Persecution Blog

"No Room for Fear" in North Korea

In one of the most-listened-to episodes of VOM Radio in 2016, Australian John Short shares the story of his detention in North Korea.

He was repeatedly interrogated. He was forced to write a “confession” of his “crimes,” including the offense of wanting more North Koreans to follow Jesus. But if God called him today, Short says he would happily go back.

Mr. Short shares this week on VOM Radio how God strengthened him during his captivity, the Scriptures and earthly examples that most encouraged him, and how he managed to take a measure of control back from his captors — and even make them nervous. Mr. Short agreed to only two media interviews after his release; one of them was with The Voice of the Martyrs Radio Network.

You can hear the second half of our conversation with Mr. Short; also hear his wife, Karen, share about her experiences while he was detained.

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Honoring a Martyr

This post first appeared on the blog of our sister mission in Korea, VOM-Korea. It is written by Dr. Eric Foley, the CEO of that ministry.

I want to tell you about one of the great men of North Korea ministry upon the occasion of his martyrdom in Changbai, China this past Saturday, April 30, 2016.

His name was Pastor Han Chung-Ryeol (한충렬).

He was 49 years old.

He was married, with one son and one daughter.

He was ethnically Korean but Chinese by birth and citizenship.

He was a pastor in the Three Self-Church.

He graduated from the East-North Theological Seminary in Shenyang, China.

When he was finishing seminary, elderly people called him to come visit Changbai to preach because they had no church. So he went there to preach a little bit. But he never stopped preaching there. He planted Changbai Church in 1993.

Changbai borders North Korea. And in 1993, North Korea was gripped by famine. North Koreans flooded across the border, looking for food, clothing, money, anything. It was rumored along the border in North Korea that if you went to a building with a cross on top, they would help you there.

In Changbai, there was one building with a cross on top. That was Pastor Han’s church.

Pastor Han never sought to start a North Korea ministry any more than he sought to start a church in Changbai. He simply responded faithfully to whatever God gave him to do. So as North Koreans knocked on the door of his church, he gave them food, and clothing, and Christ. When North Koreans began to knock on the doors of the homes of people all over Changbai, Pastor Han trained ordinary people how to help North Koreans also.

There was a time when it was possible for Korean Chinese people to visit North Korea to see their relatives. Pastor Han’s wife did. She even went to jail in North Korea for evangelizing North Koreans. But providentially in the same jail cell with her was a fellow prisoner, a kotjebi, or North Korean orphan, whom she and Pastor Han had once helped in China. The kotjebi was wearing layers and layers and layers of clothing, because every time the kotjebi needed to buy something, off would come a layer of clothing as payment. So the kotjebi provided Pastor Han’s wife with enough clothing to stay warm in the cold prison cell, as a way of saying thanks.

What North Koreans always said about Pastor Han was that they could see his heart. That is far rarer in ministry than you might imagine, and it is especially rare in North Korea ministry. You can share food with North Korean people. You can share clothing. You can share the Gospel. You can give them lots of money and rice cookers. And you can throw big parties for them. But unless North Koreans can see your heart, unless the gospel is embodied in your life and not only your words or your business cards, they will never cross over the scary, shaky rope bridge over which we each of us must cross in order to move from the ideologies that enslave us, to enter the Kingdom of God.

Pastor Han was devoted to helping North Koreans enter the Kingdom of God, not the Kingdom of South Korea. He insisted that the North Koreans that he helped should return to their homes and their family and their country, not abandon them. He told us, “Whether this person dies or not, they have to go back. If they die, God will honor them. But if they go to South Korea, they will turn their backs on God.” I believe this is why the Chinese authorities continued to permit Pastor Han to help North Koreans, no matter how frequently the North Korean government complained about him. Pastor Han was not a broker, not a human rights activist, not a guest on radio programs, not a speaker in pulpits. He was a pastor, and all he was doing was pastoring anyone who came to him. And then he would send them home.

In this and many other ways he was a wise man. Frankly, most workers in North Korean ministry end up losing their souls in this work. Bitterness inevitably corrodes their insides after they are betrayed by North Koreans and other North Korean workers enough times. They come to hate the North Korean government and start praying for its collapse and for North Korean officials to die. After a while they stop praying at all. They have to spend all their time on the phone, talking to North Koreans who need help, raising money, doing radio interviews, and, eventually, trying to cover up the sinful behavior they fall into because the work eats them up. They stop talking about the Messiah to North Koreans and instead become a messiah to the North Koreans they agree to help. Paradoxically, these North Koreans then become their god, because they serve them every waking moment as faithfully as a person can serve any idol, hoping to gain some sense of peace from placating the idol’s wrath.

But Pastor Han did not fall into this trap because he started each day in morning prayer. He said that if he didn’t pray, he couldn’t do the work. God gave him a piercing sense of discernment, and people often commented about his sharp eyes. Those eyes kept him focused on Christ, and this kept him alive for a lot longer than anyone else could have survived in his situation.

Pastor Han was our partner in Changbai, and over the years he helped many other North Korean ministries as well. But I also appreciated that there were people whom he would not help. He would not help North Koreans defect. He would not help governments with their spying. And he would not accept money from ministries or individuals whose motivation was to “buy” testimonies and stories from him that they could use for fundraising purposes. This happens a lot in North Korea work, and I note sadly that one of the people whose money Pastor Han consistently refused is already making the rounds this week, seeking to raise money ostensibly to help Pastor Han’s family.

There was only one disagreement I ever had with Pastor Han, and I always wonder if I should have pushed it further with him. One of Pastor Han’s deacons was kidnapped from inside China by North Korean agents in November 2014, taken back across the border to North Korea, imprisoned, and interrogated. I told Pastor Han that my experience with North Korean work has been that the best thing we can do in such a situation is to bring things to the light as quickly and loudly and broadly and publicly as possible. We go to the Lord, to the media, to the governments, and we say, “Remember our brother who is in chains!” It’s part of our Voice of the Martyrs heritage that we try to keep prisoners alive by advocating for them publicly. We never pay bribes or cut deals to get our workers out of prison.

But Pastor Han thought it best to try to deal with the situation quietly, through private channels. He knew that if we went public with the news about the deacon, his North Korean work in Changbai would have to close down or be transferred to someone else. I know he prayed about it. And I know he told us he would handle things himself. But he did agree to a whole new set of security precautions on which we insisted. He agreed not to drive along the border, not to go meet North Koreans alone who crossed the border and called, asking for his help.

When back inside North Korea the authorities started rounding up the North Korean people Pastor Han had helped in Changbai, we knew that information about the work had leaked. The last time we met in Korea, over the Chinese New Year holiday, we knew that North Korea had issued an order for Pastor Han to be kidnapped, brought to North Korea, and interrogated. But Pastor Han was his usual self. He talked soberly but without fear about returning to Changbai at the end of the holiday, and he was quite cheerful as he hung around our office and caught up on his phone calls. I can still recall him standing there, staring out the window in my office at nothing in particular as he talked very casually on the phone.  

On Saturday, April 30, 2016, at 2PM, Pastor Han left his church building in Changbai.

At 8PM, his body was found on the China side of the Changbai mountain, mangled nearly beyond recognition. There were multiple knife wounds on his stomach from repeated stabbings, and his head was chopped by an axe.

All of his belongings were confiscated, including his phone.

The North Koreans who killed Pastor Han returned to North Korea, as everyone who encountered Pastor Han always did. They reported their story about their encounter with him. I am sure their superiors were eager to receive this report, in every detail.

But all over North Korea tonight, there are others, countless others…

They are the North Koreans who every day since 1993 encountered Pastor Han. Kotjebi. Sex-trafficked women. Soldiers. Professors. Housewives. The famine-starved. They heard a story from Pastor Han and saw his heart. And this enabled them to accept his invitation to cross the rickety rope bridge in their mind that led them to the Kingdom of God. And this enabled them to return to North Korea with the story about their encounter with him. They shared it with their friends and family members, who I am sure were eager to receive their report, in every detail.

It is the story that is continued.

As Pastor Han would describe it, it is a story about how though you may die, God will honor you.

A story about how God never turns his back on you.

A story about how even when at last you are compassed on every side by your enemies, bloodied, and left to die in this world

The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot put it out.

Praying Out Loud

One of the great privileges of my life is interviewing Christians who have faced persecution. To be able to sit down with these brothers and sisters, drink tea and simply ask questions to explore their faith and their relationship with Jesus is a source of great joy to me, as well as a spur to my own faith and walk with Christ.

Recently I interviewed John Short, a Christian who was detained in North Korea after he left gospel tracts outside a Buddhist temple.

In the course of our conversation, Mr. Short said something that I’ve never heard before, or even really thought about. Here’s a portion of our conversation:

Todd Nettleton:  How was your prayer life while you were being detained?

John Short:  Much more time for prayer. I must admit that one then sees [when detained] that our lives are busy, but “there is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God;” there is place where we can touch the throne and we can pray and intercede. I believe that Satan cannot read my thoughts. I believe that articulation of words, the banishment of Satan, he needs to hear us say it and the walls of our imprisonment should hear, should reverberate with our prayers until they take away our voice. It should be articulated, I believe, so it is a wonderful when you are on your own and never less alone than when you are alone with the Lord; so you pray, so you speak to the Lord audibly. Of course there is unspoken prayer, but if I only pray [that way] Satan can’t hear it and Satan has no hold against the Lord Jesus Christ, he is a banished foe and needs to be told so.

Todd Nettleton:   So the guards that were with you all the time, did they respond in any way as you are praying out loud?

John Short:   Very interesting, the majority of them were puzzled by me; one was quite sympathetic, his eyes said it…

I was struck by Mr. Short saying that Satan cannot read our thoughts…and that he wanted Satan to hear his prayers during his detention; he wanted Satan to know that he was not being swayed or intimidated, in spite of the might of the North Korean government arrayed against him.

Do you agree with Mr. Short? Do you believe that Satan cannot read or “hear” what you are thinking? If you do believe that, have you ever intentionally prayed out loud specifically so that Satan would hear your prayers? If this is a new concept for you, how will it affect your prayer life going forward? Please share your thoughts in the comments to this post.

Todd Nettleton has served the persecuted church and VOM more than 18 years. He has been interviewed more than 2000 times by various media outlets. He's the author of Restricted Nations: North Korea, and served on the writing team for FOXE, Extreme Devotion, Hearts of Fire and other VOM books. Todd is the host of VOM Radio, VOM’s weekly half-hour radio show and podcast.

"I Simply Trusted the Lord"

Over two episodes of VOM Radio earlier this month, we heard Australian John Short tell the story of his detention in North Korea after leaving gospel tracts outside a Buddhist temple.

This week we hear another side of the story, from John’s wife, Karen, who was at home in Hong Kong dealing with the media, praying for her husband and receiving encouragement from all over the world.

Listen in as Karen shares about how God ministered to her, how she and John stayed connected through Scripture even though they couldn't talk to each other, how journalists and others responded to her calm assurance and how she found out that her husband would be coming home. She'll also share the one thing she wishes she'd done differently during that time period—and it will surprise you!

The story of Karen's faithfulness will inspire you to trust more deeply in God and dive deeper into His Word, even if you're not planning a trip to North Korea.

 

If you missed our conversation with Mr. Short the past two weeks, you can listen here to Part 1 and Part 2.

Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the VOM Radio podcast on iTunes.

 

Fear and Faith Cannot Coexist

Australian John Short was detained inside North Korea after leaving gospel tracts near a Buddhist temple. He was facing years in prison--but he wasn't afraid. "Fear and faith cannot exist within my heart at the same time," he says.

This week on VOM Radio, in the second part of our conversation with Mr. Short, he shares how he prayed--out loud--throughout his captivity, how his captors responded to his faith and how his "letter of confession" and eventual release came about. The conversation is especially relevant coming after North Korea sentenced an American college student, Otto Warmbier, to 15 years of hard labor last week for allegedly stealing a patriotic poster from his hotel.

He'll also share how, upon landing back in China, he learned that his captivity was international news. He was deeply moved to learn that Christians in many nations were praying for him during his trial, including a group of Chinese house churches that prayed around the clock during his detention. Finally, Mr. Short shares specific ways we can pray for the "hermit kingdom" of North Korea. (If you missed the first part of this conversation, listen to it here.)

 

 

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Former Prisoner in North Korea Speaks

Australian John Short was taken prisoner in North Korea. He was interrogated for hours each morning and again each afternoon. He was forced to write a “confession” of his “crimes,” including the offense of wanting more North Koreans to follow Jesus. But if God asked him today, Short would happily go back.

Mr. Short shares this week on VOM Radio how God strengthened him during his captivity, the Scriptures and earthly examples that most encouraged him, and how he managed to take a measure of control back from his captors — and even make them nervous.

Mr. Short agreed to only two media interviews after his release from North Korea; one of them was with his hometown newspaper back in Australia, and the other was with The Voice of the Martyrs Radio Network. Listen below for the first part of our interview with Mr. Short; the second half will be posted next week.

 

Never miss an episode of VOM Radio: subscribe to the VOM Radio podcast.

 

North Korea’s Ideology of “Juche”

Reaching North Koreans with the gospel is challenging when the repressive North Korean regime considers evangelism and discipleship to be the most heinous crimes that can ever be committed against the state.

However, helping North Koreans understand Biblical Christianity apart from what they’ve been indoctrinated with is perhaps a bigger challenge. The country’s founding ideology, “Juche,” is an intentional distortion of the gospel. So when North Koreans first hear the true gospel, they often have the same response: “Why are you copying our ideology?”

Juche, translated as “self-reliance,” claims that each individual is the “master of his destiny,” and that North Koreans are to act as “masters of revolution and construction.”

Developed in the mid-1950s by Kim Il-sung, Juche is portrayed by the Communist Party as a path toward political independence, economic self-sustenance and self-reliance in defense – all in support of maintaining socialism. Outside observers see Juche as a tool for the regime to sustain its authoritarian rule.

Since Kim Il-sung, the ruling Kim family – also including Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un – has been seen as the saviors of the “Korean race” and is therefore worshiped as such. Juche is the philosophy that helps the people stay on the right path. The government implements it into all aspects of “revolution” and “construction,” and all citizens must follow.

In the middle of Pyongyang, the nation’s capital, stands a 560-foot monument called "Tower of the Juche Idea." Atop the tower is a red flame and at its base are three idealized, communistic figures holding a hammer, a sickle and a writing brush.

The North Korean government also tells its citizens Juche has become an international movement and influenced other nations.

VOM's February 2016 newsletter tells the testimony of “Mr. Park,” a North Korean defector who learned that everything he was taught growing up was a poor imitation and a deliberate misrepresentation of the gospel. Sign up to receive VOM's free monthly newsletter.

Listen to a discussion on VOM Radio about Christians in North Korea.

"Different Challenges" for Korea Work

Balloon launches are one of the key ways VOM is delivering Bibles into North Korea. This week on VOM Radio, Dr. Eric Foley shares how weather balloon and GPS technology are even allowing us to pinpoint where the Bibles are landing. Recently North Korean government press also confirmed the delivery of these Bibles, and threatened to turn South Korea into a 'sea of fire' if the balloon launches continued.

Dr. Foley tells how South Korean police tried to stop the balloon launches after the threats...and how God opened a path. He and VOM Radio host Todd Nettleton also discuss the best books to read to truly understand the situation for our brothers and sisters in North Korea, and we hear from a reader blessed by VOM Radio.

 

You can order two of the books mentioned in this broadcast directly from VOM's online bookstore, These Are the Generations by Eric Foley and Restricted Nations: North Korea by Todd Nettleton and The Voice of the Martyrs.

Subscribe to the VOM Radio podcast.

 

 

The "Tent Poles" of North Korean Christianity

The North Korean government has built a counterfeit religion to control it s people, a mirror image of Christianity that features their own trinity, their own meeting halls, their own sacred writings and even their own hymns to their god -- Kim Il Sung. Following a different deity, like Jesus Christ, is a treasonous act deserving of death.

Many describe North Korea as "the worst place in the world to be a Christian." But Dr. Eric Foley, the leader of VOM Korea, tells us that North Korean Christians don't say that! Instead they focus on serving Jesus Christ in spite of watchful government eyes and great danger. This week on VOM Radio you'll hear how North Korean Christians pray--sometimes right out in the open!--and how you can pray for them more effectively.

 

You can also subscribe to the VOM Radio podcast.

VOM Featured in Moody Radio Interview

VOM's Todd Nettleton was a guest on yesterday's episode of In The Market With Janet Parshall, aired nationally on the Moody Broadcast Network.

Janet and Todd discussed what God is doing in Iraq, how New Testaments are being delivered in North Korea and the ways Christians worship in Afghanistan in order to avoid detection by radical Muslims.

Finally, they pointed listeners to the upcoming International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.

Please click here to listen to this interview (a new window will open; Nettleton's interview begins at about the 27:00 mark). We are thankful to Janet and to Moody Radio and all our media friends who help VOM share the stories of our persecuted family.