Underground University

UU 학교

Underground University isn’t just a school that teaches North Korean defectors how to do North Korean ministry—it’s a school through which North Koreans actually do North Korean ministry. Rather than waiting for Reunification, UU students take steps toward reunification by ministering to their own people—North Koreans who have defected, been sex trafficked, or who have been sent out to work in order to make money for the NK regime in countries around the world.

UU STUDENTS EXPERIENCE HEALING
THROUGH AUDIO BIBLE PROJECT

As we do with all of our Bible projects, we have been working to prepare the John Ross Bible (Reader’s Edition) in audio Bible format for use in our digital Bible distribution to NKs in NK and around the world via radio and direct hand-to-hand distribution. Our North Korean UU students often serve as the voices for these projects. We were happy to receive applications from seventeen UU students around the country to join in the recording of the John Ross Bible Gospel of Luke this past quarter. Among these, six students were fairly selected by a panel of volunteer judges based on the fitness of their voices for the recording.

Mrs. Kyung recording the John Ross Audio Bible

One of the six participants was a North Korean by the name of Mrs. Kyung. Her life story has been marked by profound hardship. She was separated from her daughter in North Korea and later lived in hiding in China. After eventually arriving in South Korea, she became a victim of financial fraud, adding further trauma to her life. As a result of these accumulated experiences, she developed severe anxiety symptoms. Even minor stress can cause her heart to race and her body to shake.

During the recording session for the John Ross Bible Gospel of Luke, Mrs. Kyung was visibly nervous. Her voice trembled frequently, and she made numerous mistakes while reading due to the intensity of her anxiety.

Yet, the recording process itself appeared to become a small but meaningful opportunity for healing. As she practiced breathing techniques, slowed her pace, and read Scripture aloud, the experience seemed to bring a sense of calm and restoration.

Mrs. Kyung first encountered the church while living in China, where she began reading the Bible and was baptized. After coming to South Korea, she attended various churches. While her faith has continued to develop, she also experienced discouragement after witnessing corruption, conflict, and unhealthy dynamics within church communities. These experiences left her with a negative perception of the church, but a personal faith in Christ.

Mrs. Kyung and another student listening to a North Korean audio Bible

After one recording session, I asked her to read Galatians 5:22, which speaks about the fruit of the Holy Spirit. I explained the meaning of baptism and encouraged her that when she does not feel peace, she can pray and ask the Holy Spirit to give her peace.

Mrs. Kyung was deeply encouraged through the recording process and developed a stronger sense of ownership in VOMK’s North Korea ministries. She has expressed a desire to participate in more UU activities in the future.

Currently, however, she lives in a region far from major city centers, where access to ongoing programs is limited. As our ministry continues to grow, we are prayerfully exploring ways to expand UU activities into more remote areas so that students like Mrs. Kyung can remain connected and continue growing in maturity as underground missionaries.

With sustained support, we hope to provide more consistent opportunities for students in regions like hers—equipping them to grow as missionaries and, in time, to minister to other North Koreans in their communities and beyond.

Prayer Requests for this project

Pray for Local South Korean Lay Volunteers. Ask the Lord to continue to send Local South Korean lay volunteers who are willing to be “boots on the ground” for Bible translation meetings around the country and support the discipleship of our North Korean Underground University students.

About Underground University

1. We train and deploy students for ministry to North Korea today.

We do “works of mercy field trips” each month where we practice sharing our bread, opening our homes, healing and comforting, visiting and remembering, and other disciplines with North Korean defectors and South Korean outcasts. Students are required to minister to NKs internationally before they graduate. That puts them in a very small category of experienced NK ministers!

2. There is an emphasis on hearing and doing the word.

This is not only a field ministry training program. There are homework assignments and quizzes for every class session. Students memorize large amounts of scripture weekly, in keeping with the tradition of the North Korean underground church. Each of our tracks, like Persecution Theology (using In The Shadow Of The Cross), is serious study. We hold ourselves and our students to a seminary standard in theology while offering and requiring more practical theological participation than many South Korean seminaries.

3. Rooted in mentoring.

1 Timothy 3:1-5 shows that the key to effective missionary service is learning to be an effective minister in one’s own family. That can only be learned life-on-life, and that has made UU a one day classroom experience supplemented by a six day supervised life experience—one that continues well beyond their graduation.

Alumni mentor existing students by acting as examples, coaches, and understanding elder brothers and sisters. This is proving to be a crucial missing piece in both enabling more thorough instruction and also creating greater connection with our alumni.