North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a grand military parade celebrating the 70th founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army. |Reuters
For the last six decades, North Korea has waged war on Christianity.
The atheist country guarantees “freedom of religious beliefs” in its constitution. However, in reality there is no freedom of religion, Christian persecution watchdog Open Doors (USA) confirms.
According to one report at least 200,000 Christians have gone missing since 1953, and the supreme leader Kim Jong-un has deported and even killed entire families who follow Jesus.
Now, the above does not signify the death of Christianity is this nation.
A new report reveals that demand for Bibles from individual North Koreans has gone above and beyond – and that the Church is very much alive.
Christian Today reported 26 January 2021 that hand-to-hand Bible distributions in North Korea doubled in 2020 than in any other year, a trend Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) attributed to fears over Covid-19.
The North Korean Human Rights Information Center also carried out a survey in 2020 and found that the number of people who’ve seen a bible has risen by 4 per cent since the year 2000.
One secret Christian in North Korea told Open Doors: “Every Christian in my country has the spirit of martyrdom in him. If you lose that spirit for one second, you cannot carry the burden of being a follower of Jesus.”
Open Doors urges North Korean Christians are living evidence that God’s Word, and especially His promises, bring strength. The organisation estimates that there are approximately 300,000 Christians in the country, from a population of 25.7 million.
From that 300,000, Open Doors reports that 50,000 to 70,000 Christians are currently imprisoned in terrible labour camps for their faith. It is unlikely that they will ever be able to leave, sources say.
“The North Korean church realizes that there has never been a spiritual breakthrough in a hard place without suffering. Many North Koreans discover that Jesus Christ is God—not the Kims. They commit their lives to Him despite the fact that it will cost them a great deal of pain. Jesus is their only hope for this life and the next,” the organisation said.
VOM’s CEO Dr Eric Foley is currently facing charges under the Inter-Korean Exchange Act and the National Safety Law over his involvement in Bible balloon launches into North Korea.
He is nevertheless projecting a 30 per cent increase in mass Bible distribution within the country this year.
