Eric Foley with Voice of the Martyrs Korea says, “this is a serious change that has major ramifications politically, certainly, but also with regard to ministry.”

North and South Korea at night (photo courtesy of NASA via Wikimedia Commons)

The historical context

The Korean War never officially ended because no peace treaty was signed. Both Koreas historically claimed authority over the entire peninsula in their constitutions. That allowed North Korean defectors to automatically become South Korean citizens and permitted ministries like Voice of the Martyrs Korea to conduct outreach into the North from the South.

“This division of Korea into two countries by North Korea raises the question of how South Korea will respond,” Foley explains.

If South Korea were to officially recognize North Korea as a separate nation, North Koreans could be refused entry into the South or required to complete a difficult citizenship process. Ministries might also be banned under South Korean law from doing work directed toward North Korea.

So far, South Korea has condemned the move as a major escalation because the new constitution does not clearly define North Korea’s borders but insists on the country’s right to defend them. Seoul still supports peaceful reunification but has increased security readiness.

How can it affect the ministry work?

Foley says a permanent two-state system could create serious ministry challenges: “It [might have] serious impacts on ministry, because our work at Voice of the Martyrs Korea is in support of underground North Korean Christians.”

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea E-Passport passport (photo courtesy of PRADO EU via Wikimedia Commons)

South Korea could eventually join North Korea in restricting or banning such ministry work if cooperation between the two governments increases.

The ministry also serves North Korean laborers overseas and women trafficked into China and forced into marriage. Foley says that outreach could eventually become illegal under South Korean law, not just Chinese and North Korean law.

At the moment, North Korea’s decision has not changed ministry operations. However, how the situation develops will depend on future diplomacy and South Korea’s response.

“So the change in the Constitution is really a matter of prayer for believers,” Foley says.

An estimated 100,000 underground Christians remain in North Korea. Pray Voice of the Martyrs Korea can continue supporting local believers through radio broadcasts, Bible distribution, and other outreach efforts based in South Korea.

“Pray that while it is still light, that the Lord will permit us to do the ministry that we do. We don’t take for granted any day,” Foley says.

Header photo: North Korean men reading news, Pyongyang, North Korea (photo courtesy of Random Institute via Unsplash).

Eric Foley with VOM Korea explains that after decades of faithful service in Russia, 70-year-old Park was stopped on her way home to South Korea in January. She’s now in a Russian holding facility, facing alleged immigration charges that could carry an up to 17-year prison sentence. 

VOM Korea has ensured that Park has an attorney, a critical part of the process. 

“She says that while she’s reading her Bible daily, and she’s confident in the Lord, she just wants to come home,” says Foley. 

The charges against Park are a mask for Russia’s underlying issue: her missionary work among children. 

“That’s what happens in countries, whether it’s North Korea, China, Russia, or other countries. Rarely do you hear about religious charges,” Foley says. “Instead, what you get are charges like in China, the charges against pastors these days are that pastors are committing fraud. In Russia, a lot of charges these days relate to immigration.”

(Photo courtesy of VOM Korea)

Your advocacy can make a difference! But the how matters. Foley warns against two common mistakes Christians make when responding to persecution. 

“One is that they say nothing,” he says. “The other is that they speak so loudly and stridently that they demonize the government about whom they’re speaking.” 

Foley says that in VOM Korea’s decades of advocacy for Christian prisoners, “Not one of them has ever said, ‘I wish you would have been quiet when I was in prison.’ So we don’t need to yell and be human rights crusaders. We do simply need to tell the truth about what’s happening.”

Even the simple act of signing a petition shows a government that people around the world know what is happening and that they are willing to speak the truth about it. 

Pray especially for favor as VOM Korea delivers the signed petition to the Russian embassy very soon. 

“When you visit an embassy with a petition, they don’t welcome you in and serve you tea,” Foley says. 

“It’s an experience for which we really request a lot of prayer, because sometimes the gates get shut, sometimes the tables get turned, and the people who deliver the petitions end up being seen as the disturbers of the peace.”

Header photo courtesy of VOM Korea. 

That’s the update from persecution watchdog Voice of the Martyrs Korea, which has been advocating for the release of Missionary Park since her arrest on January 15, one week before she was scheduled to return home to Korea to retire at age 70. The missionary continues to be held at an immigration detention center.

According to Voice of the Martyrs Korea CEO Pastor Eric Foley, authorities have also seized Missionary Park’s house in Russia and fined the missionary for overstaying her visa, despite the overstay being due to her detainment by Russian authorities. Pastor Foley calls these actions “serious violations of the law that demand remedy by the court and the action of Christians around the world on Missionary Park’s behalf.”

(Photo courtesy VOMK)

Voice of the Martyrs Korea has posted a petition online at https://vomkorea.com/en/petition-2026 calling for Missionary Park’s immediate release.

Pastor Foley says that so far more than 3,700 people in Korea have added their names to the petition, along with 750 people from the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, Africa, and Finland. Pastor Foley says he and Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley will deliver the petition to the Russian Embassy in Seoul once 5,000 signatures are secured.

“We need to let Russian authorities know that the world is watching to see how they will treat this 70-year old single woman who for more than 30 years said she was ‘married to Russia’, serving Russian people—especially children—with her whole heart, with not even a single complaint against her during that time,” says Pastor Foley. He says that more than a dozen people in Russia and Korea have stepped forward to provide official character references to submit to the court on Missionary Park’s behalf.

Pastor Foley says that the three charges against Missionary Park are all immigration-related and deal with assistance Missionary Park allegedly provided to Koreans to enter Russia. Two of the charges carry maximum 5-year sentences, and the third carries a maximum 7-year sentence, leading to a possible maximum 17-year sentence between the three charges.

He says that although the charges are explicitly immigration-related, Voice of the Martyrs Korea remains concerned that the motivation for the charges is religious.

“Voice of the Martyrs Korea obtained copies of a notification sent out in January by the Khabarovsk Department of Education to educational and other child care institutions in the area. The notification says in part, ‘In the capital of the region, a citizen of South Korea, an agent of an American organization Park Tae-Yeon’s Child Evangelism Fellowship set up a brainwashing machine for children, instilling values alien to our society and drawing them into the practice of the Korean-American form of Protestantism.’ The statement continues: ‘Russian children were set against the family and the state, and Park Tae-yong herself was presented to them as the main life guide. The camp was carefully conspiratorial.’ The notification concludes: ‘Park Tae-Yeon intended to take Russian children to South Korea for final zombification, but did not have time. Now Park Tae-Yeon has been detained, a criminal case has been opened for organizing illegal migration.’”

Park Tae-yong
(Photo courtesy VOMK)

Pastor Foley says that similar reports appeared in state-affiliated Russian media in late January.

“The criminal charges and media campaign against Missionary Park reflect the continued decline in religious freedom across the Russian Federation, particularly as it relates to Protestant Evangelicals,” says Pastor Foley. “The 2025 US Commission on International Religious Freedom report on Russia says, ‘Russia criminalizes the activities of several peaceful religious groups by designating them as “terrorist,” “extremist,” or “undesirable,” despite no evidence of their promotion of or participation in violence.’ That’s exactly what we see in the case of Missionary Park. Her activity hasn’t changed for more than 30 years. The only thing that has changed is that now Russian authorities calls people like her ‘extremists’, ‘brainwashers’, and ‘conspirators against Russia’, despite all common-sense evidence to the contrary.”

Since 2021, the United States has designated Russia as one of 12 ‘Countries of Particular Concern’ for religious freedom violations, along with countries including China, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, and Cuba.

Individuals interested in signing the petition on behalf of Missionary Park can visit https://vomkorea.com/en/petition-2026.

Header image is a screenshot from a video of missionary Park’s arrest posted on the Биржа политиков – Хабаровский край (Political Marketplace – Khabarovsk Krai Telegram Channel)

Russia (MNN) — There’s encouraging news to share about a South Korean missionary detained in Russia — and many are calling it an answer to prayer.

Ms. Park Tae-Yeon, 69, has been held by Russian authorities since January 15. Earlier this week, Mission Network News reported on her arrest and an online petition calling for her release. That story was picked up by South Korean media, and quickly reached people who could help.

(Photo courtesy of VOM Korea)

Eric Foley with The Voice of the Martyrs Korea says those headlines mattered.

“We really believe it is [an] answer to prayer. The Voice of the Martyrs Korea has confirmed that Ms. Park met for 40 minutes with a representative from the Korean consulate on the afternoon of February 3.”

Park is also in a better living situation now. “We can confirm that today, Ms. Park was moved from the detention center to house arrest after submitting a pledge not to leave Russia until the end of the investigation,” Foley says.

Park was targeted at the same time as Child Evangelism Fellowship in a months-long investigation by Russian officials. The charges against her remain unchanged, which means the hard work is still ahead.

Foley says the situation highlights a broader pattern.

Russian flag (Photo courtesy of Dimmis Vart/Unsplash)

“This is an example of the increasing restrictions on religious liberty, especially for evangelicals in Russia. So let’s make sure we’re praying for both of those situations — one, the release of Ms. Park, but also that this is really the tip of a very big iceberg.”

The Voice of the Martyrs Korea continues to collect signatures for a petition calling for Park’s immediate release. The ministry will deliver the petition to the Russian embassy shortly after the Lunar New Year.

Access the petition here.

Please pray for Park’s encouragement, protection, and full release. Pray also for Christian ministries in Russia, asking God to guard believers and keep the Gospel moving forward despite growing pressure.

Header photo of Ms. Park Tae-Yeon, courtesy of VOM Korea.

“We still enjoy good, solid, strong religious freedoms here in South Korea,” he affirms. 

Currently there are four ongoing cases of religious freedom in South Korea, which Foley says are best understood as involving the application of election laws to churches rather than a general crackdown on religious freedom. He points out that anytime there is a change in government, politically vocal pastors or ministry leaders become subjects of investigations. 

“The bottom line is it doesn’t indicate a trend of a South Korean government crackdown on religious liberty,” Foley says. 

Yet imprecise reporting continues to characterize mainstream media coverage of South Korea. 

For example, as South Korea and the United States cease to broadcast radio in North Korea, reports suggest that Christian broadcasts are among those no longer airing. Foley says that simply isn’t true. 

“The broadcasting that was curtailed by the US and South Korean governments was political broadcasting,” he explains. “Now, more than ever, when North Koreans turn their short-wave radio dials, what they’re going to encounter is more and more Christian broadcasts.” 

Beyond mischaracterizing the situation of Christians in South Korea, inaccurate reporting also overshadows actual concerns related to ministry. The current outlook for Christians ministering to their North Korean neighbors is especially dicey and, indeed, impacted by South Korean politics. 

As of September, South Korea has banned balloon launches into North Korea, likely a result of pressure from the North Korean government. The new law carries a jail term and fine.

View of North Korea from Odusan Observatory, South Korea. Courtesy of Tim Winkler via Unsplash.

For ministries who focus heavily on distribution of Gospel leaflets via balloon, this is a significant setback. In fact, when VOM began working in the region twenty-five years ago, North Koreans asked for two things: broadcasting and balloons. Foley views legislation against the latter ministry pillar as a reminder of where concerns around Korea should concentrate:

“Which is not about general news or religious freedom violations in Korea, but about specific decisions being made that do pose a challenge to North Korean ministry,” he says. 

Despite present and historical challenges, the North Korea Human Rights database shows the percentage of North Koreans who have seen a Bible increasing every year since 2000, with a high estimate of up to 8% of the population. 

“That’s remarkable because when we started it was literally zero percent,” Foley says. “So we know a difference is being made by the broadcasts we do, by the Bibles we get into North Korea through all available methods.” 

Please ask the Lord to guide Korean ministries as they face questions and concerns over how legislation will impact their work. Foley knows the Lord can use even restrictions for His good. 

“Things are always, in God’s plan, greater than we can perceive,” he says. 

In the spirit of Matthew 10:16, please ask the Lord to bless Korean ministry leaders with both wisdom and innocence; and pray they would maintain willingness before the Lord as He closes and opens doors in unexpected places. 

Pray also for North Koreans – for those who have heard the Gospel and those who have yet to hear – that all would receive God’s gift of salvation and grow in His likeness. Come what may, the Word of God will not be bound.

View of North Korea, courtesy of Unsplash. Featured photo: Evangelist in Seoul, courtesy of Theodore Nguyen via Pexels. 

During this year’s World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) General Assembly, Gospel workers from around 125 nations set a daring goal to mark a historic milestone.

Photo courtesy of
NONRESIDENT via Unsplash

Joe Handley of A3 says the assembly centered on a bold aim: “The Gospel for everyone by 2033.” That year marks two millennia since Christ’s resurrection and ascension — a milestone Handley calls “a chance to rally and mobilize the Church and really celebrate the victory of the resurrection.”

Importantly, the 2033 target isn’t that everyone will accept Christ by that date, but that everyone will have a chance to hear.

“To make sure that everyone at least hears of the Gospel. So whether that’s through satellite technology, radio, digital communications, face to face through churches — at least, make sure that everyone has had a chance to hear the good news of Jesus Christ,” explains Handley.

Reaching the world also requires discipleship. Handley adds: “If we’re going to reach everyone with the Gospel, we need an ecosystem of disciple-making to do that.”

This kind of integral discipleship helps bring the Gospel into every sector of life — not only within the church through prayer, study, and fellowship, but far beyond. Integral discipleship transforms fcommunities through Christ’s example.

Photo courtesy of wisconsinpictures via Unsplash

“It involves the local church, the family, the businesses — every sector of society — working together in unity,” says Handley.

Bringing the Gospel into every part of life means believers must live out their faith in every sphere, from spiritual fellowship to business and community engagement.

“To get the Gospel to everyone, you have to have healthy, vibrant churches and families,” Handley adds.

True discipleship looks like Jesus — in vision, faith, action, and love for the world. Learn more at A3!

Pray for churches to strengthen in the Gospel, to build vibrant disciple-making communities, and to carry the Good News to every corner of the earth.

Header photo: Man Walking Next to the Graffiti, John 3:16 (photo courtesy of Paco Alonso via Pexels).

Though well-meaning, their actions violated South Korean ordinances banning balloon and sea-based launches to the North, ordinances aimed at reducing tensions. These types of efforts have long been common, but the group appears to have acted without consulting local organizations experienced in such work. (For previous MNN coverage, click here, and here, and here) 

North Korean flags (Photo courtesy of Micha Brandli via Unsplash)

Eric Foley from Voice of the Martyrs Korea explains, “One of the challenges that we see with people, groups doing work (trying to help those) inside North Korea is that they often don’t think about the Christians that are inside North Korea, to begin with.”

Their unsanctioned effort has drawn scrutiny and may prompt tighter restrictions, making it harder for South Korea-based groups who conduct similar work more responsibly and effectively. Most of these groups have found rice bottles ineffective, often failing to reach North Korea.

It’s a reaction, instead of a response.  Foley says such efforts wrongly assume no gospel outreach exists. Yet, “More people are reading the Bible inside North Korea today than any other time in history.” As of 2020, up to eight percent had encountered Scripture, compared to none in 2000.  

Still, the cost is steep. “There are an estimated 30,000 North Koreans in prison for their faith,” says Foley.

He urges global intercession, both before God and, where possible, before their government. When Christians become aware of the extreme pressures faced by North Korean believers, they must become a voice for them.  Share their stories; raise awareness, advocate on their behalf, pray that their faith holds true. Most importantly, pray for more gospel opportunities and for the boldness of local believers.

“Listen to the people who are in a country. Listen to how they tackle the problem, how they ask for partnership, how they believe that those things can best be done,” he adds.  Visit Voice of the Martyrs Korea to learn how you can help.

Header photo: Children line up in front of a mural in Pyongyang, North Korea (courtesy of Thomas Evans via Unsplash)

This diplomatic development comes more than a month after sectarian violence broke out in Syria, challenging the transitional government’s position on religious freedom. Last week, Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, extended the initial 30-day investigation of that massacre to three months from now.

Photo of shadowed Syrian flag is a representative stock photo (Courtesy of Abdalhady Mansour via Pexels)

But will more time lead to justice or religious freedom? Joe Willey serves with SAT-7, a satellite TV ministry to the Middle East and North Africa. He says that across the MENA region, people’s human rights, especially those of Christians, are not always honored.

That may mean a more helpful response to Syria’s instability is to help its people, especially its Christians, endure. 

“So when we look at a country like Syria or others in the Middle East and North Africa, we really think about Christians, because there may be — if not outright persecution — it just may be that there are what we call ‘isolated believers,’” says Willey.

Through SAT-7’s gospel-centered satellite TV and digital avenues, Christians with no connections to other believers have a chance to be discipled and interact with other Christians. Willey says the technology SAT-7 uses is “virtually uncensorable” — meaning hope can’t be silenced. 

“Christians are only 4% of the population in the Middle East and North Africa,” he says. “That means that there are other religions — and it’s not just Islam, but there are other religions, or even atheism — that Christians have to deal with.”

Whether Christians are viewed as minorities, as people without rights, or as people from a separate, inconsequential religion, the result is often still the same:

“Many people… are not really allowed to freely proclaim their faith. That does not mean they do not have faith. It means that their faith is not able to be communicated to everyone, one at large, like we may do in the U.S.,” says Willey.

(Photo courtesy of SAT-7 USA via Facebook)

But far from “hiding their light under a bushel,” so to speak, Willey says he’s noticed something interesting among these persecuted believers. “That is where God sovereignly has placed them, and they’re going to serve Him no matter if they’re the only one. That is so encouraging, as another Christian, to say, ‘These people are not Christians because it is easy. They are Christians because it is true.’”

Please pray! Pray that Syria’s government will truly uphold religious freedom. Ask God to open the way for believers in Syria (as well as other nations under persecution) to be able to share His love.

Pray also for SAT-7’s gospel ministry, meant as a resource not a replacement for the church. Pray their work truly does strengthen the church in the MENA in its range of needs.

Learn more about SAT-7 here.

Header photo: On Thursday, April 10, diplomatic relations were established between the Republic of Korea and the Syrian Arab Republic with the signing of the Joint Communiqué by Cho Tae-yul, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, and Asaad al-Shaibani, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Syrian Arab Republic, in Damascus. (Photo courtesy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (South Korea) – https://www.mofa.go.kr/eng/brd/m_5674/view.do?seq=321125, South Korea-Gov, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=163426738 via Wikimedia Commons.)

What has been the ongoing impact of this “once in a generation” conference? In a word: Relationships.

For example, Robert Adair serves with A3 in Japan. He knows of a Japanese pastor who wants to start an international school in his area.

Adair explains, “It’s a more rural part of Japan, and he sees that especially missionaries, because they don’t have options for their children for education, they’ll come for a couple of years. But once their kids hit elementary/middle school, they move to the big cities. So not having an international education option for missionaries and expats, from his perspective, limits mission in his region.”

(Photo of Lausanne 4 courtesy of lausannemovement via Flickr. Photo credit: Gersham Girum, https://www.flickr.com/photos/thelausannemovement/54016673942/)

During Lausanne 4, Adair also met with a friend who operates international schools in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Adair says, “But then I realized, wait, my friend from Indonesia who actually runs international schools in multiple locations is here, and my Japanese pastor friend is also here. So why don’t I just introduce these guys and see if they can figure something out?”

These kinds of connections, he says, capture the history of Lausanne gatherings, which often spark “significant things in the Church.”

Pray that connections made at Lausanne 4 will lead to an even greater spread of the Gospel.

“It’s not just kind of this idealized ‘we should have collaboration,'” says Adair. “It’s like, ‘I literally can’t do the thing I need to do by myself, so I have to find somebody else that’s doing it.’”

Also, ask God to open doors for A3’s disciple-making efforts in Japan. Learn more about A3 on their website. Find your place in the story!

Header photo courtesy of lausannemovement via Flickr: https://flickr.com/photos/thelausannemovement/54022295654/

North Korea recently blew up parts of roads and rail lines connecting to South Korea and built blockades.

“This is a real change in relationships between North and South Korea,” says Eric Foley with The Voice of the Martyrs Korea.

“Since the inception of the countries and the end of the Korean War, North Korea has always had, as its stated goal, the reunification of the Korean peninsula under North Korean leadership, the leadership of the Kim family.

North Korean flags (Photo courtesy of John Pavelka via Flickr under Creative Commons License: https://goo.gl/jxWHHm)

As evidenced by the severed cross-border ties, Foley says, “Now North Korea has changed that goal…. It no longer wants to reunite with South Korea. It says it’s a separate country, a separate people, an alien group, a puppet of the United States, and something that is outside of North Korea’s goals for the future.”

At the same time, North Korea has sent troops to Russia, possibly to fight in Ukraine. With the potential for North Korean troops to come back with modern combat experience, it’s significantly straining relations with South Korea.

South Korea, for its part, has only supplied Ukraine with humanitarian aid but refrained from sending lethal weapons. However, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol confirmed that if North Korean troops go to fight in Ukraine in cooperation with Russia, South Korea would consider arming Ukraine with defensive weapons and even possibly offensive weapons.

Despite the rising pressure on the Korean Peninsula, Foley reminds believers of our Gospel mission: There are still souls at stake.

“The opportunities are still there for Gospel ministry today. Even though the North Korean government says you can’t reach our people, the Word of God says that the Word of God is not bound.”

VOM Korea sends 40,000 Bibles a year into North Korea. Today, miraculously, it’s estimated up to 8% of North Koreans have seen a Bible with their own eyes.

“God still finds ways to reach ordinary North Korean people through radio broadcasts like ours which air four times a day, and through the Bibles that we send by land, sea, and air.”

(Photo courtesy of Eric Foley/VOM Korea)

Various methods of secretly reaching North Koreans with the Gospel could face further criticism and censorship from South Korea out of fear of antagonizing their northern neighbors. South Korea had temporarily banned private citizens from launching balloons (including those carrying Scripture leaflets) over the border. The law was later struck down by South Korea’s Constitutional Court in September 2023.

“It’s important to remember that balloon launching is not a recent phenomenon in South Korea. It goes back to 1969 and in fact, even earlier,” says Foley.

“Various political parties have made efforts to ban balloon launching in an effort to appease North Korea. But no activity [by] the South Korean government…has so far resulted in the appeasement of North Korea.”

Foley asks, “Pray against a spirit of fear, both on the part of the ordinary people – the North and South Korean people – the governments of those two countries, as well as Christians.”

Ask God to open doors for the Gospel into North Korea, and to ultimately change hearts through salvation in Jesus Christ.

Header photo courtesy of Roman Harak/Flickr under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/