flesh and blood, but against the rulers<br />
and principalities <strong>of</strong> darkness (Eph. 6:12).<br />
Satan wanted to extinguish the light that<br />
burned in North Korea and then to build a<br />
fortress to keep out the light and to imprison<br />
and blind the North Korean people from truth.<br />
Juche and the false worship <strong>of</strong> Kim and his<br />
progeny were keys to that prison. Belief in<br />
both are fading quickly inside North Korea<br />
and it’s only a matter <strong>of</strong> time before the locks<br />
break and the prison doors <strong>of</strong> North Korea<br />
swing open.<br />
5
Interviews<br />
with<br />
Defectors<br />
Two North Korean defectors share their stories <strong>of</strong> loss,<br />
freedom and salvation with ICC.<br />
By Brianna Young and Ashley Shay<br />
Praise and Sammy are two North<br />
Korean defectors who shared<br />
with ICC their stories <strong>of</strong> courage<br />
and escape from one <strong>of</strong><br />
the most evil regimes <strong>of</strong> the<br />
modern world. Now living in<br />
a free world, they both share<br />
how the power <strong>of</strong> the Gospel<br />
has impacted their lives since<br />
escaping North Korea, and<br />
how the Word <strong>of</strong> God reaches across the borders <strong>of</strong> a<br />
nation where to be a Christian is punishable by death.<br />
Sammy’s Story: Plucked from<br />
Hell<br />
“My life there was empty,” recalls Sammy <strong>of</strong> his<br />
existence in North Korea. “People in North Korea are<br />
living empty and meaningless lives.”<br />
The decision to leave North Korea is never made<br />
lightly as it may end in your death or imprisonment.<br />
In Sammy’s case, it was even more complicated<br />
because he had loyally served in the military for more<br />
than 12 years.<br />
The path that led Sammy from his life in North<br />
Korea to his final decision to escape is one wrought<br />
with pain and loss. He had lost both <strong>of</strong> his parents<br />
while serving in the military and, after being discharged,<br />
nearly starved to death. Sammy knew that<br />
his family could lead a better life outside <strong>of</strong> the confines<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Kim regime.<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 2007, Sammy, along with his<br />
wife and 14-month-old daughter, left their home for a<br />
future in an unknown world.<br />
The journey was daunting, beginning with a<br />
40-mile trek to the Tumen River, the border between<br />
North Korea and China. It was the rainy season, and<br />
floods delayed the family’s escape by several days.<br />
By this time, the police had distributed flyers and<br />
were searching intently for the runaway family who<br />
was hiding in a friend’s home.<br />
On June 19, after 15 days <strong>of</strong> waiting in hiding for<br />
the flood waters to subside, Sammy and his family<br />
ventured out to cross the river into China.<br />
Tragically, Sammy’s daughter, LeiSung, drowned<br />
in the struggle to make it through the water.<br />
“My wife lost her mind and she couldn’t remove<br />
our daughter’s (body) from her back.”<br />
Overcome by grief, Sammy and his wife were<br />
forced to learn to live in a world without their daughter.<br />
He purchased a blue teddy bear and gave it to his<br />
wife in memory <strong>of</strong> their daughter: “Since that time, the<br />
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Many barriers keep North<br />
Koreans trapped in an<br />
oppressive life - some<br />
physical, some geographic,<br />
and some psychological.<br />
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7
Tumen River Bridge<br />
The Tumen River runs between<br />
North Korea and China. It acts<br />
as both a barrier and route to<br />
freedom for North Korean<br />
defectors like Sammy. Creative<br />
Commons photo from flickr by<br />
user wifarm.<br />
blue bear stayed with us through the fear, risk,<br />
and suffering. Now it is sitting nicely in our<br />
bedroom. That blue teddy bear is [figuratively]<br />
our daughter LeiSung and also a painful scar.”<br />
Despite the tragic loss <strong>of</strong> his child, or maybe<br />
because <strong>of</strong> it, Sammy found Christ.<br />
In all his years in North Korea, Sammy had<br />
never heard <strong>of</strong> Jesus, and yet, looking back,<br />
he realizes that God had been working in his<br />
life long before he escaped and found Christ.<br />
Years before Sammy’s escape, his brother<br />
had recounted their mother’s strange actions<br />
before she died. Desperate for food, she had<br />
daringly crossed into China for food but<br />
according to Sammy’s brother, his mother<br />
brought back more than food.<br />
“My brother told me that my mom had developed<br />
a mental disorder after visiting China<br />
several times. He said she kept talking to herself<br />
every morning… saying, ‘Please take Sammy to<br />
the father. Please let Sammy meet you, Father.’”<br />
At the time <strong>of</strong> hearing the story, Sammy<br />
assumed that perhaps she was speaking to<br />
his father, who had died <strong>of</strong> starvation. After<br />
Sammy became a Christian, he realized that<br />
his mother wasn’t crazy but had been praying<br />
incessantly for his own salvation.<br />
“Now, I know that the Father, that my mom<br />
was talking to was not my dad, it was our God,<br />
the Father.”<br />
Since his escape, Sammy has helped his<br />
brother and sister-in-law escape North Korea.<br />
He now lives in the United States and continues<br />
to raise awareness regarding the plight <strong>of</strong> those<br />
still living under the control <strong>of</strong> the Kim regime.<br />
“Now that I look back to our journey, I<br />
know that it would be impossible if God<br />
hadn’t guided us with his love and [direction].<br />
I thank our Lord for picking me out <strong>of</strong> hell,<br />
[out <strong>of</strong>] the darkness; and guiding us to this<br />
In all his years in<br />
North Korea, Sammy<br />
had never heard<br />
<strong>of</strong> Jesus, and yet,<br />
looking back, he<br />
realizes that God had<br />
been working in his<br />
life long before he<br />
escaped.<br />
land <strong>of</strong> freedom (the United States).”<br />
Praise’s Story: God at Work<br />
in the Market Generation<br />
Praise Ju is a member <strong>of</strong> a young generation<br />
<strong>of</strong> escaped North Koreans who are seeing<br />
many North Koreans come to Christ after<br />
years <strong>of</strong> labor to reach the closed country<br />
with the Gospel. She shared with ICC her life<br />
story and how the spread <strong>of</strong> the Gospel and<br />
underground believers in North Korea are<br />
the hope <strong>of</strong> the future <strong>of</strong> the prison state.<br />
They’re called the Jangmadang (Market)<br />
Generation. They grew up during North<br />
Korea’s great famine and during the breakdown<br />
<strong>of</strong> the country’s Public Distribution<br />
System, a rationing system used to control the<br />
populace and reward and punish citizens based<br />
on their loyalty and use to the regime.<br />
Early on, this generation was weaned from<br />
dependence on the state; these youth have grown<br />
up buying and selling on the black market, for<br />
which their generation is named, and this has<br />
shaped their worldview in a completely different<br />
way than their parents and grandparents.<br />
You see, the black market has brought in<br />
more than food. It has brought in a flood <strong>of</strong><br />
8 PERSECU ION.org<br />
NOVEMBER <strong>2016</strong><br />
INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN
media; everything from South Korean soap<br />
operas to Western pop movies (Titanic is a<br />
favorite) and access to this information is<br />
changing the face <strong>of</strong> the most closed and<br />
secretive country in the world.<br />
Praise Ju, a young leader in this promising<br />
generation, was born in 1991. In 1998,<br />
her father brought home an illegal radio that<br />
would change his family’s life forever. North<br />
Korea routinely jams foreign broadcast signals,<br />
especially Gospel broadcasts in a cat and<br />
mouse game. But Ju’s father would diligently<br />
search and find Christian broadcasts as well as<br />
Chinese media coming in over the border. For<br />
the next 10 years, Ju and her family would be<br />
transformed by what they heard and watched<br />
behind closed curtains and beneath blankets at<br />
night. While her father was drawn to Gospel<br />
broadcasts, Ju was initially more interested in<br />
foreign songs, soap operas and movies coming<br />
from China. Even though the content was<br />
mostly drivel, this kind <strong>of</strong> media has been vital<br />
in breaking the hold <strong>of</strong> the regime’s propaganda<br />
stranglehold on the minds and imaginations<br />
<strong>of</strong> its citizens and especially its youth.<br />
By 2000, her father had come to the conclusion<br />
that they had been duped by the Kim<br />
regimes for their whole lives and it left him<br />
outraged. For the sake <strong>of</strong> his children, he<br />
decided to defect and began making preparatory<br />
trips to China before finally escaping in<br />
2007 to make way for his family. They agreed<br />
to flee separately to avoid undue attention.<br />
After a seven-month journey, Ju’s father<br />
arrived in South Korea and began working<br />
feverishly to earn enough money to reunite his<br />
family. In 2008, Ju’s mother and two younger<br />
‘‘People around the<br />
world are praying<br />
for you, so don’t be<br />
afraid,” Ju’s father<br />
told her. Ju said, “I<br />
didn’t know what<br />
prayer was, but I<br />
prayed to God to save<br />
my life.”’<br />
siblings followed and arrived safely the same<br />
year – leaving Ju alone at the age <strong>of</strong> 17.<br />
Fortunately, her parents had moved their family<br />
to the country during the famine to ensure<br />
their children would continue to eat to survive.<br />
After talking her way out <strong>of</strong> a close call with<br />
North Korean police who had been tipped <strong>of</strong>f<br />
to her father’s use <strong>of</strong> foreign radio, Ju was able<br />
to contact her father in South Korea and plan<br />
her first attempt to defect in 2009. By an act<br />
<strong>of</strong> providence, Ju was late to meet the broker<br />
who was to assist in her escape. Her broker<br />
was arrested upon his arrival – as she would<br />
have been had she been on time. Her father<br />
advised her to lay low for a time and even<br />
suggested she remain in North Korea indefinitely<br />
to spread the Gospel. Ju readily agreed<br />
and enrolled in nursing school to pursue that<br />
calling, but later learned her that mother was<br />
becoming physically ill at the thought <strong>of</strong> being<br />
separated from her daughter forever.<br />
Street Market in North Korea capitol Pyongyang<br />
The “Black markets” in North Korea have been a source <strong>of</strong> smuggled food, media,<br />
and technology that has brought up a new generation <strong>of</strong> citizens who are more<br />
aware <strong>of</strong> the outside world. Creative Commons photo from wikimedia.<br />
In 2010, her father hired another broker who<br />
helped her and another young girl to bribe the<br />
border guards and escape across the river. In<br />
China, Ju and her new friend were arrested when<br />
police raided the broker’s home. Miraculously,<br />
Ju was able to contact her father from prison.<br />
“My father told me on the telephone,<br />
‘People around the world are praying for you,<br />
so don’t be afraid and pray to God,’” Ju told<br />
ICC. “I didn’t know what prayer was, but I<br />
prayed to God to save my life.”<br />
In a short time, an underground organization<br />
in South Korea raised nearly $100,000 –<br />
enabling her father to bribe police. On the day<br />
they were to be repatriated to North Korea, Ju<br />
and her friend were loaded on a truck and driven<br />
to safety. In 2011, Ju crossed through Laos<br />
and Thailand and finally rejoined her family in<br />
South Korea, where she still lives today as an<br />
advocate for human rights and reaching North<br />
Korea with the Gospel.<br />
“We don’t consider ourselves lucky,” Ju<br />
said <strong>of</strong> her family’s escape. “If not for the<br />
intercessory prayers <strong>of</strong> other believers and<br />
for us submitting ourselves in obedience and<br />
humility to God, I don’t think we would be<br />
where we are today.”<br />
Ju’s exhortation to fellow defectors <strong>of</strong> her<br />
generation is to send more than money back<br />
to their families in North Korea.<br />
“If the Church could train defectors to not<br />
just be Sunday Christians, but true disciples <strong>of</strong><br />
Christ, they could send more,” Ju explained.<br />
“Sending in the Gospel would bring about<br />
true change.”<br />
Never before has a North Korean generation<br />
been so open to change and so likely to act.<br />
North Korea is not the hermit kingdom it once<br />
was. While it remains a prison state, there are<br />
whispers within <strong>of</strong> coming change.<br />
The people <strong>of</strong> North Korea are anxiously<br />
awaiting the change <strong>of</strong> political salvation and<br />
release from their prison. The need for regime<br />
change is great, but their greatest need is for<br />
release from their eternal prison. Economic<br />
sanctions, diplomatic agendas, or even war<br />
will not meet the deepest need <strong>of</strong> North<br />
Korea—only Jesus can.<br />
If there were ever a time to reach North<br />
Koreans with the truth <strong>of</strong> the Gospel, it is<br />
NOW! We have the treasure <strong>of</strong> Christ and<br />
we are shepherds <strong>of</strong> the Word <strong>of</strong> the Lord.<br />
We have been called by our master to take<br />
that treasure to the end <strong>of</strong> the earth - to<br />
North Korea!<br />
Please join us in doing just that by going to<br />
page 32 to see how to open the prison doors <strong>of</strong><br />
North Korea.<br />
PERSECU ION.org<br />
INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN<br />
9
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Young North Korean girls take<br />
part in a community event.<br />
Keep the next generation <strong>of</strong><br />
North Koreans in prayer.<br />
Creative Commons photo<br />
from flickr.<br />
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