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. 

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)

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/

As hard as it is to get people out of North Korea, it’s also incredibly difficult to get Bibles into North Korea.

Eric Foley with The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) Korea says, “We have to remember, at the end of the day, any means of getting a Bible into North Korea from any direction has essentially been criminalized.”

(Photo courtesy of The Voice of the Martyrs Korea)

In light of North Korean Freedom Week, Christians praying for this nation remember that true spiritual freedom for North Koreans is found in the Gospel.

VOM Korea aims to do everything it can to continue getting Bibles across the North Korean border by any means necessary — something for which Foley was arrested and interrogated in South Korea four years ago.

“I said to the Lord, ‘If I can get just one more Bible into North Korea, Lord, then it would be worth it.'”

The people of North Korea desperately need hope that can’t be taken away. Whether or not they escape an earthly dictatorship, they can know freedom in the promises of Jesus Christ.

That’s why VOM Korea’s bold ministry in Bible smuggling continues.

“Every year, The Voice of the Martyrs Korea — by the grace of God and with the partnerships that we have with the Voice of the Martyrs organizations around the world — has gotten more than 40,000 Bibles a year into North Korea,” says Foley.

“Let’s do what we can to partner with underground North Korean Christians today, because today is the day for Gospel ministry in North Korea.”

Learn more about VOM Korea here!

Header photo courtesy of Micha Brandli/Unsplash.

 On a podcast with The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) Canada, VOM Korea’s Eric Foley explained, “Since 1989, the Church has been in numeric decline every year in South Korea.

“Christians think of South Korea and they say, ‘Wow, 10 of the 11 largest churches in the world! Sending out more missionaries than anybody!’ True, true. However…during Covid, those missionaries were called back in large numbers.”

Post-Covid in South Korea, Foley said, “We saw upwards of 15 percent of churches closing or at risk of closure still in the near future.”

A satellite image contrasts South Korea at night with North Korea. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Gospel missions to North Korea have also been slapped with red tape. In 2020, South Korea banned balloon launches of so-called “propaganda materials” into North Korea. This included Gospel tracts.

Then, in March 2021, Foley said, “Any movement of what is considered anti-North Korean material northward across the border — including via the internet — became a criminal activity. Only radio was excluded from that.

“What that means is it’s not only Russia and China blocking the influx of Bibles and Christian literature into North Korea. There is now…no legal means to bring Bibles and Christian literature into North Korea from any direction.”

So what is VOM Korea still able to do in South Korea to reach North Koreans for Christ?

“We never comment publicly on our field activities in terms of the specific details,” Foley said. “The Voice of the Martyrs continues to get Bibles into North Korea through a wide variety of means and we joyfully and willingly pay the price that we have to pay personally in each of the countries that we do that.”

A paradox of Christianity is this: Wherever believers endure hardship or pressure, the Church is pruned and refined — and the Gospel spreads.

Myeongdong shopping district, Seoul, South Korea. (Photo courtesy of Cait Ellis via Unsplash)

Pray for a profound spread of the Gospel in South Korea that ignites deeper passion for Christ. Ask the Lord to foster creativity in ministry to overcome these new challenges.

To learn more about VOM Korea, click here!

Header photo courtesy of Daniel Bernard via Unsplash.

Sexual violence

Forces aligned with the Ethiopian government have carried out mass sexual violence against women and girls in Tigray. One local pastor talked about it with Eric Foley of The Voice of the Martyrs Korea. He says soldiers asked him the whereabouts of a certain woman in order to attack her. He has also visited hospitals and seen a special wing designated for rape victims.

The pastor says this kind of violence is being used as psychological warfare. One daughter was raped in front of her father as a way of punishing him for supporting the Tigray side of the war.

Foley says the number of these crimes has even been underreported. “Crimes related to rape in these kinds of honor and shame cultures often go unreported. In these cultures, a woman who admits that she’s been raped brings shame to her family and also jeopardizes her possible future as a woman. She can’t get married. She can’t be considered an honorable or honest woman. These are issues which we as Christians should be especially sensitive to.”

Famine

As Tigray edge closer to famine, hunger is being used as a weapon against the region as well. The Ethiopian government has been accused of obstructing aid to the region, which has remained largely cut off from the rest of the world since the initial invasion. Officials say food warehouses are nearly empty.

But the conflict, which began in November of 2020, continues unabated. Tigray forces recaptured the Tigray capital Mekelle in July. The Ethiopian government declared a ceasefire, but the fighting continued. Ethiopia’s prime minister recently urged all Ethiopian citizens to take up arms and join the fight as well.

The work of the Church

Regardless of how the war ends, countless lives have been affected by the violence. Foley says people have flocked to the church during this time. “They’re bringing their dead to the church. They’re mourning at the church. I think what happens in these long-term, protracted conflicts is people lose hope that politics can solve the problem.”

Ask God to comfort and protect the victims of sexual violence in Tigray. Pray Christians would demonstrate Jesus’ love.

The header photo shows a destroyed military vehicle in the Tigray region. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

However, the Bibles they use were actually created by the North Korean government in the 70s and 80s.  Foley says they wanted to create “the best translation of the Bible that has ever been done in the Korean dialect. And people might think, well, if the North Korean government translates it, wouldn’t it contain, I don’t know, secret messages like, ‘Praise to Kim II-Sung?’ But North Korea is far too smart for that. They really assembled a group of biblical linguists, including descendants of the original missionaries to North Korea.”

The North Korean Bible diverges from the South Korean dialect by about 40%, Foley says. This Bible remains a valuable resource for North Korean Christians today. “So to call it anti-North Korean would be very strange because it was originally created by the North Korean government. And according to the North Korean constitution, North Koreans are guaranteed the right to read it or have any kind of religious freedom. So the question remains: what law are we violating?”

Ask God to give VOM Korea wisdom as they navigate these laws to serve North Korean Christians.

(Header photo courtesy of Free-Photos from Pixabay)

This year, in the South Korea section of the report, The Voice of the Martyrs Korea was mentioned. Pastor Eric Foley says the mention surprised him. He didn’t provide any information for the report, but he confirms the report is accurate. “The issues had to do with the South Korean government’s actions toward us in terms of our balloon launching and our rice bottle launching. And the report talked about those actions potentially constituting a violation of our religious freedom. But I never think about whether the South Korean government’s actions toward us constitute a violation of our religious freedom. Because as we think about our work, our work is really rooted in freedom in Christ.”

“In our way of thinking, freedom in Christ is something that can’t be granted by governments. And it can’t be restrained by them.”

Foley says both the South and North Korean constitutions guarantee religious freedom for North Koreans. But with current laws, every Bible going into North Korea must enter illegally. “Up until March, it was possible to send Bibles by balloon from South Korea. But now, whatever the border that has to be crossed, whether through Russia or China or South Korea, any Bible that crosses the border is crossing through an illegal act.”

Pray for wisdom as VOM Korea navigates this difficult situation while still serving the North Korean church. Read more about the VOM Korea balloon controversy here and here.

The header photo shows balloons getting prepared for launch (Photo courtesy of VOM Canada)

Eric Foley of the Voice of the Martyrs Korea says refugees from neighboring Eritrea find themselves most at risk. “It’s very difficult for those camps to receive the basic provisions that they need to provide aid to the camp residents. And of course, it becomes harder and harder for them to provide security. So at the moment we, with our partners there, are examining some possible cases of the re-kidnapping or repatriation of Eritrean Christian refugees back to Eritrea. These, of course, are very hard cases to check out. The region is almost inaccessible to outsiders and even to those inside the Tigray region. Their day-to-day life is really focused on just trying to find enough food to survive.”

Christians in the Tigray region

But Christians in the Tigray region open their homes to refugees and others in need, offering shelter and what little food they have. VOM Korea walks alongside these believers. Foley says, “They’re just such a disciplined and joyful bunch of Christians. It would be easy for Christians around the world to ignore them because it’s just a small little country, a small little church. But they’re not going anywhere. They believe that God has given them a mission to care for Eritrean Christian refugees. And they are going to accomplish that mission.”

Praise God for these Christians and their witness to the love of Jesus in one of the most war-torn areas on Earth.

The header image shows the Tigray town of Axum, an ancient city that has suffered heavily during the fighting. (Photo courtesy of JensiS65, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)