Story number 1 for 10 Dec 2002

(North Korea)–We begin today in North Korea where a famine of physical and spiritual proportions is growing. Of the 25 million people in the country, there are only an estimated 400-thousand Christians, many of whom face severe oppression. Open Doors’ Terry Madison. “If they find Christians, they’re sent off to segregated work camps where Christians are given less food and more work to do. That’s the best side of a bad situation; otherwise, they’re killed, more or less, on the spot.” Madison urges prayer for North Korean believers, adding that the persecution has not gone unnoticed. “Open Doors, every six months, puts out a ‘World Watch List’, where we document the most offensive countries in the world. And, for the first time in our history, Saudi Arabia has been replaced by North Korea as the most fearsome persecutor of believers.”