Release International
North Korean Christians who have fled their country to escape persecution tell their stories in a new DVD by Release International – part of a major new campaign for religious freedom in North Korea. They describe brutal persecution in a land whose leaders require absolute obedience.
Release, which supports persecuted Christians worldwide, is calling on churches across the UK to pray and sign a petition urging North Korea to permit freedom of worship.
‘In North Korea, if there is one Christian in a family, then that family is all dead’, said Sung, who could only watch from a distance as North Korean guards beat and killed his mother and brother at the border.
‘Life in North Korea is just about survival,’ he continued. ‘There is no freedom to speak and no religion to believe. When I started to see so many people dying [from starvation], that's when I began to question about our government.’ Sung later managed to escape to the South and became a pastor – obeying his mother’s last wish shortly before she was murdered.
North Korea is one of the most hostile environments on earth for Christians. The Government ideology Juche, or Self-reliance, is effectively a state religion. It has its own hymnbook of 600 songs venerating Kim Jong-il, ‘the Dear Leader’ and his father Kim-Il-sung, ‘the Great Leader’. North Koreans are obliged to display their portraits in their homes. Having any other faith is seen to be subversive.
Chulho Kang leads a church in South Korea which cares for people who have managed to escape from the North. He believes Kim Il-Sung took and deliberately subverted the Ten Commandments. Juche has its own Ten Ideas. But where the first Commandment is ‘Do not worship other idols’, the first rule of Juche is 'There are no ideas other than Kim Il-sung’s’.
‘Kim Il-sung put his name instead of God,’ says Chulho Kang. ‘He became a god in North Korea.'
Defectors struggle to shrug off years of indoctrination and to adjust to the vastly different culture in the South. The suicide rate among defectors living in South Korea is disproportionately high. Release International is working with local partners to provide safe houses and to care for those who have risked everything to escape from North Korea. They enable some to return home to share their Christian faith in the land where all religion – save veneration of its leaders – is banned.
The DVD No Other God is available from Release International. It can be viewed on YouTube on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC-pjux2-WA&feature=related
For copies, or to download or sign the petition calling for religious freedom in North Korea, go to www.releaseinternational.org
‘Please pray for protection and strength for Christians in North Korea,’ said Release CEO Andy Dipper, ‘whether believing in secret or suffering imprisonment for their faith. Pray that those who defect will find Christ and adjust to life outside of North Korea. And pray that revival will come to the North.’
Through its international network of missions Release supports Christians imprisoned for their faith and their families in 30 nations. It supports church workers, pastors and their families, and provides training, Bibles, Christian literature and broadcasts. Release is a member of the UK organisations Global Connections and the Evangelical Alliance.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITOR
Pictures are available for download from the following link: Release International Photo Library :: North Korea press photos
The video No Other God can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC-pjux2-WA&feature=related
For a country profile on North Korea, please go to:
http://www.releaseinternational.org/pages/country-profiles/north-korea.php
For further information, please contact Release International on 01689 823491, or by email at info@releaseinternational.org
www.releaseinternational.org
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