From A Secret Field Worker in North Korea » Open Doors Australia

From A Secret Field Worker in North Korea » Open Doors Australia

FROM A SECRET FIELD WORKER IN NORTH KOREAView All Blogs

BY EMILY WATT | 27 NOVEMBER 2020
Gifts Of Hope


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.”

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Region Asia

Sources of Persecution Communist and Post-Communist Oppression

Population 25,841,000

Christian Population 400,000

Religions Juche

Government Single Party Dictatorship

Leader Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un

Score 94/100

NORTH KOREA

“I ask those who have been praying for North Korea from all around the world to pray for North Korea to be able to come to the gospel.” 

– Hee Yol, North Korean believer.

What Does Persecution Look Like?

North Korea has been the most dangerous place to follow Jesus for 20 years.

The penalty for being a Christian in North Korea is the death sentence. Believers are either killed instantly or sent to labour camps with their entire family–many don’t make it out alive.

Kim Jong-Un is reported to have expanded the prison system, where 50-70,000 Christians are currently imprisoned. Anyone with ties to a Christian friend or family member is denied any advancement in their career.

Who Is Most Vulnerable To Persecution?

North Korean Christians continue to face extreme persecution in every element of their public and private lives.  All Christians face the severest of consequences if they faith is discovered.

Many children do not know that their own parents are believers. COVID-19 restrictions have also led to tighter security at the Chinese border, limiting the escape for many. And those who do escape are hunted down by secret agents, abducted and returned to North Korea.

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Gift A North Korean Survival Pack


Strengthen the North Korean church when you give a Gift Of Hope this Christmas.