Voice of the Martyrs

SpREaDIng
THE TRuTH In
north korea
by P. Todd Nettleton
S
he wept. He wept. And we waited.
The afternoon sun was bright, casting a shadow on Sister
“Choi Yong Jin” as she relayed her experience in North
Korea. Uncontrollable tears rolled down Choi’s face, halting
our two-hour interview. Someone handed her a tissue, then
an entire box. Slowly, she regained her composure. Our
translator also took a pause to wipe tears from his eyes.
The world seems enamored with the new face of the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea). To
the world, it is now viewed as a nation that supports artistic
freedom, welcoming the New York Philharmonic. It is seen
as a nation that promotes peace now that it has destroyed its
Yongbyong nuclear cooling tower, the largest symbol of its
nuclear program.
But to thousands of North Korean Christians like Choi
Yong Jin, this country’s face remains one of pure evil.
It is difficult to comprehend a place so terrible that
Christians must flee to Communist China
for a modicum of religious freedom.
But make no mistake — for Christians,
North Korea is hell manifested
on earth.
Isolated on half a peninsula off
the coast of the Sea of Japan, North
Korea is more than a dictatorship.
It is a totalitarian regime where its
citizens must not only support their
communist leaders, but they must
worship them as if they were living gods. Hence, Kim Il
Sung, founder of modern North Korea created “Juche,” the
country’s state religion.
The government uses cult indoctrination to maintain
“Juche.” For example, North Korean children are annually
given one piece of candy. This is a luxury for a population
in which nearly 40 percent of the children are malnourished.
Yet before they unwrap the precious sweet, children must
bow in a prayer of thanks to the country’s dictator “gods.” In
VOM launches balloons carrying
thousands of gospel tracts into North
Korea. Even North Korean soldiers have
seen these tracts.
www.persecution.com VOM
3

this is our victory
addition, North Korean children are
taught to sing worship songs found
in a book of 600 “hymns” that give
praise to Sung and his son Kim Jong
Il, the nation’s current leader. [VOM
contacts are rewriting 30 of these
“hymns” and replacing them with
Christian lyrics to be broadcast in
the country.]
To keep “Juche” in place, the
government harasses, tortures,
imprisons and even kidnaps its
citizens who dare to follow who they
call “the God of heaven,” known to
us as the one true God and His son
Jesus Christ.
As Choi will tell you, disavowing
“Juche” and following Christ in
North Korea is not just disobedience,
it amounts to treason.
Once married to a communist
official in North Korea, Choi was
a follower of an earthly king. Like
every other North Korean, she had
two pictures prominent in her home
— one of Kim Il Sung and one of his
son, Kim Jong Il.
Choi’s husband attended a Kim Il Sung study group to
pour over writings by the “Great Leader.” People flocked to
Choi’s husband. He was so influential that when a friend was
arrested by this oppressive government it took only one word
from Choi’s husband to spare him
Choi Young Jin cried uncontrollably as she told
how North Korean soldiers tortured her.
THE VOICE OF THE MARTYRS
punishment. In gratitude, the man
brought the Chois an unknown book.
“This is the story of someone from
heaven who helps poor people,” the
man said. “Would you like to read it?”
Choi Yong Jin and her husband had
never heard of the Bible, but it sounded
intriguing and they accepted the book.
It was moist and moldy from being
buried in the ground to hide it from
government officials.
Each night, Choi carefully covered
her windows, settled into a corner
and draped a blanket over her head.
Following the stranger’s advice she
read five parts of her new book —
Genesis and the four sections written by
someone named John.
The man challenged her to read those
sections three times before reading
anything else. Each night she emerged
from her reading, her nose black from
soot and her mind filled with questions.
She was fascinated by the story of
Jesus. “In Him was life…” she read in
John 1:4. “He was the Lamb of God
who takes away sin,” (John 1:29). The
world hated Him (John 7:7) and His followers were warned
to expect hatred too (1 John 3:13). But there were promises
too … promises for victory! “And this is the victory that has
overcome the world — our faith.” (1 John 5:4)
The gospel story and overcoming promises intrigued her,
but Choi had so many questions and no one to answer them.
Some months later, her uncle, who moved to nearby China,
Send a Flying Gospel
Did you know North Korea has a 99 percent literacy rate? It’s the same as the population in the United States.
Their literacy rate is probably so high because from a young age North Koreans are forced to read the writings
of dictators Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il. The writings are the backbone of “Juche,” North Korea’s state
religion. Juche means “self-reliant.” But it encourages people to rely on the government and its deity dictators for
everything. Christians in North Korea are in desperate need of the Word of God.
This is why VOM has launched gospel balloons and gospel tracts (pictured to the left) into North Korea for more
than 20 years. Today, we partner with a group of North Korean defectors using technology developed by the South Korean government. Each large
balloon launched includes 10,000 gospel tracts, printed on white weatherproof plastic. Tracts in the balloons have the Book of Mark written in
Korean. We also distribute the booklet “How to Know God,” in Korean. A time-release mechanism drops them at intervals over North Korea. You
can watch a video of this event at www.persecution.com/newsletter. In addition to the gospel tracts, we also provide thousands of Bibles that have
been translated into the North Korean language to Christians who are anxiously awaiting the gospel. All these activities are made possible because
of gifts to VOM’s Light to North Korea Fund. This fund supports the projects mentioned above as well as several we cannot mention. The church in
North Korea is growing. God is at work and we are honored to play a small role in what He is doing there.
Choi also harkened back to verses she had read in that moldy Bible. She
remembered Jesus’ words, in her paraphrase: “Anybody who hit you on the right
cheek, turn to them the left cheek also.”
came to visit. At dinner, Choi noticed he paused and bowed his
head before eating the rice. As she watched him pray, the Holy
Spirit moved on her heart and the stories she had read in John
suddenly became clear. Her questions faded and her faith was
born. The next morning, her uncle taught her to sing Amazing
Grace. She later visited him in China, and attended her first
church service. The pastor prayed with her.
In a country where neighbors report on each other to the
police, secrets do not last long. Word of Choi’s late-night Bible
reading got out. She was arrested and charged with being a
“religious spy,” and “spreading anti-communist ideas.”
“I was caught by the police, and I was tortured very
seriously,” she told us. “They forced me to kneel down on the
chair, and they stepped on my knees. They beat my face and
every part of my body. My face was bruised and very black.
They asked me to confess my spying acts, and said ‘tell us
about the man who brought the Bibles to you.’ I told them I
was not a spy, and I did not commit any spying acts against the
North Korean government. I did not tell the man’s name,
and I insisted in telling them that I was the only one who read
the Bible. ”
When torturing Choi yielded no “confession,” police went
to her husband, telling him that if he testified against her at
her trial she would soon come home.
Christians in
North Korea face
imprisonment up to
three generations for
having a Bible, yet they
ask for more. These
Christians are willing
to risk all to spread the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
“The police officers visited me again. ‘Your husband will be
a witness about your crime! So you confess everything!’” Choi
could barely speak as she recalled her husband’s betrayal. After
that, they tied my legs and hung me upside down and beat me.
In prison, I was beaten every day, all day long.
“The policemen had me stand up and place my hands out of
the door, because there was a small window in the door, and
they hit my fingers and hands with a pipe. I was bleeding all
over, and my hands were torn. I could not use my hands for
more than 20 days.” Choi held up her hands as she told her
story. They are still marked by the torture. Several of her fingers
are bent at odd angles.
Choi’s first trial was a five-hour ordeal in which her husband,
realizing he’d been tricked by the police, offered bold words in
her defense. She was found not guilty. Still, in North Korea,
4
www.persecution.com VOM 5
© Corbis

this is our victory
nothing is ever what it seems. Choi’s not-guilty verdict was
quickly cast aside. She was retried. At her second trial Choi
could not even speak because her face was paralyzed from
numerous beatings. And after only an hour, she was convicted
and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
“I prayed all the time in prison,” she told us, “even when I
was beaten by the police.”
Choi also harkened back to verses she had read in that
moldy Bible. She remembered Jesus’ words, in her paraphrase:
“Anybody who hit you on the right cheek, turn to them the left
cheek also.”
She held onto the promises from 1 John that her faith
could overcome the world, even one created by North
Korean dictators.
After one year in prison,
Choi weighed 62 pounds.
When her husband visited, she
begged him to get her out. He
sold their home and collected
all he could from friends and
relatives and came back with the money and a television, which
he gave to a prison guard to “bail” her out. The payoff worked
and she returned to her village. But she was no longer bowing
to their earthly king.
“Before this experience I believed, ‘My country is the best
country in the world!’ But I realized in prison what is the reality
of North Korea. I told my husband, ‘If I can recover my health
again, I do not want to live in this land, because I know now
what this land is like!’”
Choi escaped to China, and eventually to South Korea.
While Choi’s ordeal was horrific, the North Koreans have
devised even worse ways to thwart Christianity. Our VOM
contacts say Christians are no longer only being imprisoned —
they are disappearing.
Last year nine Christians working with VOM in North
Korea simply vanished. One by one they stopped making
Imprisoned, bruised, beaten and
persecuted, Sister Choi still remains
vigilant, using her voice and her prayers
to destroy the face of evil.
© Corbis
Like King Nebuchadnezzar in the days of Daniel, North Korea’s
leaders demand total worship. People cannot pass statues like these
scheduled contacts. VOM had provided vocational training
and equipment to set up a business. Now the believers — in
three different locations — were gone. In September 2007,
the story became clearer. The North Korean government held
a press conference in the capital city of Pyongyang, before the
world media. “We have captured spies,” said the North Korean
official. As proof, cameras panned a table containing the alleged
“spy equipment.”
Our contacts recognized the equipment in the video. It was
not for spying, but had been provided to our precious brothers
and sisters to support themselves through a legitimate business,
a business for which they had sought an official license. It is
believed our Christian brothers and sisters are in the hands
of the North Korean secret
police and will never be returned
or released.
Such a crack down on
Christians makes our work
more important than ever in
the face of such evil. Though
embittered by her country’s persecution Choi has not turned
her back on her North Korean countrymen. Today Choi
volunteers at a radio station in Seoul, South Korea where VOM
sponsors gospel radio broadcasts into her homeland. The station
also broadcasts the stories of North Korean defectors, letting
relatives in the North know they made it to freedom.
Imprisoned, bruised, beaten and persecuted, Sister Choi still
remains vigilant, using her voice and her prayers to destroy the
face of evil. We do not know how many Choi Yong Jins there
are in North Korean prison camps, or how many Christians are
praying and worshipping inside the country sometimes called
the “Hermit Kingdom.” But our mandate is clear: we will not
forget them. Until Christ returns, until the number of North
Korean martyrs is complete, (Revelation 6:9-11), we will not
stop in our work to help them.
WHO WILL THEY sErVE?
In a secret meeting,
North Korean Christians
take communion.
of North Korean leaders without bowing. Yet there are those who
choose to devote their worship to the King of Kings and Him alone.
Feeding Body and Soul
The people of North Korea are starving both spiritually
and physically. Most of the country’s 23 million citizens are
malnourished. “We are considered blessed if we eat one meal
a day,” says a North Korean believer. “We know families who
are surviving off rotten potato soup and little else.”
There are people in North Korea so repressed that they
would rather starve themselves and their children before
asking their government for aid.
“I am ashamed to confess,” one North Korean believer
wrote us, “that before becoming a follower of Christ, I was
one of many who let my children starve to death in order to
survive. After my two sons died I wandered aimlessly through
life without purpose. Then Jesus found me.”
We have stepped in to deliver North Koreans from
spiritual and physical evil spread by their government. VOM
has provided more than 17.5 tons of emergency food aid
including rice and flour to Christians suffering starvation in
North Korea. In addition, we’re offering these precious people
the Word of God.
In the 1970s the North Korean government sponsored a
Korean Bible translation as a token gesture to show “religious
freedom.” It has been recognized as the most accurate Korean
translation of the Bible. Yet only 300 copies were printed.
VOM obtained one copies and now prints thousands to share
with North Korean believers.
Still spreading the gospel isn’t easy in North Korea.
Possession of a Bible can equal a death sentence. And up to
three generations of your family can be imprisoned. So many
North Koreans make handwritten copies of the Bible and hide
them in their walls or bury them in the backyard to keep them
from being discovered.
VOM also sponsors
a half-hour daily
Christian broadcast
into North Korea. For
10 minutes people
hear an audio drama
of Christ’s story,
He Lived Among
Us. Ten minutes is
reading from Tortured
for Christ. And the
final 10 minutes is
simply spent reading
scriptures, slow
enough to allow
listeners to write
down each word.
These Christian
broadcasts are also
downloaded onto
MP3 players which
are delivered with
the food. All these
While many North Korean children
starve, the country’s leader Kim
Jong Il keeps 10,000 bottles of
liquor in his wine cellar. VOM
provides food aid to impoverished
North Koreans as well as Bibles.
To avoid punishment for Bible
possession, many North Koreans
hide handwritten scriptures in
their walls.
activities are conducted through our Light to North
Korea fund.
“Your gift of food has strengthen me,” says one teacher in
the North Korean underground church, “ and I will use that
strength to preach that Christ is our Savior. Without Christ,
life is not worth living. This is why we will continue to risk
our lives to preach in His name.”
6 www.persecution.com VOM 7
© Corbis