News / Thoughts

North Korea: Meet a secret field worker…

North Korea has been the most dangerous place to be a Christian since 2002. Open Doors has been supporting North Korean Christians as they follow Jesus by providing emergency relief and discipleship through partners in China.

Peter* is one of our local partners who works with North Korean believers.

“My job is to meet North Korean Christians… It’s to help them survive the North Korean system without having to come out again and help them keep their faith within the country. I provide them with spiritual and physical help.

Investigated by North Korean agents

“I remember one night, it was a very cold winter at one o’clock in the morning. I went to meet a local partner. But he didn’t answer my calls, and he wasn’t there. I tried to contact him for three hours. At about four o’clock in the morning, my phone rang. It was his number. When I answered, I heard a strange man. He asked me, “who are you?” I threw my phone on the ground and smashed it with a stone. Then I threw it in a drain. I stood in the freezing cold streets until the next morning. Then I quickly left the city with public transport. Later I found that my partner was being investigated by agents from North Korea.

“We must continue this work.”

“Among all the countries of the world, Christians in North Korea are the most persecuted. Even at the moment, they go through tribulations and pain, but they still look to God and pray to God. We need to remember our brothers and sisters there. We need to pour out our hearts for them. The important thing is we must continue to work until the country is restored and overflows with holy worship and praise.

“I heard about a group of believers I trained, who returned to North Korea. During the summer months, they sometimes go to the cornfields and hide at night. There they worship and pray to God, or sometimes they worship God deep in the woods. Once, about seventeen people gathered secretly.

“My true hope is that we, as a global Church, are able to connect to the North Korean believers. I believe we can help them. They can also share their testimonies with us. I believe that’s what being the ‘one body of Christ’ is all about. We must do our share of the work for them.”

Do something now. Tell your MP…

Each year, Open Doors launches the World Watch List, an annual ranking of the places where Christians face the worst persecution. Could you invite your MP to be at the launch in 2021? This is our opportunity to inform those in power of the discrimination faced by our persecuted family and how local faith leaders are courageously serving the needs of their communities. Invite your MP to the 2021 World Watch List launch so they can hear about the 50 countries where it is the most dangerous to follow Jesus, alongside first-hand accounts from persecuted Christians. It’ll take less than a minute using this simple form…
Invite your MP now…

Pray now…

• For Peter and his work with North Korean Christians in China. Pray for safety, protection and new contacts with those coming from North Korea.
• For secret Christians in North Korea. Pray they would find ways to meet, pray and encourage one another. Ask they would know God’s presence and stay firm in their faith.