The Rev. Dr. Hyun Sook Foley

The Rev. Dr. Hyun Sook Foley is an active minister in the field of global Christian persecution and also a scholar striving to research and solve problems for practitioners and policy groups. She has taught and trained persecuted Christians from the most dangerous countries in the world.
The Co-Founder and President of the Voice of the Martyrs Korea, she also serves as a charter board member of the Christian Council for Financial Transparency, Korea. She received a master’s degree from Sungkyunkwan University, as well as her master’s in Clinical Counseling from Colorado Christian University and her master of divinity from Torch Trinity Graduate University. She received a doctorate in Strategic Leadership from Regent University. The Rev. Dr. Foley was ordained by KAICAM. She is the translator of numerous Christian books and resources, including Prasso self-counseling materials, the Peacemaker Ministries book The Peacemaker, and These are the Generations, which details the story of third generation underground Christians in North Korea.
The Rev. Dr. Foley is a global voice on both North Korean Christianity and women and persecution and has spoken at both national and global convocations, in Sri Lanka, Finland, Poland, Belgium, Australia, the Netherlands, and the UK. Her work is frequently profiled in media in Korea and globally. Her life story is the subject of a 15-part series in Kukmin Ilbo (a prominent newspaper in Korea) and she appeared on the popular Korean Christian Television System (CTS) program, “내가 매일 기쁘게.”. She networks with woman ministry leaders in North America, Europe, and Asia, especially in the areas of ministry leadership, discipleship, and North Korean Christianity.
For more than 15 years she has been a pioneer and leader in North Korean work, including underground believer work in North Korea, two training schools for North Korean defectors (Underground University and Underground Technology) in South Korea, radio broadcasting and balloon launching into North Korea, translation and printing of North Korean Bibles and discipleship materials, scoring and recording of North Korean Christian praise songs, adapting South Korean materials to the North Korean dialect, and serving North Korean workers in Mongolia, Russia, and other countries.
Recently she spoke at conferences for persecuted women in Sri Lanka, for leaders of Asia-based persecuted women’s ministries in Thailand, and for practitioner scholars globally at the Leuven Consultation in Belgium. In addition to sharing her own story, she taught “Dealing with trauma and damaged emotions in the context of persecution” and “Healing the past-Addressing a change in mind-set and identity”.