A call to prayer for North Korea
'Subversive, threat to the position of the Great Leader' - these words
do not refer to dangerous villains, but to Christians in North Korea
who are not considered as normal people.
"In North Korea,
Christians are regarded as political criminals and in the prison
camps, they are treated as political prisoners," according to the
refugee Soon Ok Lee and author of the book Eyes of the Tailless
Animals.
Kang Chol Hwan, a North Korean defector, was
imprisoned in North Korea at the age of 10 because his grandfather was
branded a political dissident, Often the North Korean government will
try to purge three generations of a religious or political dissident's
family. He describes the conditions he experienced:
"At
the camp I witnessed public executions, forced labour and other
inhumane atrocities. New prisoners in the North Korean political
prison camps are taught not to consider themselves as human beings.
The prisoners cannot complain of beatings or even murders.
"Even the children are subject to forced labour, and about a third
of them die of malnutrition and from heavy labour. I also suffered
from malnutrition three months after being imprisoned, lacking even
the strength to walk.
"Because we were not given any
source of protein, we would catch and eat snakes, frogs or even worms
in order to survive. At first, I did not want to taste these things.
One day my friends caught some rats while working in the fields and
roasted them on an open fire.
"That was the first time I
tasted rat meat, and that one piece of rat meat sustained me. From
then on I ate anything to survive: rats, frogs, snakes and worms.
Prisoners who do not do this could die in less than a year. People
like me who are able to eat anything can survive longer."
It is estimated that 200,000 are suffering in North Korean prison
camps where they face cruel abuses. According to a contact, Brother
Peter*, an estimated 50,000-70,000 are Christians. Some think the
hermit regime has detained more political and religious prisoners than
any other country in the world.
For the fourth year in a
row, Open Doors' World Watch List ranked North Korea as the worst
violator of religious rights in the world. Christianity is treated as
one of the greatest threats to the regime's power.
The
North Korean government has created a class system with three main
categories - core, wavering or hostile - with 51 sub-categories. All
religious families are classified as hostile and placed in classes
34-37.
The living conditions in North Korea are horrific.
Prices are high and people are starving. An estimated 2-3 million
people have died over the past 10 years due to a food shortage.
Fifteen per cent of all children under 5 years of age are
malnourished.
"I hope many will pray for my people," says
Soon Ok Lee. Her hope and prayer is that God will intervene as
diplomatic pressure is not helping in this extremely closed
country.
There is also a great need to make people aware
that North Korea is the most closed country in the world to the gospel
and that Christians are being exposed to severe and at times barbaric
persecution.
To obtain information and prayer points on
how to pray for North Korea, please go to: www.opendoorsuk.org