{"id":37503,"date":"2021-07-13T14:22:14","date_gmt":"2021-07-13T05:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/?p=37503"},"modified":"2021-07-15T10:09:53","modified_gmt":"2021-07-15T01:09:53","slug":"vomk-report-163","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/2021\/07\/13\/vomk-report-163\/","title":{"rendered":"TRACES OF NK UNDERGROUND CHURCH DETECTABLE IN DEFECTORS\u2019 RECOLLECTIONS"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”37492″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”North Korean defector Ms. KMS (name withheld for security reasons) recalls her first exposure to Christianity, which occurred while she was still living in North Korea. “In 2002 I was arrested and brought to North Korean police,\u201d she says. \u201cMany people were interrogated at the same time. A young woman next to me was closing her eyes, folding her hands, and praying to God. The police yelled, ‘You dog, you are praying!’ They beat her and sent her to a prison camp. I knew she was praying because my mom had told me that people eventually pray to God when they are in trouble.“” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:1.2em|text_align:left” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal” el_class=”headline”][vc_column_text]According to Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0Hyun Sook Foley,\u00a0<\/span>experiences\u00a0<\/span>like Ms. KMS\u2019\u00a0<\/span>ar<\/span>e shared by\u00a0<\/span>approximately one third of North Korean<\/span>\u00a0defectors enrolled in Voice of the Martyrs Korea programs<\/span>, yet many defectors do not initially realize they encountered underground Christians<\/span>. \u201cW<\/span>hen\u00a0<\/span>defectors\u00a0<\/span>are asked questions like, \u2018Do you think there\u00a0<\/span>is an\u00a0<\/span>underground\u00a0<\/span>church\u00a0<\/span>in North Korea?\u2019, they\u00a0<\/span>typically answer, \u2018No.\u2019<\/span>\u00a0But when they are asked whether they recall seeing\u00a0<\/span>anyone in North Korea\u00a0<\/span>pray, sing\u00a0<\/span>a\u00a0<\/span>hymn,\u00a0<\/span>shar<\/span>e<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>a\u00a0<\/span>Bible stor<\/span>y<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>use the Christian name for God,\u00a0<\/span>or even\u00a0<\/span>possess a Bible<\/span>\u00a0or other Christian artifact<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>many\u00a0<\/span>will answer, \u2018Yes.\u2019<\/span>\u00a0Then they begin to realize they encountered traces of the North Korean underground church, even within their own family.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”37496″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”North Korean defector Mrs. SYA, a June 2021 graduate of Voice of the Martyrs Korea\u2019s Underground Technology training program (center), surrounded by Voice of the Martyrs Korea founders the Rev. Dr. Eric Foley and the Rev. Dr. Hyun Sook Foley. Mrs. SYA first encountered Christianity in North Korea when her neighbors were allegedly taken away for their faith.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230a0a0a|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]According to\u00a0<\/span>Representative<\/span>\u00a0Foley<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>North Korean defectors\u00a0<\/span>often\u00a0<\/span>do not realize they were exposed to underground Christians inside of North Korea\u00a0<\/span>because they have\u00a0<\/span>been conditioned to think of \u201cchurch\u201d according to the South Korean\u00a0<\/span>model<\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>The two most frequent associations for the word \u2018church\u2019 among\u00a0<\/span>South Korean Christians\u00a0<\/span>are\u00a0<\/span>church\u00a0<\/span>buildings<\/span>\u00a0and<\/span>\u00a0pastors<\/span>,\u201d says\u00a0<\/span>Representative\u00a0<\/span>Foley<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>North Korea certainly has neither of these<\/span>. So,\u00a0<\/span>many South Korean Christians<\/span>and North Korean defectors conclude<\/span>, \u2018Therefore, there must be no church in North Korea.\u2019<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Representative Foley says other studies are\u00a0<\/span>also confirming what Voice of the Martyrs Korea\u00a0<\/span>hears from its students<\/span>: A growing number of North Koreans are being exposed to Christianity while still inside of North Korea. \u201c<\/span>The North Korean Human Rights Database, an independent data-gathering NGO,\u00a0<\/span>has been conducting\u00a0<\/span>a<\/span>n ongoing<\/span>\u00a0study where they found that in the year 2000, effectively 0% of people inside North Korea had ever seen a Bible with their own eyes. They have continued to update that study, and at the end of 2020 they determined that around 8% of people inside of North Korea have now seen a Bible with their own eyes.<\/span>\u00a0In a different study released in June<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC) at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary<\/span>\u00a0estimat<\/span>ed<\/span>\u00a0that more than 6% of North Koreans inside North Korea have had personal contact with a Christian.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]But\u00a0<\/span>Representative Foley says that\u00a0<\/span>it is\u00a0<\/span>the detailed interviews with North Korean defectors that\u00a0<\/span>reveal\u00a0<\/span>the most\u00a0<\/span>important\u00a0<\/span>information about the source and characteristics of the Christian faith inside North Korea<\/span>. \u201c<\/span>Most of the\u00a0<\/span>North Korean\u00a0<\/span>Christians\u00a0<\/span>our defector students met inside of\u00a0<\/span>North\u00a0<\/span>Korea didn\u2019t become Christian\u00a0<\/span>as a result of<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Sout<\/span>h<\/span>\u00a0Korean missionaries or\u00a0<\/span>through\u00a0<\/span>the North Korean government\u2019s purported \u2018<\/span>state church<\/span>es\u2019<\/span>. They\u00a0<\/span>became Christian because of other North Koreans.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”37499″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Voice of the Martyrs Korea published These are the Generations, a book written by the Rev. Dr. Eric Foley, VOMK\u2019s CEO, together with a third generation North Korean underground Christian husband and wife who have since defected to South Korea.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230a0a0a|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Representative Foley cites the example of\u00a0<\/span>Mrs. YEJ (name withheld), a North Korean defector\u00a0<\/span>enrolled in a Voice of the Martyrs Korea\u00a0<\/span>training\u00a0<\/span>program,\u00a0<\/span>whose mother was an underground Christian. \u201c<\/span>My mother believed in God, and, as she was dying when I was thirteen, gave me a silver or iron cross<\/span>,\u201d says Mrs. YEJ. \u201c<\/span>Because I was so young at the time, I didn’t even know what it was. My mother told me to bury it in the ground because I would die if someone found it, so I wrapped it in paper and buried it under a persimmon tree at night.<\/span>\u201d Mrs. YEJ says that\u00a0<\/span>she never heard\u00a0<\/span>anything\u00a0<\/span>more\u00a0<\/span>about the cross or\u00a0<\/span>about\u00a0<\/span>Jesus.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cI\u00a0<\/span>only remembe<\/span>r<\/span>\u00a0that\u00a0<\/span>I\u00a0<\/span>often saw\u00a0<\/span>my\u00a0<\/span>mother murmuring in front of water\u00a0<\/span>or\u00a0<\/span>food in the room. Sometimes\u00a0<\/span>I\u00a0<\/span>saw her make the sign of the cross. But, at the time,\u00a0<\/span>I\u00a0<\/span>didn\u2019t<\/span>\u00a0understand what\u00a0<\/span>my\u00a0<\/span>mother was doing, so\u00a0<\/span>I\u00a0<\/span>figured\u00a0<\/span>she\u00a0<\/span>must just be upset.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]A<\/span>\u00a0June 2021 graduate of\u00a0<\/span>Voice of the Martyrs Korea<\/span>\u2019s Underground Technology\u00a0<\/span>discipleship\u00a0<\/span>training<\/span>\u00a0program<\/span>\u00a0for North Korean defectors<\/span>, Mrs. SYA (name withheld), says she witnessed some of her neighbors being\u00a0<\/span>taken away\u00a0<\/span>by security guards<\/span>\u00a0when she was still\u00a0<\/span>living\u00a0<\/span>inside North Korea<\/span>. She was told by other neighbors that it was<\/span>\u00a0because the<\/span>y<\/span>\u00a0were members of the underground church.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cMrs. SYA\u00a0<\/span>said she did not know much about God when she saw the underground Christians being taken<\/span>,\u201d says Representative Foley<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>But what she did know is that she would be in trouble if she ever believed in God.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

According to Representative Foley,\u00a0<\/span>Mrs. SYA\u2019s eldest son defected from N<\/span>orth Korea to\u00a0<\/span>China when he was young.\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>At the time, she told her son to never believe in God<\/span>,\u201d says Representative Foley<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>Later, Mrs. SYA also defected from\u00a0<\/span>North Korea\u00a0<\/span>and lived in China. Her son would call her every Saturday and tell her to believe in God and go to church. He also sent her praise music tapes. Whenever she listened to the tapes, her heart felt at peace. Sometimes, she would stay up all night and listen to the tapes over and over. After this, she began to attend church.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Voice of the Martyrs Korea has published a book written by the Rev. Dr. Eric Foley, Representative Foley\u2019s husband and VOMK\u2019s CEO, together with a third generation North Korean underground Christian husband and wife who have since defected to South Korea. The book, called\u00a0<\/span><\/span>These are the Generations,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>is available through Voice of the Martyrs Korea\u2019s online bookstore, at\u00a0<\/span><\/span>https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/product\/tatg-eng\/<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>or\u00a0<\/span>through\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>Amazon.com<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0\u201cThrough the book, we can see how different the North Korean and South Korean models of church are. In the North, there are no church buildings and no pastors, yet the underground church there continues to endure and even grow and thrive, perhaps at a higher rate of growth than the South Korean church, which has been in numeric decline since the 1990s.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Representative Foley\u00a0<\/span>says\u00a0<\/span>that\u00a0<\/span>recording,\u00a0<\/span>studying<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0and publishing these traces of the North Korean underground church\u00a0<\/span>experienced by North Korean defectors\u00a0<\/span>should\u00a0<\/span>be the basis for\u00a0<\/span>North Korean mission<\/span>, now and in the future<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0\u201cSouth Korean Churches and mission groups are\u00a0<\/span>raising funds and\u00a0<\/span>preparing to plant\u00a0<\/span>South Korean-style\u00a0<\/span>churches inside North Korea\u00a0<\/span>if and when North Korea opens<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0and they are\u00a0<\/span>increasingly\u00a0<\/span>drawing North Korean defector<\/span>\u00a0pastor<\/span>s into that way of thinking,\u201d she says. \u201c<\/span>That is unfortunate because\u00a0<\/span>it overlooks the reality that God has already planted a<\/span>\u00a0unique and beautiful<\/span>\u00a0church in North Korea,\u00a0<\/span>one\u00a0<\/span>that has endured the harshest conditions in history and continued to grow. Pastor Richard\u00a0<\/span>Wurmbrand<\/span>, the founder of Voice of the Martyrs,\u00a0<\/span>said that when the Soviet Union collapsed, he was grieved to see so many pastors rush in<\/span>to Russia\u00a0<\/span>from the outside\u00a0<\/span>in order\u00a0<\/span>to<\/span>\u00a0plant\u00a0<\/span>Western-style\u00a0<\/span>churches. He said that instead, these pastors should have rushed in to sit at the feet of the Russian pastors who had survived communism and the Soviet gulags\u00a0<\/span>in order to<\/span>\u00a0learn how to plant a church capable of surviving under any conditions.\u00a0<\/span>We should have the same thinking about North Korea.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Representative Foley says that Voice of the Martyrs Korea joins international human rights groups and government analysts in estimating a\u00a0current\u00a0population\u00a0of around 100,000 Christians\u00a0inside of North Korea. \u201cWhile some\u00a0of these\u00a0converted due to South Korean missionaries and radio broadcasts and\u00a0Bible balloon launches from South Korea, what we can see from the testimonies of the North Korean defectors enrolled in our Voice of the Martyrs Korea training programs is\u00a0that most\u00a0of the Christians they met in North Korea\u00a0did not learn Christianity from pastors or in church buildings. They learned it underground.\u00a0We have a lot to learn from\u00a0following the traces of these underground North Korean Christians.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

More information about Voice of the Martyrs Korea\u2019s North Korea ministry\u00a0and its training programs for North Korean defectors\u00a0is\u00a0available at\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/project\/northkorea\/<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”37492″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”North Korean defector Ms. KMS (name withheld for security reasons) recalls her first exposure to Christianity, which occurred while she was still living in North Korea. “In …","protected":false},"author":659,"featured_media":37493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[857,235,869,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-russian-special","category-special-column","category-china-special","category-vomk-report"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["ko","en","zh","ru"],"languages":{"ko":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"zh":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"ru":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/659"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}