“Mrs. Su-Yong (name withheld for security reasons) was raised in a concentration camp by her parents,” says Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley. “In general, the children of North Korea’s political prisoners are sent to state-run orphanages. Mrs. Su-yong’s family was a very special case. Because Mrs. Su-yong’s parents were designated as ‘model prisoners’ by prison authorities, they were allowed special privileges in the camp, such as raising their daughter.”

According to Representative Foley, Mrs. Su-yong’s relatives outside the concentration camp were eventually able to pay bribes to get the whole family transferred from the concentration camp to a coal mine.  

“Mrs. Su-Yong spent the rest of her youth at the coal mines,” says Representative Foley “When she became an adult, she decided to defect from North Korea and eventually made her way to South Korea.” 

It was here, says Representative Foley, that Mrs. Su-Yong’s already unusual life story took an even more unusual turn: Along with a few of her friends, she became part of a network of dozens of North Korean defectors working with Voice of the Martyrs Korea to prepare a modern readers edition of the earliest translation of the Bible into Korean, Missionary John Ross’ New Testament. 

“The Ross Bible is how the voice of Christ first came to ordinary Korean people, and in it Jesus and the other figures speak with a North Korean accent, since that was the accent of the translators,” says Representative Foley. “140 years ago, Missionary Ross worked together with ordinary North Korean people to translate the scriptures into the Chosun language. Today we are working with ordinary North Korean people to enable Koreans everywhere to hear that original voice again, and to experience the spiritual power of the original translation of the Bible into Korean.”

Dr. Foley notes that the Ross Bible was completed before Korean grammar, spelling, and format were standardized by any government, so in its original form it is no longer readable by Koreans in either the north or the south, which each have their own modern standardizations. She says that South Korean translators have not expressed much interest in making the Ross Bible accessible to modern readers because it was written in the Pyongan dialect common in the northern part of Chosun at the time of the translation.

“When South Koreans read the original Ross Bible, many of the words are completely unfamiliar to them. But when North Koreans read it, they say, ‘My grandparents talked like that!’ North Koreans provide the ‘missing link’ to help us update the Ross Bible so that it can be read again by modern readers and also used in our North Korean ministry projects.”

That is what makes the involvement of North Korean defectors like Mrs. Su-Yong so valuable, says Representative Foley. 

 “Mrs. Su-yong lives hours away from Seoul,” says Representative Foley. “Even though 30% of North Korean defectors live outside of the Seoul metropolitan area, few ministries serve North Korean defectors in those places. Voice of the Martyrs Korea uses a ‘mobile ministry’ approach to our North Korean work. We use camping cars and other vehicles to regularly visit North Korean defectors all over Korea. Instead of seeing these North Koreans as people who need help, we see them as people uniquely gifted by God to help restore the Ross Bible to the Korean church, where it can be read again and have the same impact on the next generation of readers as it did on the first generation of Korean Christians.” 

 Mrs. Su-yong said she is thankful that the ministry reached out to her and other North Korean defectors in the area. “Thank you for paying attention to us [North Korean defectors],” Mrs. Su-Yong told Voice of the Martyrs Korea. “Nobody pays attention to us here in [my area]”. 

 Representative Foley says that through Voice of the Martyrs Korea’s mobile ministry to North Korean defector newcomers all over Korea, the ministry is regularly visiting dozens of North Korean defectors each month, both churched and unchurched. 

 “Through these visits, we have been able to recruit dozens of North Korean defectors throughout the country to become regional students in our ‘Underground University’ ministry training program for North Korean defectors,” says Representative Foley. She says that Voice of the Martyrs Korea is currently training Mrs. Su-yong to take more responsibility for leading the monthly Bible translation group in her area.  

 “She has a natural gift of leadership, but this is her first time in this kind of Bible translation ministry,” says Representative Foley. “Please pray for the Lord to continue to supply what is needed for her to do the work well, and for her to continue to encounter the Lord through His word as she continues to do Bible translation.” 

 Representative Foley says that Voice of the Martyrs Korea currently operates 8 monthly Ross “Bible translation” groups in different areas around Korea, with each meeting usually consisting of around 4-10 North Korean defectors. 

 “When we started each of these groups, we appointed one of our Underground University graduate North Korean defector missionaries to lead each meeting,” says Representative Foley. “As the number of the groups started to grow, we quickly discovered that we needed more leaders. We didn’t have enough missionaries!” 

Representative Foley says that the ministry then gave leadership opportunities to some of the regional students like Mrs. Su-yong, to help take care of the Bible translation meetings. She says the results so far have been very encouraging. 

 “We published a new John Ross Bible ‘Reader’s Edition’ Gospel of Luke,” she says. “It updates the text direction, word order, letters, grammar, and spelling so that modern readers can read it easily and understand it fully. It retains the full original wording and adds simple notes to briefly and clearly explain unfamiliar vocabulary. None of that would have been possible without our North Korean defector students.” 

 The Ross Bible Reader’s Edition Gospel of Luke is the first of three Ross Bible versions Voice of the Martyrs Korea will be releasing over the next two years. The organization is currently completing a Luke/John/Acts trilogy edition for publication by mid-2026 and a full Ross New Testament “Contemporary Reader’s Edition” for publication in 2027. Representative Foley says that the organization intends to share these editions inside North Korea as well. 

 “We pray for the Lord to put one of these Bibles in the hands of a young ‘Su-yong’ who may be growing up today in a North Korean concentration camp,” she says.   

 Individuals interested in learning more about Voice of the Martyrs Korea’s North Korean Bible ministry can visit https://vomkorea.com/en/northkorea/ .