Image: Danish European Mission employee in conversation with North Korean woman who risked her life with her daughter and fled to China to get medical care and medicine for her daughter.
In the last 12 months, however, a new aspect of our work has emerged and the collaboration between HHK and the Danish European Mission, which has significantly increased our effectiveness over the last seven years, has now taken on a new and added dimension. During the past year, by God's grace, we were introduced to a faithful Asian missionary who has been quietly serving the North Korean underground church for almost two decades. As he helped us distribute the New Testament in Korean to refugees in China, we learned of his longtime work and the desperate need for medicine among persecuted brothers inside North Korea.
It should come as no surprise that the same health ailments and nutrition-related diseases that affect the general North Korean population also affect North Korea's hidden house church. Tuberculosis, dysentery, various types of flu, fever and arthritis are just some of the medical challenges affecting the brothers of the house church, especially the elderly believers who have endured decades of deprivation, harassment and intimidation campaigns. As the older generation of Christian leaders prepare to pass the baton of leadership to younger believers, their health is of great importance and growing concern.
In the three months since the Kim Jong-il regime enacted the disastrous currency redenomination plan that wiped out even the small savings of middle-income families, the hardships of all North Koreans have increased. With literally all medicine for average citizens having to be purchased with private savings, the economic conditions for Christian families have become more severe, just like the rest of the population. Older believers are naturally more vulnerable to illness than younger ones and physically stronger.
We are extremely grateful to the Lord that the Danish European Mission and its loyal donors have responded to HHK's request for help with their characteristic warmth and generosity.
