The Kim dynasty, which has ruled North Korea for three generations, are worshipped like gods, and any suggestion that there is a higher authority than the nation’s leader, Kim Jong-Un, is immediately crushed. Tens of thousands of Christians are incarcerated in labour camps. Thousands more keep their Christian faith a complete secret, even from their families. Imprisonment, torture, and death are the potential risks – not only to oneself, but to one’s family – of deciding to be a Christian in North Korea.
North Korea frees Canadian church leader ‘on sick bail’
Hyeun-soo Lim, the Korean Canadian church leader sentenced to life in prison with hard labour, has been freed today (9 August) “on sick bail”, says a North Korean state news agency. Convicted in December 2015 by the country’s Supreme Court of numerous charges, including an attempt to overthrow the government, he had been detained […]
Anger and tears as Otto ‘completes his journey home’
The family of 22-year-old Otto Warmbier confirmed his death yesterday (19 June), just a week after he was released, in a coma, from 15 months’ detention in North Korea. In a statement, the family said it was their “sad duty to report that our son, Otto Warmbier, has completed his […]
Otto Warmbier’s father says ‘no excuse’ for North Korea to deny son medical care
The father of the 22-year-old American student released, in a coma, from North Korea this week says there’s “no excuse for a civilised nation to have kept his condition secret and to have denied him top-notch medical care”. Fred Warmbier said that he and his wife, Cindy, had gone for […]
North Korea frees US student Otto Warmbier ‘in coma’
North Korea has freed an American student detained since January 2016, and later sentenced to 15 years’ hard labour, for attempting to steal a propaganda sign from his Pyongyang hotel. Otto Warmbier, 22, is now on his way home, to be reunited with his family, according to US Secretary of […]
North Korean accused of ‘spying’ after visiting Christian relatives in China
A North Korean man has been arrested on “spying” charges after meeting with Christian relatives in China, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports.Kim Seung-mo, 61, was arrested on 3 June after visiting family in China’s Jilin province, which runs along the North Korean border. “After he came back from China, he […]
North Korea’s ‘Christian university’ in balancing act with regime
At a time when North Korea is flexing its military muscles and clamping down on anything that could threaten the rule of leader Kim Jong-un – including religion – the only private university in the country is run by evangelical Christians, explains the New York Times. Pyongyang University of Science and Technology […]
US Christian arrested for ‘hostile acts’ against North Korea
A fourth US citizen has been detained in North Korea, as he prepared to leave the country after working for several weeks at the Pyongyang University for Science and Technology, which trains the children of North Korea’s elite and which numbers Christians on its staff. The North Korean state-run news agency KCNA said […]
North Korea detains another Korean-American ‘Christian’
North Korea has detained another American citizen, reports Reuters. Korean-American Tony Kim was arrested on Saturday (22 April) at Pyongyang International Airport as he was trying to leave the country. He had spent a month teaching accounting at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST). The university’s chancellor, Chan-Mo Park, […]
Escaped North Korean risks her life to visit Christian family she left behind
It was a shock to Myoung-Hee* when she discovered that most of her family were Christians. Although it was four decades ago, she remembers it well. One night her father stumbled into the house, pale and weak, and she wondered if he was ill. Before he spoke, Myoung-Hee’s mother sent […]
North Korea asks US universities for help
North Korea’s only private university has asked for tuition from about 10 universities in the United States on subjects such as food security and improving nutrition, reports Reuters. The Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, with a volunteer staff that includes many evangelical Christians and a curriculum that includes subjects […]