North Korea (MNN) — In North Korea, being a follower of Jesus means not being a follower of the Kim family. Christianity is not brushed off as a foreign religion but is considered treason because it undermines the government.
Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs, USA says,
(Photo courtesy VOM USA)
“The North Korean government is very clear that Christianity is a direct threat to them. As the gospel spreads, they are more threatened, and so that’s why you see the intense persecution of Christian brothers and sisters.”
When people are found with Bibles, they are not the only ones arrested and sent to labor camps. Their parents and their children often are as well, cutting ideas off at the root.
“In North Korea, they present the idea that the Kim family are divine beings,” Nettleton says. “Kindergartners are taught when they sit down to a meal to say, ‘Thank you, Father Kim Il Sung, for our food.’”
Nettleton says, “This is a country where you have to be very cautious even about how you talk about Jesus to your own children because students at school are known to be asked about their parents, ‘Do your parents ever look up at the sky and talk to somebody? Do your parents have a special book that they keep hidden, but they bring out and read occasionally?”
Despite intense persecution, the gospel is spreading. Efforts to reach North Koreans inside the country remain seadfast through tools like radio broadcasts, and even VOM USA’s scripture balloons, which are floated into the country.
There are also efforts to reach North Koreans who may be working in China or Russia or have escaped to South Korea, trying to get to a safer place.
Some North Korean Christ-followers remain in contact with people and family inside North Korea despite the country’s isolation.
VOM’s sister office, Voice of the Martyrs Korea, is focused on training these North Korean defectors to share the gospel over phone calls or other communication platforms they use to stay in contact with family.
VOM workers record scripture for broadcasts into North Korea (Photo courtesy of VOM Korea)
“There are very concerted efforts to reach North Koreans with the gospel,” Nettleton says.
But, as long as the Kim regime remains in power, it is hard to see changes in the way North Korea relates to the world.
“The level of oppression, the level of persecution, is so high in North Korea that we simply need to pray for God to sustain his people, to give them creativity in the way that they share the gospel to sustain their faith, as they are often very, very isolated, and may never meet with more than one or two other believers, maybe in their lifetime,” Nettleton says.
Photo courtesy of Roman Harak of Flickr
