{"id":58591,"date":"2026-04-14T09:47:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T00:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/?p=58591"},"modified":"2026-04-14T10:08:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T01:08:44","slug":"vomk-report-393","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/2026\/04\/14\/vomk-report-393\/","title":{"rendered":"THROUGH RADIO, BUSINESSES, AND EVEN PRISON, CHRISTIANITY CONTINUES TO SPREAD IN \u201cTHE NORTH KOREA OF AFRICA\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”58602″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css=””][vc_custom_heading text=”Eritrean underground Christians have a new daily radio broadcast. They also operate an impressive program for helping Christian ex-prisoners start businesses. Eritreans imprisoned for their faith are winning converts by sharing the aid they receive with their non-Christian fellow prisoners. Even among members of the government-sanctioned Orthodox Church, state security officers grumble that as many as 80% may actually be connected to Eritrean underground church congregations.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:1.2em|text_align:left|color:%23111111″ google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal” css=”” el_class=”headline”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”58599″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” css=””][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]It is hardly what notorious Eritrean dictator\u00a0<\/span>Isaias Afwerki<\/span>\u00a0must have had in mind when he\u00a0<\/span>ordered the closure of all non-Orthodox, Catholic, and Lutheran churches<\/span>\u00a0in the country which is often called \u201cThe North Korea of Africa\u201d because of its fierce persecution of Christians\u2014and because of Afwerki\u2019s public admiration for North Korea\u2019s model of leader-worship.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]\u201c<\/span><\/span>Not many\u00a0<\/span>Christians around the world\u00a0<\/span>have even heard of the small country of Eritrea<\/span>, but in fact Christians\u00a0<\/span>could learn a lot by\u00a0<\/span>studying the\u00a0<\/span>methods of the\u00a0<\/span>Eritrean underground church<\/span>,\u201d says Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Hyun Sook Foley. Her organization has partnered with Eritrean underground Christians for almost twenty years, supporting their funding requests and traveling to nearby countries each year to provide persecution-related training to church leaders. Representative Foley says that the growth of the Eritrean underground\u00a0<\/span>church illustrates the truth of the saying attributed to the early Chrisitan leader Tertullian, who wrote, \u201cThe blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]\u201cChristians wrongly fear persecution, worrying that they will be unable to live their Christian lives or see the gospel spread,\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201cThe\u00a0<\/span>Eritrea<\/span>n government<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>has been one of the fiercest persecutors of Christians worldwide,<\/span>\u00a0for twenty-five years.\u00a0<\/span>Christians from banned churches have been arrested and imprisoned with open-ended sentences, without being formally charged or tried. Most of the leaders of the evangelical churches have spent more than two decades in \u2018shipping container prisons\u2019 and are still there to this day.<\/span>\u00a0But no matter how hard the government cracks down, the Eritrean church continues to thrive.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”58593″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” css=””][vc_custom_heading text=”VOM Korea Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley talks to an underground Eritrean believer who spent time in prison.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230a0101|line_height:1.45em” css=””][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Representative Foley says that several new initiatives Voice of the Martyrs Korea is helping to fund are strengthening Eritrea\u2019s underground Christian community.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]\u201cEritrea is often called \u2018the fastest-emptying country\u2019 because so many of its citizens escape,\u201d says Representative Foley. She says the Christians who escape are not forgetting their homeland but are instead undertaking projects like a new daily radio broadcast to provide the Christians remaining in Eritrea with\u00a0<\/span>news, discipleship training, and a biblical understanding of the persecution they are experiencing and how to respond to it.\u00a0<\/span>Another initiative provides funds to Christian ex-prisoners who are often unable to get jobs after their release because employers and even their family members fear the government will punish them for aiding known Christians. The program also aids family members of prisoners and Christian martyrs in starting businesses. \u201c<\/span>It only takes small funds to\u00a0<\/span>help them start a taxi business or a laundry service or a sewing shop<\/span>, but it gives them the means of\u00a0<\/span>support<\/span>ing<\/span>\u00a0themselves<\/span>\u00a0and their family<\/span>,\u201d says Representative Foley.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”58595″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” css=””][vc_custom_heading text=”VOM Korea CEO Pastor Eric Foley talks to an underground Eritrean believer who spent time in prison.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230a0101|line_height:1.45em” css=””][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]But according to Representative Foley, the most impressive growth of the Eritrean church has been inside the prisons themselves.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]\u201cWe provide monthly support to families of martyrs and prisoners, and they use that support to send food and other needed items to their loved ones in prison,\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201cBut their loved ones share everything they receive with non-Christian prisoners. Not only does this bring the other prisoners to Christ, but we even receive stories of the guards who see the Christians sharing, and they are so moved by this that they decide to follow Christ also.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]Representative Foley says that\u00a0<\/span>another large group of new converts comes from the state-approved churches themselves.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cAn Eritrean state security agent told Orthodox priests, \u2018D<\/span>o you know 80% of your members have\u00a0<\/span>a\u00a0<\/span>conne<\/span>c<\/span>tion to the\u00a0<\/span>e<\/span>vangelical\/<\/span>P<\/span>entecostal churches<\/span>?\u2019\u201d says Representative Foley.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]Still, despite the spread of the underground church in Eritrea, Representative Foley emphasizes that conditions have not become easier for Christians in the country.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”58597″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” css=””][vc_custom_heading text=”Shipping containers in a desert in Eritrea. Christian leaders have been imprisoned in such containers for more than two decades.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230a0101|line_height:1.45em” css=””][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]\u201cFamilies of Christian prisoners are still\u00a0<\/span>not allowed to visit them or\u00a0<\/span>officially permitted\u00a0<\/span>to bring food\u00a0<\/span>or other supplies\u00a0<\/span>to them<\/span>\u2014all that has to happen with the cooperation of prison guards<\/span>,\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201cIf a prisoner becomes sick, they are not given any medical care, and their families are not notified.<\/span><\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]Representative Foley says that underground c<\/span>hurch gatherings continue to be raided, and\u00a0<\/span>even though some Christians have been released from prison, more than 600<\/span>\u00a0continue to be held, in some of the harshest known conditions for prisoners worldwide.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u201cOften when Christian prisoners\u00a0<\/span>are released, it is only because they are so sick that prison officials\u00a0<\/span>don\u2019t<\/span>\u00a0want to have to care for them, and they\u00a0<\/span>don\u2019t<\/span>\u00a0want the bad publicity of\u00a0<\/span>a Christian dying in prison.\u00a0<\/span>So<\/span>\u00a0they release them, but this\u00a0<\/span>doesn\u2019t<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>indicate<\/span>\u00a0any change in policy or improvement of the situation for Christians.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]Representative Foley says Voice of\u00a0<\/span>the<\/span>\u00a0Martyrs Korea is continuing its campaign of encouraging C<\/span>h<\/span>ristians around the world to write Christians in prison for their faith in Eritrea. She says that currently five Eritrean Christians are in prisons where letters can reach them.\u00a0<\/span>The prisoners all entered prison between 2004 and 2007.\u00a0<\/span>The names and addresses of these prisoners, as well as what to write and how to send the letters, can be found at\u00a0<\/span><\/span>https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/<\/span>en<\/span><\/span>\/<\/span><\/span>prisoner-profiles<\/span><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]\u201cWe should study and learn from Eritrean Christians because the church is doing amazingly well<\/span>\u00a0even in the midst of severe persecution<\/span>,\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201cBut we should also write to\u00a0<\/span>and pray regularly for\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>Eritrean\u00a0<\/span>Christian leaders\u00a0<\/span>who are paying the price for their faith in Eritrean prisons and shipping containers<\/span><\/span>.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_column][\/vc_column]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”58602″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css=””][vc_custom_heading text=”Eritrean underground Christians have a new daily radio broadcast. They also operate an impressive program for helping Christian ex-prisoners start businesses. Eritreans imprisoned for their …","protected":false},"author":1959,"featured_media":58603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","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":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58591","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\/1959"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58591"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58605,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58591\/revisions\/58605"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}