Q: We showcased your testimony at the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C. two years ago. Did you receive any attention or pushback from the airing of your story? How did it feel to share your testimony, your family’s story, and your thoughts on the North Korea church with believers in the West?
Thank you for sharing my testimony at the Summit. Since the Summit two years ago, I have seen some of my testimonies posted on Christian-related online news. But it didn’t come back to me as direct feedback.
I feel an obligation to tell my story. This is because I hope that my testimony will contribute to informing the world of the oppression that North Korean people are suffering, which has not been well known until now. I also hope that my story and that of my family will become an opportunity for people to become interested in the people of North Korea. I tell my story in the hope that if there are North Korean people who hear my story, they too will gain hope through my story.
When I share my testimony and story with Christians in the United States and around the world, I want them to look at North Korea and feel the potential of its people, the changes they have made, and the God who lives and works within them. It would be amazing if those who pray for North Korea and its people became aware of the amazing changes the North Korean people have made, that there are people who really worship, and that God is actually with them. Because I believe it can give you strength.
Q: What are you hearing right now about the underground church and Christian persecution in North Korea?
The North Korean regime’s persecution of Christians is still serious. The highest priority for persecution in North Korea is Christians, and secondly, people communicating with the Republic of Korea. This is because the moment North Korean residents read the Bible, they realize that the Juche ideology is a false ideology and that the North Korean regime is a pseudo-group created by imitating the Bible. That is why the North Korean regime prioritizes persecution of Christians and does not hesitate to execute them. As I testified in the video two years ago, my aunt’s entire family had to be taken to a political prison camp just because her grandfather was a Christian. Recently, oppression not only of Christians, but of the entire population has become more severe. A double barbed wire fence has been erected on the border between North Korea and China, and an order to kill anyone trying to cross the border has been issued and is still in place to this day.
Kim Jung-un
Q: How do you see the Lord working in and through His Church in North Korea? How has your walk with the Lord grown in the past two years?
God is accomplishing amazing things with His children in North Korea. First of all, I received a report that the Bible has become more popular in markets in North Korea a few years ago, being called a book of blessings. We analyze that there are three types of Christians in North Korea.
The first is the “stump believer.” Stump believers are people who believed in Jesus even before the North Korean regime was created and are hiding and maintaining their faith to avoid persecution by Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong Un. Stump believers continue to secretly preach the gospel to their children to this day.
The second is “outside recipients.” This is a case where North Korean residents who went to a third country, including China, to escape from North Korea or simply to make money accepted Jesus and returned to North Korea. Whether they were forcibly repatriated to North Korea or were sent there of their own volition, they entered North Korea with the gospel and are maintaining their faith and raising disciples.
The third are “internal acceptors” who came to believe in Jesus through external acceptors. Internally accepted people are people who believe in Jesus in North Korea and are passionately spreading the gospel there. The gospel is still being spread at an astonishing rate in North Korea through these three types of Christians. Just as God left behind the 7,000 righteous people who did not kneel to Baal, God leaves His children who did not kneel to Kim’s idols and is with them.
God has continued to walk with me over the past two years. We believe that God is pleased with us working with and for Christians in North Korea. Recently, I went on a short-term mission trip to South Asia to spread God’s love. God is with us and continues to walk with us.
Q: We heard about Christian refugees in China that were bused back to North Korea last year for repatriation. Can you provide any insights into those reports?
That’s right – 600 North Korean residents in China were forcibly repatriated to North Korea in a surprise move by the Chinese government at the end of last year. We find it very unfortunate that China, a member of the UN Human Rights Council, sympathized with the North Korean regime’s murderous actions.
According to recent news, I heard that very intensive interrogation is being conducted on the 600 people who were forcibly repatriated to North Korea. And it is said that they are forcing them to confess in advance information about the remaining 1,000 people who have not yet been repatriated to North Korea. They will undoubtedly be tortured in camps and some will be executed. We should never take this fact lightly. The North Korean regime continues to commit acts tantamount to genocide against its own people, and the Chinese government is turning a blind eye to this and tacitly going along with it.
I feel very sorry for the residents who were forcibly repatriated to North Korea. However, I believe that God is doing His work through this incident. Among the 600 people who were forcibly repatriated to North Korea, there must be people who believe in Jesus. They will spread the gospel wherever they go. Just like Sister Kim, who works with me, evangelized to eight people while she was in a North Korean prison due to forced repatriation. Therefore, we have faith that the 600 people who were forcibly repatriated to North Korea will become amazing people of God who rise up against the oppression of the North Korean regime.
Q: How is life for you these days? What are you up to?
My original plan was to study abroad in the United States to obtain a doctoral degree in the first half of this year. However, I have a greater desire to work for the North Korean people right now, so I decided to put my doctoral degree on hold and work for North Korean missions. Currently, we are working to form an organization to conduct missionary work to North Korea more systematically in South Korea.
Q: What message would you still like to share with Westerners?
My message is always the same. Despite the North Korean regime’s strong oppression, North Korean people achieved an amazing victory in the development of the marketplace. Through the development of the marketplace, North Korean residents have come to depend on the market rather than the government. This weakened the regime’s control over the population and completely reduced their dependence on the regime. And the so-called ‘Jangmadang generation,’ who grew up through the market, is North Korea’s generation in their 20s and 30s, with a greater hatred for the regime. They are turning their eyes to the world outside of North Korea, which is the best channel for spreading the gospel.
In particular, the so-called ‘donju,’ an emerging capitalist class that has emerged through the market in North Korea, even has influence over the regime. If we utilize the marketplace households and donju, the channels for spreading the gospel in North Korea will be wide open.
It is North Korean defectors who play the role of communication between them. We can now spread the gospel to North Korea through North Korean defectors. Please join us! We dream of one Korean peninsula where Jesus is the only king. So what we do is called One king one Korea movement.
This interview was culled from International Christian Concern (ICC).