2 of 3

He was able to wipe out nearly all of the Christian presence?

He was extremely thorough. I would say that was one of the most thorough cleansing of the land of Christians that's ever taken place, certainly in the 20th century. I remember meeting a refugee from North Korea a few years ago, and she talked about how she saw her mother take a little book and put it on the end of a knitting needle and push it deep into the sofa in her house. The girl went to school the next day, and the teachers played this game where they said, "Do your parents have any books that they read perhaps in secret? Let's play a little game, bring it in and we'll have a peek." Of course she dug up this book and it was a New Testament. When she left school that day, she was met by two men who said "you'll never see your parents again." And she never has. They were taken off to the labor camps. She was reassigned to another family. The cleansing was that thorough.

If you go to North Korea, you get an education in biblical language. It's totally biblical except Kim Il Sung is a god. It's a very religious society.

In fact that's where the hope comes from, because it could be that the same thing could happen in North Korea that happened in China. Mao set up this religion, and when he died, the whole population then said, "Who's the true God?"

You said there are a few very small house churches, is that all?

The main information that we have comes because you get a few elderly people that are allowed to cross the border at certain times a year, and they bring us some information. And you have a few refugees. Those are our two main sources of information. We know that there are quite a few house churches in the north of the country that are all organized on family lines. That is, they just have parents and grandparents and that's it. And they keep the children out because they still play those games at school to see if they have Christian parents and so on.

If you become a Christian in North Korea, your first question is Do I flee or do I stay? If you stay, you live a lie. You have to go to the festivals, you have to say grace to Kim Il Sung you have to keep going to the statues and giving offering. You're completely caught up in the worship system. But you mustn't give the impression that your heart is not in it.

But if you flee, then you may die because if you're caught, you will be shot or put in a labor camp. If you decide to stay, your big question is, How do I hide my faith from those whom I love? How do I hide it from my wife? How do I hide it from my mom? How do I hide it from my children? Because, if you're caught, they all go to jail with you. These are dreadful dilemmas when you become a Christian.

How would someone actually become a Christian in North Korea? Is there any way that they could hear of Jesus?

Well there is some witnessing that goes on in family units. And obviously there must still be a core of Christians that came from before the war and have somehow maintained their witnessing in the country, but very quietly and low key.

The best estimates I've heard is there are maybe 5,000 Christians left, but you have estimates up to a half million. That's very wishful, and you can't prove it. We know this because there are quite a few in jail that we have heard of. Some people who have left have escaped from a labor camp and told us what conditions are like. We don't know any Christian that's escaped from a labor camp. That hasn't happened, but there has one woman who escaped from a camp. She was not a Christian at the time but became a Christian later. She told us what life was like for the Christians in the camp. Apparently they are given the worst jobs. They have to live off rats and mice because their rations are never enough for them. They'll work from 6:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. And they're forbidden to look up at the sky. That's their particular punishment. They mustn't look up to God; they must keep their eyes on the ground at all times.

next page... |  2 of 3

share this page

July (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50