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NOVEMBER 2016
PERSECU ION
North Korea Explore the Bizarre World of North Korea: A state-created false religion, a national counterfeiting operation, and first-hand tales of tragedy and escape from the world’s worst persecutor of Christians
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Table of Contents
In This Issue: FEATURE
16 | Our Prayer for North Korea A snapshot of this second edition in a two-part series on North Korea. FEATURE
18 | False Religion
Juche is the political philosophy that rules North Korea and the underpinning of Christian persecution. INTERVIEW
20 | Interviews with Defectors
Two North Korean defectors share their stories of loss, freedom, and salvation with ICC. INTERVIEW
24 | From Darkness to Light
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North Korea’s most famous defector and New York Times bestselling author, Hyeonseo Lee, sat down with ICC’s president to share her remarkable story. FEATURE
28 | Office 39
The secretive Office 39 is North Korea’s government-sanctioned crime ring and the Kim regime’s own private slush fund. FEATURE
30 | Cracking Under Pressure
No one knows the future of North Korea, but many challenges will remain for Christians. Regular Features
3 Letter from the President A few words from ICC’s president, Jeff King, on North Korean defectors, their challenges and the hope that remains. 4 World News A snapshot of the persecution that impacts our brothers and sisters daily, in every corner of the world. 8 Your Dollars at Work Learn how your gifts are providing comfort, relief, Bibles, education and vocational training to the persecuted. 12 West Watch A look at recent news reflecting growing opposition to Christianity in the United States and the Western world. 2
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NOVEMBER 2016
President’s Letter
It’s very rare for us to do two newsletters on one country back-to-back, but North Korea is a special case. North Koreans are raised from birth being watched 24/7 by an insanely oppressive regime that crushes all dissent, free expression, and thought by creating a web of total state surveillance and control. The regime is concerned with only one thing: blind loyalty and obedience. Twenty-five million people are imprisoned in a state run by an iron-fisted and pathologically narcissistic family dynasty. Those who cannot or will not adapt to the system face the worst punishment and torture imaginable. Consequently, the personality of the average North Korean and the culture as a whole is uniquely warped. Lying, cheating, stealing, and the complete cloaking of the majority of one’s thoughts and feelings are not character defects, but essential traits that are key to one’s survival.
Jeff King, President International Christian Concern
Those same survival skills that keep them alive in the prison of North Korea hurt them when they escape. They are traumatized, extremely wary, narcissistic and barely skilled. Yet they face the most formidable challenge of all: starting life over in an open, hyper-competitive, and foreign culture. In this issue of Persecution, you will once again come face-to-face with the vast prison state known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). I think this prophetic passage from Isaiah 32 that looks forward to the coming of the unrevealed Messiah sums up our hope and prayer for North Korea. I’ve paraphrased it and focused it on North Korea but I think it fully reflects the original passage and His heart for the prisoners of Satan held in North Korea. Behold, my servant, the coming Jesus, my chosen one, in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him and He will bring forth justice to North Korea. He will faithfully bring justice to North Korea and will not rest until He has established justice there. The people of North Korea wait expectantly for His law. Please work with us and open your wallet (see page 32) to open the prison doors and to bring freedom and the Gospel to the 25 million inhabitants of this prison state. There is some amazing and effective work taking place that is saving North Korea, one soul at a time. As always, your gifts will be used ethically, efficiently, and effectively. I promise!
Jeff King President International Christian Concern www.persecution.org
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Another Church Burned Down in Chile
First American Citizen Charged under Russia’s New Anti-Missionary Law 1 | RUSSIA Russia recently implemented a new law that severely restricts religious freedom. At face value, the law is intended to crack down on terrorist activity. However, the law also bans “missionary activity” without government permission, which means that an everyday citizen is restricted from sharing his or her faith with an unbeliever without prior government permission. Punishments for violating these new restrictions range from hefty fines to deportation for international missionaries. In a string of arrests under this new law, Pastor Donald Ossewaarde was the first American citizen to be charged in violation of the restriction and was issued a significant fine. Police entered the pastor’s home as he was leading a worship service and subsequently took him to the police station to issue the charges. Despite legal counsel advising otherwise, Ossewaarde has chosen to appeal the fine. Since the July implementation of this new law, three others in addition to Ossewaarde have been found guilty, including a Christian from Ghana who is living in Russia, a Pentecostal Russian, and another who follows the Hare Krishna faith.
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2 | CHILE In recent months, there have been a number of arson attacks on churches, leaving multiple Christian communities without a place of worship. On August 9, yet another church was burned to the ground in Chile at the hands of the Mapuche Resistance, an indigenous group primarily located in southern Chile. In this incident against Iglesia La Batalla (The Battle Church), authorities confirmed the Mapuche as the source of the attacks because they left several signs and pamphlets at the scene with the group’s name on them. An examination of the crime scene, including both the materials left behind and the characteristics of the fire, left authorities confident that this fire was no accident. Although the attacks have primarily been politically motivated, churches and other places of worship have found themselves as primary targets for the attacks. According to Christian Headlines, there have already been 16 church attacks in the past year alone. While these acts of vandalism are certainly drawing attention to their cause, the Mapuche are creating needless victims of the local religious communities. These attacks are simply another example of how political conflict can infringe upon the rights of everyday citizens.
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China Clamps Down on North Korean Refugees Fleeing Persecution 3 | CHINA It is widely known that North Korea is one of the world’s most oppressive regimes with a laundry list of human rights abuses. However, the general public is less privy to China’s role in the difficulties that North Korean citizens face. While thousands of North Korean refugees, many of whom are Christians, flee their oppressive home country, China continues to crack down on refugees by deporting them back to North Korea. Chinese authorities near the North Korean border have offered rewards for those who capture refugees for the sake of deportation. Those who are sent back to North Korea face intense, and often violent, interrogation about their time out of the country and are often banished to prison camps. Unfortunately, many fail to make it to the prison camps as they are executed immediately upon their return. NOVEMBER 2016
ISIS Magazine Calls on Followers to Destroy Christianity 4 | MIDDLE EAST In a recent edition of the Islamic State’s propaganda magazine, “Dabiq,” ISIS calls upon its followers to destroy Christianity. The magazine also threatens Christians by encouraging them to “break the cross,” stating that they can either convert to Islam or risk death by maintaining their faith in Christ. In addition to the numerous threats and calls for violence, the magazine contains violent images of both stonings and beheadings.
Second Anniversary of Kenneth Bae’s Release 5 | NORTH KOREA On November 8, 2016, ICC is recognizing the second anniversary of the release of Kenneth Bae from North Korean authorities. Bae, an American citizen, was arrested in November 2012 in North Korea and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor due to his work as a missionary. After serving slightly more than two years in prison, Bae’s time in jail was known as the longest on record for an American imprisoned in North Korea. Bae’s release followed international outcry from Christian and human rights groups as well as a social media campaign led by his family calling for his release. Earlier this year, Bae published a book detailing his time in captivity.
Christians in Nepal Attacked While Trying to Help Others 6 | NEPAL A group of Christians was recently attacked in Nepal while attempting to distribute building materials to those affected by last year’s earthquake. While unloading a truck of supplies, a group of neighbors approached the Christians and began beating them with rods. According to reports, local Hindus repeatedly threatened the Christians, accusing them of converting Hindus. While the government pledged to pay for the medical costs of this attack, the victims have reportedly received only a fraction of the amount needed.
Algerian Christian Imprisoned for Facebook Comments 7 | ALGERIA On August 7, an Algerian Christian named Slimane Bouhafs appeared in court on blasphemy charges due to comments that he made on Facebook regarding the Muslim prophet Muhammad. In his online statements, Bouhafs said that the light of Jesus would outshine both Islam and Muhammad and he included photos of Muslim radicals carrying out an execution. In Algeria, sentences for blasphemy can range from fines to five years of imprisonment. After appearing in court for allegedly committing blasphemy, Bouhafs was sentenced to the maximum fiveyear prison term. Numerous human rights groups have since spoken out on behalf of Bouhafs, stating that his sentence is an infringement upon his freedom of conscience.
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Pakistan’s Supreme Court Sets Appeal Date for Asia Bibi 1 | PAKISTAN On August 22, ICC learned that Asia Bibi, a Christian mother sentenced to death for allegedly committing blasphemy, would have her final appeal heard by Pakistan’s Supreme Court in mid-October. This appeal serves as Bibi’s last legal option in Pakistan through which she can escape execution. Apart from the final appeals hearing, Bibi could only be pardoned of the death penalty through a Presidential Pardon, a power granted to the president of Pakistan by their constitution. Bibi has been on death row since 2010 despite international outcry, with countless roadblocks and delays impeding her release. Her appeal with the High Court was rescheduled seven times before it was finally held in October of 2014. During that hearing, one of the two judges hearing the case confirmed her death sentence. The initial accusation against Bibi occurred in the summer of 2009 after she drank from the same water dish as her Muslim coworkers. Due to the fact that these women viewed Bibi as unclean because of her Christian faith, an argument broke out among the women. Later, the Muslim coworkers went to a local cleric and accused Bibi of blaspheming against Islam by saying, “My Christ died for me, what did Muhammad do for you?”
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Riots Follow Attack on Christian Student Beaten for Alleged Blasphemy 2 | NIGERIA On August 21, an argument broke out between a Christian and Muslim student on campus at Nigeria’s Abdu Gusau Polytecnic, following accusations that the Christian student insulted Muhammad. The dispute quickly escalated toward violence and a mob gathered, claiming that the student deserved to die for his alleged blasphemy against Islam. The next day, radical Muslim students continued their riots by destroying Christian establishments on campus. A local church leader reported that the riots spilled into the local town, leading to violence, vandalism, and arson. The influence of Sharia law has permeated northern Nigeria, leading to increasing violence and discrimination against Christians in Nigeria.
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Bishoy was issued a five-year prison sentence for supposedly presenting a “false image” of religious persecution in Egypt. Egyptian Christian Declares Return to Islam After Two Years in Prison 3 | EGYPT In 2007, the story of Mohamed Hegazy grabbed international attention as he was the first Egyptian to sue the government in order to officially switch from Islam to Christianity on his ID card following his conversion. As a result, many local Muslims began speaking out against Hegazy, who is also known by the Christian name of “Bishoy.” Some even called for his execution on the terms of apostasy. In June of 2014, Bishoy was issued a five-year prison sentence for supposedly presenting a “false image” of religious persecution in Egypt. Following his release in July of this year, more than two years after his sentence was issued, Bishoy appeared in an online video declaring his return to Islam. In the video announcing his conversion, Bishoy noted that he would not discuss the reasons for his return to Islam. Although he stated that the decision to convert back to Islam was made out of free will, many human rights advocates believe that the statement was coerced in exchange for his freedom. He has also stated that he will not speak publicly regarding this decision, making it difficult to reach the ultimate truth.
NOVEMBER 2016
A church in the town of Oral, Kazakhstan, at dawn. Creative commons photo by Flickr user Darin House.
Christian Leader in China Handed Seven-Year Jail Sentence
VBS Camps Raided by Officials at Two Kazakhstan Churches
4 | CHINA In yet another example of China’s continued crackdown on Christianity, church leader Hu Shigen has been given a seven-year prison sentence. His charges included “damaging national security and harming social stability” as authorities described Hu as the leader of a group which was using religion as a guise for exposing government abuses. This is Hu’s second prison term as he served 20 years for the charge of “counter-revolution,” which has since been abolished, before his release in 2008.
5 | KAZAKHSTAN Two Baptist churches in Kazakhstan recently experienced the discrimination that is sweeping Central Asia firsthand. Officials raided the two churches during their Vacation Bible School camps, questioning whether or not the young participants had permission from their parents. The reason for these raids and the accompanying law that requires parental permission is to avoid the possibility of conversion without the consent of their parents. A similar incident took place last year which resulted in a temporary church closure and substantial fines.
Sudanese Pastors Face Charges that Could Result in the Death Penalty 6 | SUDAN Two Sudanese pastors, Kuwa Shamal and Hassan Abdulraheem Taour, have officially been charged with crimes that could potentially result in the death penalty. Both of the pastors have been imprisoned since last December, while Shamal was temporarily released and then rearrested in May. Despite the severity of the charges, which include espionage and crimes against the state, there is no adequate evidence to justly carry out a sentence. In a similar case, two pastors named Yat Michael and Peter Reith also faced charges associated with the death penalty, but were released last summer after months of imprisonment. The recent charging of Shamal and Taour is yet another example of Sudan’s crackdown on Christian leaders. As the Gospel continues to spread, the government continues to arrest pastors, subject them to interrogation, and imprison them indefinitely with no contact to the outside world.
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Your Dollar$ at Work Radios Save Lives in Nigerian Villages
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“The radio is helping. I can link up clearly with four other communities,” said one village operator.
Community Rebuild
hristian farming communities in the north-central region of Nigeria are under constant threat of Islamic radicals and Fulani herdsmen whose attacks on the Christian communities seek to take over valuable territory. These attacks have resulted in the murder of tens of thousands of Christians and untold damage to farmland and property. Villagers are often taken by surprise since these attacks are strategic and well-organized in nature. Such attacks have taken place since 2001 and have seen a rise in the last 15 years. ICC learned that increased communication between Christian villages in this region also increases the survival rate of Fulani militia attacks. The use of word of mouth, and at times the use of mobile phones where phone service is available, has allowed some villages to warn the next village of imminent attack. However, these methods are not always reliable. In an effort to provide ample warning to each village, thus increasing security, ICC provided 20 sets of two-way radios to community leaders in 20 Christian villages affected by Fulani attacks. We researched topography in the region and consulted experts in order to determine what type of radios best suited the villagers. Village representatives underwent a training session on how to operate their radios. According to many village operators, the radios have undoubtedly saved lives. They can now give ample warning to nearby villagers who are able to evacuate and escape the attack. “The radio is helping. I can link up clearly with four other communities,” said one village operator who was able to use his radio to alert three nearby villages of a highway robbery.
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NOVEMBER 2016
MedicalAssistance Aid to Yazidi IDPs Church Assistance to Pastors in India in Iraq in Indonesia
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Underground Pastors
ndia has launched its worst attack on religious freedom since it became an independent nation. ICC has documented 157 attacks in the past two years. We’ve responded by delivering medical assistance to those physically injured by persecutors, like Pastor BP Paul. In November 2015, 20 people accused Pastor Paul of forced conversions and subsequently beat him. He suffered massive internal injuries, but was unable to pay for the necessary treatment. ICC paid for all of Pastor Paul’s medical bills which has helped him heal and continue ministering to other persecuted pastors like Pastor Nitin Kumar. Pastor Kumar was attacked at a prayer meeting by Hindu radicals and suffered lower back injuries. ICC was also able to pay for Pastor Kumar’s treatment. ICC’s assistance provides more than physical healing. It also provides spiritual encouragement to persecuted believers who are given hope through the Body of Christ.
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Community Rebuild
hen ISIS burst onto the scene in 2014, religious minorities in Iraq and Syria found themselves under extreme threat. While Christians faced intense persecution from the Islamic extremist group, other religious minorities, such as the Yazidi community of northern Iraq, faced an existential threat. Wherever ISIS found Yazidis, they would slaughter the men and force the women into sex slavery. It was this inhumane treatment of the Yazidis that led the US to label ISIS’s actions against religious minorities as genocide. In an effort to aid all those suffering under the surge of ISIS, ICC provided food, clothes, and necessary medical items to two Yazidi IDP camps in northern Iraq. Through ICC’s Christian partners on the ground, we were able to display the love of Christ to many whom Jesus would consider “the least of these.”
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Community Rebuild
n Indonesia, building a church is not a simple matter. A church must secure a license from the local government and get permission from neighbors. These parties, influenced by radical Islamic groups, often deny the license and the permission to build, leaving many Christians without a formal place of worship. In 2013, the GGP Ciranjang Church, which was operating out of their pastor’s home, was forcefully closed down by the local government after giving into pressure from extremist groups. Through much prayer and petition, the GGP Ciranjang Church received a church license from the government and permission to build a church in 2016. Immediately, the church worked on constructing a permanent building and to help them build quickly, ICC provided construction materials. “I never stopped thanking God and ICC for this blessing,” the pastor said. “What ICC has done really gave a great encouragement for me, my family and the church members.”
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Your Dollar$ at Work
ICC Repairs Two Churches in Pakistan
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Community Rebuild
n 2016, several Pakistani churches were robbed and burned. The arson attacks destroyed furnishings and Christian literature in addition to portions of the structure. Through ICC’s Community Rebuild fund, we were able to provide the repair work and replace the Christian literature, which included Bibles and books to teach catechism to children. Necessary repair work included laying carpet and soft foam for the congregants to sit on, installing new electrical wiring, painting, and replacing a tent. For Christians who attended the burned churches, the repairs strengthened their faith because they reminded the believers of their Christian family outside of Pakistan who pray and support them. The repairs and literature will empower Pakistani Christians to continue meeting while spreading the Gospel to their neighbors.
Churches Grow in Indonesia Despite Backlash Underground Pastors
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ndonesia is the most populous Muslim majority country in the world, making it a prime location for spreading the Gospel. The Christian population may be small at an estimated 8.8 percent of the population, but it is vibrant and willing to endure discrimination and persecution from both Muslim radical groups and occasionally the government itself. Among the Indonesian people are an estimated 127 unreached groups which are fertile ground for planting the Word. ICC has heard the call from the Christian community and partnered with passionate believers to reach these groups for Christ. Through our in-country contacts, we have been able to provide assistance to five Indonesian church planters who have gathered with like-minded Christians to see their vision come to life, thus spreading the Gospel and fulfilling the Great Commission.
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NOVEMBER 2016
Your Dollar$ at Work
Family in Mali Starts Goat Business
A Food Aid to a Grieving Widower
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Community Rebuild
fter Islamic leaders staged a march against churches in Gao, a city in eastern Mali, resulting in the use of tear gas bombs on an unsuspecting Baptist church, a local pastor felt threatened by the rising turmoil in the city. As the situation worsened and the threats began to personally affect his family, the pastor finally made the decision to move
his family to the capital city of Bamako, where they could find safety. Unfortunately, Christians in Bamako still face social exclusion, making it nearly impossible to find work. ICC provided the pastor’s family with the necessary supplies to start a goat husbandry business. The income from this business will allow the family to financially provide for themselves in this new city without having to abandon their ministry.
Underground Pastors
n June of this year, a pastor who leads a church in Kano City, Nigeria, tragically lost his wife when she was murdered by Islamic radicals on allegations of blasphemy under Sharia law. Unfortunately, discrimination against Christians in northern Nigeria is all too common. Because Kano is situated in a Muslim majority region of the country, Sharia law is commonly accepted, even among government officials. ICC visited the grieving pastor in August and delivered much-needed food packages. During the visit, we learned of the disappointing government actions taken regarding the case. The collaborators of the crime had already been released and were allowed to walk freely. According to the pastor, the case was still at the lower Court of Law rather than being delegated to higher jurisdiction, as it should be. ICC conveyed its sincerest condolences for the pastor’s loss and encouraged him to stand strong in his faith. The bereaved widower expressed deep appreciation for the prayers and help he received from ICC and his local church.
Legal Assistance to Pastor in India
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Hand of Hope
n 2012, Hindu radicals attacked Pastor Reyansh’s (name changed for security) prayer meeting. They accused him and his congregation of fraudulent conversions. Police subsequently arrested the pastor. Pastor Reyansh protested the charge in India’s courts and eventually appeared in the upper court in 2015, three years after the inci-
dent. Pastor Reyansh needed, but could not afford, a lawyer, so ICC paid all of the legal fees. Through God’s grace and the lawyer’s skill, the courts closed Pastor Reyansh’s case and cleared him of all charges. This is a tremendous victory for Christian pastors who have hope that the court will protect them, even though Christians are still extremely vulnerable and experiencing increased persecution in India.
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est atch Air Force Major Cleared of Wrongdoing After Leaving Bible Open
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Youth Minister No Longer Welcome in Illinois School
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ollowing a complaint from the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF), a youth pastor is no longer able to meet with students during the school day or their lunch hour at an Illinois school. In the past, students had been given the option to obtain permission slips from their parents in order to meet with the Baptist youth minister during lunch breaks which included pizza and soda provided by the minister. The FFRF complaint reads, “It is inappropriate and unconstitutional for the district to offer religious leaders access to befriend and proselytize students during the school day on school property. This predatory conduct is inappropriate and should raise many red flags...The district cannot allow its schools to be used as recruiting grounds for churches during the school day.” The matter was given to the school board which ruled that the local minister would no longer be allowed to meet with students on school property during the school day.
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he Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) recently filed a letter of complaint asking for disciplinary action against an Air Force major who left an open Bible on his desk. The complaint stated that the officer left a yellow-highlighted Bible “displayed front and center, quite prominently” in an open office work environment. It went on to say, “The egregious constitutional and Department of Defense regulatory violations of such a brazen display of sectarian Christian triumphalism and exceptionalism have been noted by many United States Air Force members through the years.” The complaint demanded that the Bible be kept out of sight and for his own personal use saying, “MRFF now demands that you order this Major Steve Lewis to immediately take down his Christian biblical display from his official United States Air Force desktop.” The complaint also went so far as demand that, “pending the results of the investigation, both he and his direct supervisor, Colonel Lisa Johnson, be swiftly, visibly and aggressively punished for allowing this long-running, repulsive violation of USAF regulations and bedrock Constitutional law to fatally poison the Command Climate in the RNSSI.” Despite these claims of constitutional violations, Lt. Col. David Fruck announced, “We
have concluded that no abuse of liberties has occurred. Therefore, Maj. Lewis is allowed to have his Bible on his desk if he wishes.” Sonny Hernandez, an Air Force chaplain at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, wrote an article regarding the matter saying, “I want to personally thank Major Steve Lewis for displaying his Bible replete with yellow highlighted verses, as I do all of the time. Major Lewis has a constitutional right to embrace his sincerely held theological convictions without anyone abridging his free exercise of religion.”
Texas AG Upholds Ruling Allowing Chaplains to Open Court in Prayer
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n 2014, the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) issued a letter of complaint regarding the prayers led by an attorney and local citizen in the courtroom. In their complaint, the FFRF states, “It is a fundamental principle of Establishment Clause jurisprudence that the government may not in any way promote, advance or otherwise endorse religion. It would appear to any reasonable observer that the Montgomery County judicial system [is] endorsing religion in general and Christianity in particular.” The attorney general of Texas has upheld the prayer practice by noting that religious leaders of all faiths are welcome to lead a
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prayer. This decision was also upheld on the basis of past legal precedent.
NOVEMBER 2015
Cross in the Seal of Lehigh County, PA, Will Remain
Newspaper Advertisement Rejected Over the Word “Christian”
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n another Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) lawsuit to remove Christian symbols from the public eye, the atheist group has now targeted the cross in the seal of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The group had issued two prior letters of complaint over the cross in the seal, and has now filed suit. According to a statement from the cofounder of the atheist group, Annie Laurie Gaylor, “Lehigh County is not a Christian county; it should be equally welcoming to all its citizens regardless of their religion or their reject of religion.” Lehigh County officials have stated that the cross holds historical significance for the county and does not serve as an endorsement of religion. In addition, members of the public contacted the county board in support of keeping the cross in their county seal. The commissioners voted unanimously to retain the cross and to communicate this decision to the FRFF.
Ten Commandments Monument Will Remain Outside Maryland Courthouse
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his past March, Jeffrey Davis, a humanist who objected to a Ten Commandments monument outside of a Maryland courthouse, filed a federal lawsuit to have the monument removed. Davis filed the suit saying that he deemed the monument unconstitutional. The lawsuit stated, “Plaintiff believes that the monument represents only one particular religious point of view and therefore sends a message of exclusion to those who do not adhere to that particular religion (Christianity), in violation of the US Constitution. Plaintiff does not want to have exposure to the monument on government property in the future.” Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a legal group defending the monument, filed a motion asking for the case to be dismissed. ADF’s motion reads, “His broad stroke recitation of the elements of an Establishment Clause claim does not survive Van Orden, where the Supreme Court made abundantly clear that the presence of a Ten Commandments monument identical to the one at issue here – indeed, one that, like here, was donated by the Eagles – on public lands is not itself a violation of the Establishment Clause.” In August, Davis sent a letter to the US District Court stating his decision to drop the case against the monument, although he did not detail his reasoning and declined to speak to press about the decision.
n Tennessee, a local bookstore, Cedar Springs Christian Store, recently tried to place an advertisement in the Knoxville News Sentinel classified section. However, the Sentinel refused to print the ad saying that they deemed the ad offensive for containing the word “Christian.” The advertisement read: “Store closing sale – Cedar Springs Christian Store – Clinton Highway location – All merchandise, fixtures, slat walls must go. Sale through August 13.” After seeing that their ad did not run on their requested days, the owner of the store made an inquiry to the paper. The owner states that the “ad did not run because it contained an offensive word. I asked what that offensive word was and she said the offensive word was ‘Christian.’” The newspaper did not notify the owners that the ad was rejected, nor did they refund the owners’ money. The owners, feeling this response was a “slap in the face” to Christians, published a Facebook post entitled, “Do you find the word ‘Christian’ offensive?” An outcry of public support for the bookstore ensued, and the Knoxville News Sentinel issued an apology for any “misunderstanding about their stance on Christianity.” They ran the ad at no extra charge.
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West Watch
Pure Flix Denied Advertising Space for “God’s Not Dead 2” at Republican National Convention
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he Christian media entertainment company Pure Flix, known for films like God’s Not Dead, Woodlawn, and Do You Believe, was denied advertising space outside the Republican National Convention to promote the release of God’s Not Dead 2. Pure Flix planned to display a large banner on a building in downtown Cleveland with a quote from actress Melissa Joan Hart. The advertising company rejected the display due to the words, “judged by God,” on the banner, stating that the term was “too political” and “way too
incendiary.” The CEO of Pure Flix, Steve Fedyski, was quoted, saying, “They dragged us along for weeks. Now, right up against the convention date, they say we aren’t approved, and they give us no logical rationale.” Wisconsinbased atheist group Freedom from Religion Foundation was able to display a billboard quoting President Ronald Reagan regarding no establishment of religion. The company attempted to work with Pure Flix for an alternate location; however, both sides decided to part ways after the original denial.
Christian Flag Removed from Georgia Courthouse after Complaint
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he Bryan County Courthouse in Pembroke, Georgia, removed a Christian flag which had been situated in the corner by the judge’s bench after an atheist group filed a complaint. The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF), known for its activism against religionbased cases, took up the issue when it was revealed that the easily recognizable red Latin cross affixed upon a blue and white background was in a government facility. According to
the FFRF, the presence of the flag was in clear violation of the Constitution’s Establishment clause which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” To avoid legal troubles, local attorney Leamon Holliday advised that the flag be removed. The FFRF has been both vocal and visible in many states advocating for the removal of religious symbols in public and private spaces in recent months.
Scripture Decal On Kansas Police Vehicle Targeted by Freedom from Religion Foundation
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he Harper Police Department came under fire from an atheist group over one of the police vehicles displaying a scriptural decal on the tailgate. The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) responded to an anonymous complaint from a local resident in the small community of 1,400 people who believed the department to be in violation of the Establishment Clause to the United States Constitution. The decal referenced Romans 13:4, which states, “For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for
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no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer” (NIV). Since the complaint was filed, the police department has removed the decal from the vehicle so as to avoid any legal trouble stemming from the controversy. Some local residents consider the case to be inconsequential compared to other issues at hand. The FFRF has raised issue with many religious-based cases in recent months. The case of the Harper Police Department has parallels to a case in Brewster County, Texas. Brewster County had previously displayed a Latin cross decal in the rear section
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of their patrol vehicles. The FFRF was involved in this case as well, leading to the removal of the decals in June 2016, despite an intercession by Texas governor Greg Abbott in favor of the decals.
NOVEMBER 2016
West Watch
Two ISIS-Inspired French Residents Murder 85-Year-Old Priest During Mass
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wo weeks after the Nice terror attack earlier this year that claimed the lives of 84 people, there was an attack inside a Catholic church in northern France. Two ISIS-inspired individuals entered the church during Tuesday mass and slit the throat of 85-year-old Reverend Jacques Hamel. One attacker, identified as Adel Kermiche, previously attempted to travel to Syria in 2015 before he was arrested by French authorities. After spending nearly one year in confinement, authorities released him early in 2016 with restrictions upon his movement
including a tracking bracelet. A nun who was there during the attack reported that the attackers screamed, “Allahu Akbar” which means “God is Great” in Arabic. The murder of the priest was filmed by the attackers. Local residents and fellow priests described him as a grandfather figure to the community. According to those present, Rev. Hamel’s final words while attempting to push away the terrorists were, “Be gone Satan!” France has been riddled with terror attacks in recent years, with the first major attack being the massacre at the office of the satirical
magazine Charlie Hebdo. Since then, France experienced a large-scale attack in November 2015 with deaths of over 184 people spread across three major locations in Paris. In July 2016, the Bastille Day celebration in Nice was terrorized by an Algerianborn terrorist who drove through a crowd in a truck shooting indiscriminately and killing 84 people before he was killed by police. While the murder of Rev. Hamel was small in comparison, it is one of the more frightening events. It is also the first terror attack in France directly targeting an individual for his Christian faith.
Colorado Pastor’s Long-Standing Contract with City Denied Renewal after Complaint
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ontroversy has ensued in Colorado Springs, CO, after a complaint was filed over certain public transit bus benches that state “Jesus is Lord.” Pastor Lawson Perdue of the Charis Christian Center has had a longstanding contract with the city to purchase advertising space on 20
bus stop benches. However, after the complaint was filed, the city decided not to renew his contract. The city has begun to conduct a review of the advertising policy as a result of the complaint, which was made based upon the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution. According
to Perdue, the city transit agency informed him that if they were to allow Jesus to be advertised, they would be required to allow hate speech advertisements as well. Perdue is currently weighing his options on whether to file a free speech lawsuit against the city of Colorado Springs.
Iowa Man Charged with Terrorism for Threatening Pastor During Church Service
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ccording to reports, an Iowa man faces charges of terrorism for threatening to kill a local pastor during a Sunday service. David Flores-Marroquin, age 25, threatened the pastor of Community Bible Chapel in Sioux City on two separate occasions. The first incident happened on a Saturday when he was seen cutting
himself with a knife and smearing blood on the stairs of the church. He threatened the pastor with the knife after he was asked to leave the premises. The second event occurred the following afternoon when he entered the service, threatening the pastor with a BB gun. The pastor again asked him to leave the premises. Local authorities were called
to intervene. Flores-Marroquin is currently charged with felony terrorism and assault while displaying a dangerous weapon. Similar instances have occurred throughout the country as a man set a church building on fire in Pittsburg, California, and an Islamic-inspired man attempted to kill members of Corinth Missionary Baptist Church in Bullard, Texas.
Belgian Teenager Posts Video Clip Calling Muslims and Allah to Kill All Displaced Christians
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ontroversy and outcry ensued after a video clip was posted of the son of a Muslim cleric in Belgium calling on Allah and Muslims to kill all displaced Christians. Radical cleric Imam Sheikh Alami had been scheduled for deportation by Belgian authorities pending a court appeal.
Alami was issued a deportation order because of his rhetoric inciting individuals to join the battle in Syria. It appears that his message to join jihad was not merely for foreign fighters, but also for his own children, as his 16-yearold son echoed the sentiment in the video.
The timing of the translation of the video raised fear among European intelligence officials and the general public, as it coincided with the murder of French priest Jacques Hamel who was killed during mass by two ISISinspired men.
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Our Prayer for North Korea
Chilgol Church
Chilgol Church in Pyongyang, North Korea, is one of only two Protestant churches in North Korea. It exists as propaganda for foreigners to convince visitors that North Korea has religious freedom.
By Sandra Elliot
This issue of Persecution is the second in a rare two-part series on North Korea. Christians there face the worst imaginable persecution in the world, but the hermit kingdom may be slowly unraveling.
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orth Korea is a totalitarian regime with little to no regard for the lives of its own people. In fact, North Korea is concerned with only one thing and that is blind loyalty. Twenty-five million people are imprisoned in a state run by an iron-gripping,
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exorbitant, and ludicrous family name.
False Religion The ideological underpinning of the DPRK is the all-inclusive philosophy of Juche (see page 18). Within the parameters of this socio-political-religious concept, the Kim family is the supreme authority and spiritual head and the state of North Korea is the provider of all things. There are roughly 100,000 Juche research centers spread across North Korea meant to indoctrinate the population into this false ideology. This is part of the North Korean design to undergird and sustain the regime’s power and longevity by playing on human beings’ need to believe in and
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live for something. Christianity poses a direct and potent threat to the ideological framework of Juche. Juche dictates that your state and leader are your religion and god. Christianity says that there is only one God and we are all His children, created in His image, equal before Him. Nationality is of minor importance. As a result, Christians suffer greatly for their faith in North Korea as their neighbors and friends are automatically pitted against them in their practice of Juche. Christians suffer the cruelest form of torture, imprisonment and execution in North Korea, as the state sees their faith as an existential threat to its claim. And rightly so. The love of Christ and the spread of His message by His followers is the most lucid threat to the Kim regime. NOVEMBER 2016
The Kim family is the spiritual head of North Korea and is the provider of all things.
The Tower of the Juche Idea on the Taedong River was built as a monument to the regime’s religion of Juche (see page 18). Creative Commons photo from flickr by David Stanley.
real world as they never thought they would. Thankfully, our Lord Jesus is sovereign and merciful. In Sammy’s story you will see how the untiring and powerful prayers of a mother for her son’s salvation came to fruition. We also interviewed New York Times bestselling author and TED star, Hyeonseo Lee. The Lord provided all the strength she could ever imagine when facing impossible circumstances. Their stories reveal the true nature of North Korea and the power of Christ at work in saving lives.
Future of North Korea
At the end of World War II, the Korean peninsula was divided. See page 30 for some possiblilites that could affect the future of this nation.
Office 39 So how does North Korea maintain the loyalty of its people aside from Juche? Well as with many things in life, through money and fear mongering. The DPRK is the only government in the world that has established a branch of government which collects illegal funds to operate effectively. Office 39 is basically a secret branch of government that engages in illicit economic activities to create a slush fund for the running dictator of North Korea (think “mafia”). This includes counterfeit money laundering, black market weapons trade, and insurance fraud that crosses international borders. All this illegal cash serves to buy loyalties, build a nuclear arsenal, maneuver around sanctions and support
the lavish lifestyle of the Kim’s and other elites. North Korea depends on Office 39 to carry out its criminal activities domestically and internationally. Perhaps the easy solution to ending the terroristic Kim reign is to choke them financially.
Defectors Most of what we know about North Korea comes from the testimonies of defectors and escapees of the DPRK. On pages 23-27 you can read the personal accounts of some who have heroically escaped the hermit kingdom. They have faced death, torture, enslavement, and great loss in their journey to freedom. Once free, they must overcome the trauma of their past and face the
But Christ can do more. While we celebrate and thank Him for the salvation of individuals within North Korea, we beg Him for more. The future of North Korea, according to many scholars, is dimly lit and destined to fail (see page 30). The severity and harshness of the Kim Jong-Un regime is creating discontentment and likely rebellion among his inner circle of loyalists. China, while still the strongest ally to North Korea, has also recently defected in their alliance and support to the regime. But most importantly, Christians are finding new and creative ways to get the Gospel inside the DPRK. The Gospel, in and of itself, disqualifies the Kim claim on these 25 million people. When North Koreans learn of the true God, they will undoubtedly recognize the counterfeit ones. As ambassadors and followers of Christ, our contribution to the freedom of North Korea is to pray He opens the eyes of the blind. As you read through the pages of this month’s magazine, pay close attention to what you could do beyond praying for North Korea. Join us in our efforts to free the prisoners of North Korea and spread the Gospel to a desperate and desolate people. Remember the word of your Savior: I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. - Matthew 16:18-19 (ESV)
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False Religion and the Repression of Christianity
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By Sandra Elliot
n early 1907, a city that was known for its debauchery was set ablaze with a powerful revival after years of prayer. Fifty thousand people were converted to Christianity in 1907 alone! Afterwards, there were so many Christians living out their faith that Pyongyang, the present North Korean capital, became known as “The Jerusalem of the East.” The Pyongyang Great Revival lasted through 1910. Two years later, a baby was born – the son of Christian parents and grandson of a Christian pastor. The baby’s name? Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea. Kim was intimately familiar with Christianity and witnessed Christians choose martyrdom over worshipping the Japanese Emperor during Japan’s colonization of the Korean peninsula. Recognizing the power of Christianity, he wanted the worship directed at himself. So he took Christianity, removed God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, and set up himself, his wife and son as the new trinity. This false religion was later complimented with the addition of a full-fledged ideology known as Juche. It is a counterfeit religion that is deathly afraid of the true version, and rightfully so.
The Philosophy of Juche Juche (JOO-chay). It’s not a word with which most of us are familiar. In fact, I doubt any one of us knows how to correctly pronounce it upon reading. Juche. It means selfreliance, in some sense or another. It has been described as Kim II-Sung’s “original, brilliant and revolutionary contribution to national and international thought.” In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), it is the reigning phi-
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losophy and the most adhered-to line of thinking. In 1972, when Kim II-Sung established his iron grip Chawi on North Korea, Military Independence Juche became the autarkic state ideViolence is the best way to defend the ology of the nation. nation Any other beliefs, Christianity included, are considered a threat to Juche and the survival of the state of North Korea. If you want to understand North Korea, you must first understand this twisted ideology of self-reliance and the extensive irony under which it operates. Kim II-Sung, upon instituting Juche as a national thought, explained it as so: “This means holding fast to an independent position, rejecting dependence on others, using one’s own brains, believing in one’s own strength, displaying the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance.” Why is this so blatantly and grossly ironic? If you know anything about North Korea, you know that it is a nation obsessed with controlling its people, specifically the minds of its people. So by use of this “self-reliance” and self-determination, Kim II-Sung enslaved a whole nation into thinking as one and believing this as freedom. The regime at the time instructed the North Korean people in Juche by using an analogy of the human body. Kim II-Sung, the great leader, was the brain in which decision making and issuing orders are the primary role. The government is the nervous system that channels information to the bone and muscle (the North Korean people) who must, in turn,
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Chaju Political Independence Yielding to foreign pressure or idea (i.e. Christianity) is abominable
Juche These components of Juche illustrate the self-sufficiency of this false religion.
Charip Economic Independence To establish total political independence, North Korea must be selfsufficient
physically execute the orders of the brain. This is probably the greatest example of the success of socialist revolutions in that the masses have rallied around and supported leadership under a single ideology and line of thought. Now we must better understand what it is they believe/are indoctrinated with. There are three main components to Juche ideology: (1) chaju, which means political independence, (2) charip, which is economic independence, and (3) chawi is military independence. Chaju is the central tenant of Juche in that it is the obsessive focus on state sovereignty. This basically means that yielding to ANY foreign pressure or tolerating ANY foreign ideas (i.e. Christianity) is an abomination. Chaju is basically a justification for the political grip of the Kim family and the hermit kingdom style of North Korea. Charip, meaning economic independence, is the material basis for chaju. To establish total and supreme political independence, North Korea must be totally and supremely self-sufficient. Lastly, chawi, the military independence of Juche ideology, sees violence as the best way to defend the nation. It is decidedly belligerent NOVEMBER 2016
JUCHE Kim Il-sung
CHRISTIANITY Founder
Jesus Christ
Kim Il-sung Kim Jung Sook (wife) Kim Jong-il (son)
Trinity
Writings and teachings of Kim Il-sung
Holy Text
The Bible
Worship
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Matt. 22:37 NIV
North Koreans are required to worship Kim Il-sung with all their heart and might
Fear On Self Man is master of the world and his own destiny.
Motivation Reliance
God the Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit
Love On God
Master
Jesus in submission to God.
North Koreans must hang pictures of Kim family in homes and bow to worship.
Images
“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them.” Ex. 20:4-5 NIV
Spy on your neighbor
Others
Love your neighbor
North Koreans gather regularly to admit their wrongdoings.
Confession
and overly presumptuous, referring to outside ideology as imperialistic and aggressive.
The Repression of Christianity In light of these tenets of Juche, it’s easy to understand why the North Korean government is so adamantly against Christianity. Juche ideology allows the Kim family to act as
“Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” James 5:16 NIV
stand-in gods to the North Koreans. In Juche, you rely on your nation, your teaching and your leader…and no one else. Juche is your absolute religion, false though it may be. There are estimated to be some 200,000 to 400,000 Christians living in North Korea today. Of that number approximately 60,000 are serving in prison and labor camps for their faith. Prison camps in North Korea closely resemble the concentration camps of WWII, which killed
almost 12 million people. It doesn’t take much to end up in such a dreadful place. Christians in North Korea can be prosecuted for propagating religion, possessing religious items, carrying out religious activities, or having any sort of contact with religious persons. Secret police are integrated into society at the most intimate level. For this reason, Christians in North Korea must keep their faith an absolute secret. Those who are found out easily suffer arrest, torture, imprisonment and execution. Perhaps the greatest challenge and tragedy is that Christians are often turned into authorities by their own neighbors and friends. Juche means total loyalty to the government. You do not love your neighbor in Juche, you spy on him. You do not feed the poor in Juche, for that man is not self-reliant. Christianity is the anti-juche, the greatest threat to the Kim dynasty and pet nation. This is why North Korea fears Christianity and makes examples of anyone daring to accept this faith. Stories from defectors paint horrifying illustrations of living conditions and punishments inflicted on the Christian population. For example, reports tell of ‘execution by train’ in which the authorities go to the extreme trouble of having men and women tied to railroad tracks and run down by trains. This is not a simple execution to rid a threat; this is a terrorizing form of persecution. When looking at the history and timeline of Juche, one can easily see spiritual forces of evil at work. This false religion and counterfeit Christianity is not just the work of one crazy man but was birthed through him. In 1907, there was one of history’s most amazing revivals in Pyongyang. Thirty-five years later, the Soviet Union installed Kim Il-sung as a puppet leader who went on to lead the Korean War that killed 2.5 million people. After the Korean War, he consolidated his power and then went on to strangle Christianity. As Christians, we know that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and principalities of darkness (Eph. 6:12). Satan wanted to extinguish the light that burned in North Korea and then to build a fortress to keep out the light and to imprison and blind the North Korean people from truth. Juche and the false worship of Kim and his progeny were keys to that prison. Belief in both are fading quickly inside North Korea and it’s only a matter of time before the locks break and the prison doors of North Korea swing open.
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Interviews with
Defectors Two North Korean defectors share their stories of loss, freedom and salvation with ICC.
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By Brianna Young and Ashley Shay
raise and Sammy are two North Korean defectors who shared with ICC their stories of courage and escape from one of the most evil regimes of the modern world. Now living in a free world, they both share how the power of the Gospel has impacted their lives since escaping North Korea, and how the Word of God reaches across the borders of a nation where to be a Christian is punishable by death.
Sammy’s Story: Plucked from Hell “My life there was empty,” recalls Sammy of his existence in North Korea. “People in North Korea are living empty and meaningless lives.” The decision to leave North Korea is never made lightly as it may end in your death or imprisonment. In Sammy’s case, it was even more complicated because he had loyally served in the military for more than 12 years. The path that led Sammy from his life in North Korea to his final decision to escape is one wrought
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with pain and loss. He had lost both of his parents while serving in the military and, after being discharged, nearly starved to death. Sammy knew that his family could lead a better life outside of the confines of the Kim regime. In the summer of 2007, Sammy, along with his wife and 14-month-old daughter, left their home for a future in an unknown world. The journey was daunting, beginning with a 40-mile trek to the Tumen River, the border between North Korea and China. It was the rainy season, and floods delayed the family’s escape by several days. By this time, the police had distributed flyers and were searching intently for the runaway family who was hiding in a friend’s home. On June 19, after 15 days of waiting in hiding for the flood waters to subside, Sammy and his family ventured out to cross the river into China. Tragically, Sammy’s daughter, LeiSung, drowned in the struggle to make it through the water. “My wife lost her mind and she couldn’t remove our daughter’s (body) from her back.” Overcome by grief, Sammy and his wife were forced to learn to live in a world without their daughter. He purchased a blue teddy bear and gave it to his wife in memory of their daughter: “Since that time, the
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Many barriers keep North Koreans trapped in an oppressive life - some physical, some geographic, and some psychological.
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Tumen River Bridge
The Tumen River runs between North Korea and China. It acts as both a barrier and route to freedom for North Korean defectors like Sammy. Creative Commons photo from flickr by user wifarm.
blue bear stayed with us through the fear, risk, and suffering. Now it is sitting nicely in our bedroom. That blue teddy bear is [figuratively] our daughter LeiSung and also a painful scar.” Despite the tragic loss of his child, or maybe because of it, Sammy found Christ. In all his years in North Korea, Sammy had never heard of Jesus, and yet, looking back, he realizes that God had been working in his life long before he escaped and found Christ. Years before Sammy’s escape, his brother had recounted their mother’s strange actions before she died. Desperate for food, she had daringly crossed into China for food but according to Sammy’s brother, his mother brought back more than food. “My brother told me that my mom had developed a mental disorder after visiting China several times. He said she kept talking to herself every morning… saying, ‘Please take Sammy to the father. Please let Sammy meet you, Father.’” At the time of hearing the story, Sammy assumed that perhaps she was speaking to his father, who had died of starvation. After Sammy became a Christian, he realized that his mother wasn’t crazy but had been praying incessantly for his own salvation. “Now, I know that the Father, that my mom
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was talking to was not my dad, it was our God, the Father.” Since his escape, Sammy has helped his brother and sister-in-law escape North Korea. He now lives in the United States and continues to raise awareness regarding the plight of those still living under the control of the Kim regime. “Now that I look back to our journey, I know that it would be impossible if God hadn’t guided us with his love and [direction]. I thank our Lord for picking me out of hell, [out of] the darkness; and guiding us to this
In all his years in North Korea, Sammy had never heard of Jesus, and yet, looking back, he realizes that God had been working in his life long before he escaped. PERSECU ION.org
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land of freedom (the United States).”
Praise’s Story: God at Work in the Market Generation Praise Ju is a member of a young generation of escaped North Koreans who are seeing many North Koreans come to Christ after years of labor to reach the closed country with the Gospel. She shared with ICC her life story and how the spread of the Gospel and underground believers in North Korea are the hope of the future of the prison state. They’re called the Jangmadang (Market) Generation. They grew up during North Korea’s great famine and during the breakdown of the country’s Public Distribution System, a rationing system used to control the populace and reward and punish citizens based on their loyalty and use to the regime. Early on, this generation was weaned from dependence on the state; these youth have grown up buying and selling on the black market, for which their generation is named, and this has shaped their worldview in a completely different way than their parents and grandparents. You see, the black market has brought in more than food. It has brought in a flood of NOVEMBER 2016
media; everything from South Korean soap operas to Western pop movies (Titanic is a favorite) and access to this information is changing the face of the most closed and secretive country in the world. Praise Ju, a young leader in this promising generation, was born in 1991. In 1998, her father brought home an illegal radio that would change his family’s life forever. North Korea routinely jams foreign broadcast signals, especially Gospel broadcasts in a cat and mouse game. But Ju’s father would diligently search and find Christian broadcasts as well as Chinese media coming in over the border. For the next 10 years, Ju and her family would be transformed by what they heard and watched behind closed curtains and beneath blankets at night. While her father was drawn to Gospel broadcasts, Ju was initially more interested in foreign songs, soap operas and movies coming from China. Even though the content was mostly drivel, this kind of media has been vital in breaking the hold of the regime’s propaganda stranglehold on the minds and imaginations of its citizens and especially its youth. By 2000, her father had come to the conclusion that they had been duped by the Kim regimes for their whole lives and it left him outraged. For the sake of his children, he decided to defect and began making preparatory trips to China before finally escaping in 2007 to make way for his family. They agreed to flee separately to avoid undue attention. After a seven-month journey, Ju’s father arrived in South Korea and began working feverishly to earn enough money to reunite his family. In 2008, Ju’s mother and two younger
‘‘People around the world are praying for you, so don’t be afraid,” Ju’s father told her. Ju said, “I didn’t know what prayer was, but I prayed to God to save my life.”’ siblings followed and arrived safely the same year – leaving Ju alone at the age of 17. Fortunately, her parents had moved their family to the country during the famine to ensure their children would continue to eat to survive. After talking her way out of a close call with North Korean police who had been tipped off to her father’s use of foreign radio, Ju was able to contact her father in South Korea and plan her first attempt to defect in 2009. By an act of providence, Ju was late to meet the broker who was to assist in her escape. Her broker was arrested upon his arrival – as she would have been had she been on time. Her father advised her to lay low for a time and even suggested she remain in North Korea indefinitely to spread the Gospel. Ju readily agreed and enrolled in nursing school to pursue that calling, but later learned her that mother was becoming physically ill at the thought of being separated from her daughter forever.
Street Market in North Korea capitol Pyongyang
The “Black markets” in North Korea have been a source of smuggled food, media, and technology that has brought up a new generation of citizens who are more aware of the outside world. Creative Commons photo from wikimedia.
In 2010, her father hired another broker who helped her and another young girl to bribe the border guards and escape across the river. In China, Ju and her new friend were arrested when police raided the broker’s home. Miraculously, Ju was able to contact her father from prison. “My father told me on the telephone, ‘People around the world are praying for you, so don’t be afraid and pray to God,’” Ju told ICC. “I didn’t know what prayer was, but I prayed to God to save my life.” In a short time, an underground organization in South Korea raised nearly $100,000 – enabling her father to bribe police. On the day they were to be repatriated to North Korea, Ju and her friend were loaded on a truck and driven to safety. In 2011, Ju crossed through Laos and Thailand and finally rejoined her family in South Korea, where she still lives today as an advocate for human rights and reaching North Korea with the Gospel. “We don’t consider ourselves lucky,” Ju said of her family’s escape. “If not for the intercessory prayers of other believers and for us submitting ourselves in obedience and humility to God, I don’t think we would be where we are today.” Ju’s exhortation to fellow defectors of her generation is to send more than money back to their families in North Korea. “If the Church could train defectors to not just be Sunday Christians, but true disciples of Christ, they could send more,” Ju explained. “Sending in the Gospel would bring about true change.” Never before has a North Korean generation been so open to change and so likely to act. North Korea is not the hermit kingdom it once was. While it remains a prison state, there are whispers within of coming change. The people of North Korea are anxiously awaiting the change of political salvation and release from their prison. The need for regime change is great, but their greatest need is for release from their eternal prison. Economic sanctions, diplomatic agendas, or even war will not meet the deepest need of North Korea—only Jesus can. If there were ever a time to reach North Koreans with the truth of the Gospel, it is NOW! We have the treasure of Christ and we are shepherds of the Word of the Lord. We have been called by our master to take that treasure to the end of the earth - to North Korea! Please join us in doing just that by going to page 32 to see how to open the prison doors of North Korea.
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FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT North Korea’s most famous defector and New York Times bestselling author, Hyeonseo Lee, sat down with ICC’s president to share her remarkable story. By Ashley Shay
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Earlier this year, ICC had the honor of welcoming one of the best-known North Korean defectors, Hyeonseo Lee, to our office for an exclusive interview with ICC’s president, Jeff King. Lee’s escape from North Korea and later heroic rescue of her family garnered international attention when she shared her story for a TED Talk in February 2013. She has since published a New York Times best seller, “The Girl With Seven Names,” and now works as a human rights advocate and spokesperson for the North Korean refugee community.
H Hyeonseo Lee discusses the future of North Korea at “Xponential change” in Berlin. Creative Commons photo from flickr by Sebastian Gabsch.
ow can a god die? For Hyeonseo Lee and millions of other North Koreans in 1994, the question was not philosophical, theological, or rhetorical but an expression of genuine shock and disbelief. Their “god,” their “Great Leader,” Kim Il-Sung, believed by many to be divine, had drawn his last mortal breath. His death was the first tear in a carefully woven tapestry of propaganda the totalitarian regime had used for decades to ensure the unwavering devotion of its oppressed people. Not everyone could see the light through the tear; not everyone could allow themselves to see it. Lee did. Lee calls herself one of the lucky ones. The privilege of her birth in the upper class of North Korea afforded her a relatively comfortable life that even managed to shield her from the first several years of famine that claimed the lives of more than a million of her countrymen. Despite witnessing her first public execution at the tender age of seven, Lee sincerely believed what she and all other North Koreans are trained to believe – that her country was the most developed and enlightened country in the world. A utopia compared to the United States or South Korea. In a nation that was able to largely control the flow of information into the country and execute its own for daring to question the party line or even breathe a hint of discontent, buying the party line, whether in ignorance or pretense, was and still is a matter of life and death. The North Korean regime distorts the character of its citizens and causes them to be extremely wary and distrustful of others. Everyone is spying on everyone in the country and once a week you come together as a community to publicly discuss your own
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shortcomings in relation to the revolution as well as to report on others. Lee recalled that she could only trust her mother and immediate family and noted that even husbands and wives in her country often don’t speak openly with one another for fear that a divorced or spurned spouse would inform the police of their ex’s subversive thoughts. Parents dispense truth to their children sparingly as they might repeat things at school and land the whole family in a prison camp for the rest of their lives. Lee’s family was no different. Her father protected his family by refusing to answer questions or speak about anything political. Her mother continually warned her that the “walls have ears and the fields have eyes” to keep her from repeating anything she heard that might upset the regime. “Living in North Korea, I learned early that I had to wear a [psychological] mask. It was the way I protected myself. It was the way I survived,” Lee told ICC, adding that the psychological impact that environment of distrust had on her has made it difficult to adjust to freedom now that she finally has it. “To this day, it is hard for me to say to my own mother, ‘I love you.’ To me, it sounds really strange.” It took the death of a leader once thought immortal to break through the façade the regime had built to its imprison its own people.
es to beg for food from the upper class. As the famine wore on and people continued to die, Lee recalled the overwhelming stench of death near train stations and under bridges – where the bodies of those who perished were left to decompose. Seeing a body floating down the river, just a few steps from Lee’s home, became commonplace. Lee never knew where those bodies came from, but suspected they were North Koreans who had been drowned or shot attempting to escape to China – whose lights shined just on the other side of the river. China’s lights had always perplexed Lee, particularly in contrast to the increasing power outages of the greatest country on earth, and she began to secretly watch Chinese television – a crime in North Korea. Chinese media exposed her to the idea that other countries were, in fact, more prosperous than her own and even showed a man praying to God – not the dear leader – at the foot of a cross. Lee recalls being captivated by the “vibrant colors of another world,” but uncertain whether the world she saw on television was real. Unable to have her questions answered without endangering her family, Lee made the decision to cross into China alone. It would be the last time she would see her family for 14 years.
A Dreadful Awakening
In China, Lee tasted freedom of choice, movement and speech for the first time in the form of simple pleasures like ice cream, restaurants, open transportation and (comparatively) free and open political dialogue. “These things transformed my mind. I realized my people were suffering, and we didn’t have freedom,” Lee explained. “China is not a perfect country, but for us, China is heaven.” Unfortunately, Lee also quickly realized she was a foreigner in this new land and would have to continue to wear many masks to survive. She would spend the next 10 years hiding from police and those who would take advantage of her through prostitution and trafficking while she struggled to master the language enough to keep from being exposed and repatriated to North Korea. Though Lee knew little of Christianity outside of what she had seen in movies, she says she remembers praying, for the first time, that God would help her soon after she was captured and interrogated by Chinese police. Lee was able to convince the police she was a Chinese citizen and escape – a feat she calls
The 1990’s were a time of cataclysmic upheaval in North Korea. First, Russia began to cut off aid after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Next, Kim Il-Sung, their god and leader, died on July 8, 1994, at 82 from a heart attack. After his death, the country went into a great famine which lasted from 1994 to 1998 and killed somewhere between 300,000 and two million people. These events began to wake Lee’s mind from the utopian dream she had lived in and she began to notice and question things she’d reasoned away before. Her second awakening came in 1995 when her mother brought home a letter from a coworker’s sister, explaining that their family of five would be dead by the time the letter reached them – they were writing as they lay huddled on the floor, bodies weak from starvation, waiting to die. “That was the first time I understood people in my country were suffering,” Lee admitted. From then on, Lee began to repeatedly see people starving and dying on the street. Most of them had traveled from more rural provinc-
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A Different World
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Hyeonseo Lee discusses North Korean refugees during a TED Talk in Long Beach, CA. Creative Commons photo from flickr by James Duncan Davidson.
an answered prayer and a miracle.
Journey to Freedom After 10 years of hiding in China, Lee was able to make another dangerous journey – to seek asylum in South Korea. When she arrived, she found her years of work to disguise herself as a natural Chinese citizen almost cost her asylum in South Korea – where she was in real danger of being repatriated to China. “After I arrived in South Korea, I realized there’s no easy life, but it is a beautiful world. I can go everywhere I want. I don’t have to worry about tomorrow,” Lee told ICC. “I wanted to show my family there is a beautiful world outside of the prison that is North Korea.” In 2009, Lee began what she thought would be a 15-day journey to rescue her family from North Korea. Instead, the journey took a full NOVEMBER 2016
year and resulted in her mother and brother being imprisoned in Laos twice. Though Lee was able to bribe their way out of prison once, it was the kindness of a stranger who helped them and two other North Koreans escape when Lee had run out of money. Lee told us that a recurring nightmare that had haunted her for 14 years – since the day she arrived in China – ended when she was finally able to see her mother and brother again. Today, Lee and her family live in a free world, but her family still never speaks of the trials they faced while escaping their homeland. “If I had known what was going to happen on the long journey from North Korea, I swear to God I would have had no courage to even start the project,” Lee confessed – perhaps grateful her fears did not have the opportunity to hinder her family’s journey to freedom.
Light into Darkness Since 1994, the threads of the regime’s tangled web of propaganda have worn thinner and thinner. Much of this is due to the fact that the great famine drove millions of North Koreans to China where they were exposed to the outside world. The state’s control of the food system also failed in the famine and was replaced by a market system allowing more interaction with the outside world and a continual flow of outside media into the country. Finally, Christian groups have pushed the Gospel, the Bible, and outside media into the country. Lee told us that as North Koreans are getting glimpses beyond their prison walls, they are beginning to question their once-thought infallible leaders (privately) and open up to family and friends. As believers, it is impera-
tive that we continue to pray for the Light of the World to break into the darkness and set the crooked ways straight. Unfortunately, many who have escaped a nation whose god was revealed as a fraud have great difficulty opening their hearts to the only One who can heal them. Our prayer for North Korea is that the Father would use his people in the spirit of Messiah described in Isaiah: “A bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice. … [appointed] as a light to the nations to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and those who dwell in darkness from the prison” (Isaiah 42:3,6-7 NASB). Please join us in breaking down the walls of hell that guard North Korea and keep her people imprisoned. See page 32 to see how you can help.
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OFFICE
39
By Brianna Young
The secretive Office 39 is North Korea’s government-sanctioned crime ring and the Kim regime’s own private slush fund, contributing to the financial gain of the communist nation’s leadership.
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n October, 2005, Sean Garland, an Irish Republican Army veteran, was arrested in a Belfast restaurant. He was wanted by the United States for his involvement in distributing massive amounts of “supernotes,” fake $100 and $50 bills that were almost indistinguishable from the real thing. In March 2009, in a Las Vegas courthouse, Chen Chiang Liu was convicted of conspiracy and fraud for using millions of dollars’ worth of US currency in Las Vegas casinos. In the end, Liu received more than 12 years in prison. In October, 2013, the United States introduced a new $100 bill featuring a 3-D security ribbon, color-shifting ink, security thread, and a myriad of other security features that made it much harder to replicate. What connects all of these stories is that most experts believe North Korea was the main player in producing and distributing the so called “supernotes” that forced the United States to recreate their banknotes in an effort to thwart their massive counterfeiting efforts. If you thought North Korea was a strange place already, this bombshell revelation puts it into a new universe. As the only nation-state in the world that runs a counterfeit money operation as part of state policy, North Korea mastered the art of creating fake US currency. Adding to the frustration of the US, their counterfeiting operation is by no means a small operation. Stranger still, the money laundering operation is only one facet of a much larger gov-
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Office 39’s explicit role was to generate currency for the government in whatever way it could. ernment operation in North Korea that brings in massive amounts of money to create a slush fund for the ruling dictator, whether grandfather, father, or son. These funds are key to rewarding loyalty as well as getting around international sanctions on high tech military parts they used to develop their nuclear missiles. North Korea’s criminal activity is overseen by the illusive Office 39, a “secretive branch of the government…that provides critical support to North Korean leadership in part
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through engaging in illicit economic activities and managing slush funds and generating revenues for the leadership,” according to a US Treasury Department press release. The United States’ currency design change seems to have curtailed the spread of North Korean “supernotes,” which seem to have all but disappeared. However, the running of drugs and narcotics, sale of counterfeit cigarettes and black market weapons, participation in international insurance fraud, and other illegal activities are still important to the NOVEMBER 2016
North Korea depends on Office 39 to continue its criminal activities both at home and abroad. Destroy its main source of foreign income, and Kim Jong-un’s ability to ensure loyalty and fund the state’s security system would wither. Top Left With a UV light, new security features on US currency including watermarks,
security strips and special inks become visible on a new generation of US currency. The new US $100 bill was introduced in 2013 reportedly in large part to counter North Korea’s Office 39 counterfeiting.
Bottom Left In 2003, the US $20 bill underwent a redesign that added additional security features highlighted here by numbers. In the coming decade, the $20 will be updated with new features and picture Harriet Tubman on the front.
Above The income generated by Office 39 for the North Korean government has helped fund its military and weapons development, as well as the Kim Dynasty’s lifestyle. continued success and income of the North Korean elite. Office 39 was “principally created to finance the luxurious lifestyle of the Kim Dynasty members and their close associates,” according to an Al Jazeera piece by Andrei Iankov. It has existed since it was established under the guidance of Kim Jong-il in 1974, with the blessing of his father and, then North Korean leader, Kim Il-sung. Office 39’s explicit role was to generate currency for the government in whatever way it could. Hence, the bureau oversees more than 120 foreign trade companies, many of which are front companies for the larger operation occurring behind the scenes. The court economy, of which Office 39 is the beating heart, makes up 30 to 40 percent of North Korea’s entire economy, based on “Criminal Sovereignty: Understanding North Korea’s Illicit International Activities.” Were Office 39 to falter in its ability to provide funds, Kim Jong-un’s whole state system could flounder. For a nation commonly known for its egregious human rights record and insane
persecution of Christians, the only foreseeable way to free millions of sufferers is for North Korean leadership to fall. Imagine a North Korea where people could pray in the streets of Pyongyang, secretive churches could grow into thriving communities of believers, and people could enjoy the freedom of reading the Bible in broad daylight rather than in hidden corners in the dead of night. Until the North Korean regime falls, such liberties remain a dream. And in order for the regime to fall, Office 39 must fall. North Korea depends on Office 39 to continue its criminal activities both at home and abroad. Destroy its main source of foreign income, and Kim Jong-un’s ability to ensure loyalty and fund the state’s security system would wither. Many nations have caught on to the illicit activities of Office 39 and are attempting to create sanctions that, if successful, would cripple North Korea’s ability to generate money outside of their country. The US and member countries of the European Union and the United Nations have established strict sanctions against North Korea.
The regime has undergone an “arms embargo designed to stop North Korea from trading weapons and sourcing parts for its atomic program, (an) asset freeze to apply financial pressure to leadership, (and a) ban on luxury goods meant to deprive senior figures of trappings of power,” according to a Financial Times podcast with Tom Burgis. North Korea has undergone massive attempts to maneuver around the sanctions and controls. The regime has bought time by regularly changing the names and locations of front businesses, in addition to changing ways in which illegal drug and weapon trading is undergone. Many high level defectors associated with Office 39 have been escaping and bringing huge amounts of money with them in recent years. In June, a senior official of Office 39, Kim Myong-chol, defected with $400 million of Office 39 funds. These latest events may be a sign of changing times in North Korea. If top leaders of the communist regime, believed to be among the most loyal followers of the Kim Dynasty, are beginning to defect, what does it say to the stability of the regime? There are many questions around how best to deny North Korea access to foreign money, but it’s clear that Office 39 lies at the center of the solution. The eradication of Office 39 may not be the fix-all solution to the downfall of one of the most evil governments to ever exist. However, it is stands as a cornerstone of the Kim regime. Remove this one stone from the structure of DPRK and the whole structure may tumble.
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Cracking Under Pressure: The Future of North Korea
T By Michelle King
o be or not to be – the professional nationwatchers of the political, policy, and intelligence worlds are asking that question in relation to North Korea (DPRK). North Korea’s penchant for extreme secrecy conceals the true status of its political, economic, and social spheres from public view. Yet, certain markers provide hints and clues to the outside world as to how deep its cancer goes and when it shall die a timely death. We don’t know when DPRK’s Berlin Wall moment will be, but there are clues to the outside world as to its true status which reveal the cracks in its foundation. It is held together by terror and force and the system is working against all laws of economics as well as the nature of human beings. To put it simply, what is unsustainable will not be sustained, long-term. DPRK will collapse. The question is when and trying to discern when is a very tricky exercise. Whenever it happens, one thing is certain – many challenges will remain for its people and more specifically, its Christians.
Two Scenarios: Survive or Collapse In a conversation with ICC’s president, Heritage Foundation scholar, Bruce Klingner, contended that Kim Jong-un would control the DPRK for the foreseeable future. Not only has the regime survived three Kim family rulers, but Klingner feels as if it has grown more resilient over time. Experts like Klingner attribute this resilience to North Korea’s isolation and China’s support that is vital to its existence.
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Without China, the DPRK would face the military might of the US as well as the full effect of the world’s political and financial isolation. North Korean survival depends on China not upsetting the status-quo. Why does China continue business as usual for the world’s most despotic regime? The answer is two-fold. First, if North Korea collapses, China would suddenly find itself overrun with several million DPRK refugees. Second, if North and South Korea were to reunify, a potent democracy and Western-aligned nation would be sitting on its border. Either way, China would spend billions of dollars to stop North Korean refugees who would flood China’s border. Scholars like American Enterprise Institute’s Nicholas Eberstadt and many defectors argue that it is not a question of ‘if,’ but ‘when’ in talking about North Korea’s collapse. Many see the collapse of DPRK in the near future. The DPRK has historically used extreme isolation and limited access to outside information to enhance and undergird their propaganda efforts that help hold the regime together. For decades, they told their citizens through massive propaganda efforts that their nation was a paradise and the preeminent country on earth; most of its citizens believed it. However, in 1994, the USSR collapsed and cut off aid to DPRK. This led to the collapse of the state-controlled food and goods distribution system. What sprang up was a capitalist market system run by people who went to China to purchase goods for resale back home. These capitalists brought back more than ramen noodles and pots and pans. They brought back a view of reality that completely negated all the regime’s propaganda efforts. Suddenly, a huge number of North Koreans realized that they lived on a garbage heap and not in a worker’s paradise.
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ICC interviewed numerous defectors that perhaps offer the best insight into the status of the hermit kingdom. Many defectors estimate that North Korea will remain isolated and independent in the coming decade, but is moving towards a collapse. There is also a dramatic increase in the flow of high-level, senior government defectors. Many see this as a side effect of Kim Jongun’s brutal consolidation of power where he killed off many of the top senior leaders. One defector noted, “Kim Jong-il, may have tossed his people into political prisons or allowed them to starve but he didn’t go on a murderous rampage of his own inner circle,” in an article for NK News by Chad O’Carroll. One of the most notable defections occurred this year when North Korea’s veteran deputy ambassador in London defected to the South. Another high level defector involved in Office 39 (see pages 28-29) defected and may have brought $400 million of Kim’s dirty money with him. The easiest interpretation of so many rats leaving the ship at the same time is that the ship is sinking. Even China seems to be deserting the DPRK. This year, China allowed thirteen North Korean defectors to stay in China with legal papers, and sided with the United Nations in condemning and sanctioning North Korea for one of its 2016 missile launches. Sanctions have reduced Chinese export of jet fuel to North Korea and the import of North Korean resources. For a country that has historically defended North Korea, these shifts are notable. If North Korea does indeed collapse, the world would experience a massive refugee crisis, likely surpassing the one in Syria. There would also be a geopolitical crisis as China, South Korea, and the US would fight for control of DPRK. Would China move to install a puppet government? Would South Korea and the NOVEMBER 2016
US reunify the peninsula? These geopolitical scenarios are extremely messy and are so destabilizing that they ensure the status quo in terms of the outside players. There are, however, implications for religious freedom.
The Future of Religious Freedom While North Korea remains an independent state, Kim Jong-un has no reason to reduce Christian persecution. However, if North Korea collapses, Christians would become free and the Gospel would flood into the North. However, so would materialism, pornography, prostitution, and a host of other social ills. The Church outside of North Korea is working on sending the Gospel into DPRK presently, but it is difficult and a mere trickle. We, and the South Korean Church most of all, must prepare to spread the Gospel, plant churches, and disciple on a massive scale. The only problem is that the Christianity from the outside world will water down the red-hot Christians inside the prison state. When the walls come down, we will meet some of the most dedicated and sold out Christians in the world. We will bring them (unintentionally) our materialism, lukewarmness, and lack of obedience and faith. Watered-down Christianity will soften the North Korean Church.
The ‘Berlin Wall’ of North Korea When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the world was shocked. One of the world’s greatest superpowers was gone and while all knew it was coming at some point, its sudden fall strangely shocked the world. Similarly, no one can predict when the current regime will fall, but as more and more defectors leave, as information from the outside world flows in, and the market system grows, we can see the end is near. What we do know is that the current regime is a stench in the nostrils of God and all who care for the suffering of their fellow man. There is much we can do to widen the cracks in the foundation of Kim Jong-un’s prison (see page 32). Please join us as we work to open the prison doors.
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North Korea is the worst place on earth to be a Christian. They have killed tens of thousands, or likely more than 100,000, Christians over the years. The good news is that there are many effective avenues to introduce the Gospel and to fight the DPRK regime. To help break the chains of North Koreans, send a check to ICC and designate “North Korea.”
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NOVEMBER 2016
BREAKING THE CHAINS
Gospel and Literature:
W
e can send the Gospel, Scripture, and media which undermines the regime by balloon, drone, or across the rivers. Many defectors have reported how they were reached in these ways. Even the soldiers and police that collect these forbidden materials come to Christ.
Radio:
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n North Korea, radios can only receive one state-approved station, so imagine how hungry North Koreans are to listen to the outside world! Radio broadcasts bring the Gospel into North Korea. DPRK is constantly trying to jam the signals, but they can’t keep it out. Radio brings those trapped in hell to life.
Defector Care:
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t is well known in North Korea that if you escape into China, you should look for a building with a cross and they will help you. Work with us to provide defectors a place to be rescued, discipled and assisted as they transition to the modern world.
Prayer:
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n Jeremiah 23:29, the Lord says, “Is not my word like fire and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?” Pray for the downfall of this wicked regime and the freedom of 25 million people. Pray for the Gospel to saturate this nation.
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Launch Balloons
Release the Drones
Gospel Rice
e work with groups on the ground W in South Korea that launch huge balloons that carry Scripture all across
odern remote-controlled drones, M carrying USB drives with digital copies of the Bible, Christian materi-
orth Koreans are always in need N of food. So why not put the Gospel into bottles of rice and float
North Korea. The government can’t stop these air attacks. If soldiers or the police find them, many will end up being sold as coveted contraband.
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als, and even TV shows and movies are sent over the borders and across rivers into North Korea. These secular materials break the regime narrative that DPRK is a utopia.
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them down rivers that flow along North Korea? We love supplying the Gospel and hope to citizens of North Korea.
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PRACTICAL PROJECTS
Defector Care and Training
Radio Broadcasts
Defector Discipleship
efectors come out of North Korea D ill-equipped to operate in the modern world. ICC provides basic
adio broadcasts provide a way R for North Koreans to learn more about Jesus, as well as the outside
orth Koreans look for the cross N on a building in China to find shelter. But what happens to them
needs, supplies, and job/skills training for defectors and care for their children. We supplied 28 bunk beds you see above for a school for defector kids.
world. Though the North Korean government makes efforts to jam broadcasts, radio waves transmit the Gospel to a hungry people.
afterwards? Many are spiritually hungry or new Christians, but need discipling. The Church can, and should, be there as the hands and feet of Jesus.
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You Can Help Today!
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Young North Korean girls take part in a community event. Keep the next generation of North Koreans in prayer. Creative Commons photo from flickr.
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