Pictured above: Sang Hun Kim is a historian documenting torture in North Korean prisons.
I asked one of the Danish European Mission's contacts in South Korea, Sang Hun Kim, who has been helping North Korean refugees and documenting torture in North Korean prisons since 1994, a number of questions about the underground church in North Korea.
What are the conditions for the persecuted Christians in Nordkorea?
We don't have much information about the situation of persecuted Christians in North Korea, except that for decades Christians have been mercilessly persecuted. This applies firstly to the Christians who were in the country before the communists took power (mainly descendants of the 1907 Pyongyang revival, ed.) and secondly, since the 1990s, to a new generation of underground Christians who have spread in North Korea thanks to the underground work of South Korean missionaries among illegal North Korean refugees in China. For both groups, there is very little information about their whereabouts and safety once they have been arrested.
Image: A witness says Christians are burned alive in concentration camps.
It is believed that North Korean Christians are either executed immediately upon discovery or detained in secret concentration camps. Owning a Bible is considered one of the most serious political crimes and recently North Koreans were executed for smuggling Bibles into North Korea.
How are they able to hold on to faith in and such a totalitarian dictatorship?
We believe that some of the original group of Christians have survived the persecution and have held on to their faith, even though they have often been forced to keep it secret.
Image: Christians are tortured by having their nails and teeth pulled out without anesthesia.
I have heard of an example where an elderly woman was publicly flogged for spreading what the regime called superstition, but the punishment stopped when she asked God for help. The history of Christianity shows us that Christians survived as underground Christians for several centuries after the death of Christ. The survival of North Korean Christians can be attributed to the same spiritual power that kept the first Christians alive.
The survival of North Korean Christians can be attributed to the same spiritual force that kept the first Christians alive Song Hun Kim
What is the health situation in the country?
There aren't many statistics available, but the bits of information that reach us tell us that tuberculosis and malnutrition seriously threaten the population. Their height and weight, especially for newborns and children, are significantly below what we see in South Korea," concludes Sang Hun Kim.
Heartfelt thanks to everyone praying for the persecuted North Korean Christians.
Support North Korea: Medicine and food for Christians and others in need
Song Hun Kim in the Danish Parliament
Sang Hun Kim is a Christian activist and is involved in the Danish European Mission's projects to help North Korean refugees. He visited Denmark in 2010, where he spoke at meetings and, together with employees of the Danish European Mission, he appeared before the Foreign Policy Committee of the Danish Parliament and urged politicians to help prisoners of conscience in North Korea.
The majority of his 40-year career has been spent in international institutions, the last twenty years serving as a UN official. Since 1994, the elderly but tireless gentleman has helped North Korean refugees and political prisoners and has traveled to China several times at great risk to his personal safety as China cracks down on South Koreans helping North Korean refugees.
