Christian Remnant in No. Korea Hailed for Its Strong Faith
by Chad Groening
March 14, 2005
(AgapePress) - A Christian human-rights activist who concentrates on North Korea says despite incredible persecution, there remains a small remnant of the Church in that communist country -- a remnant the Pyongyang regime considers to be a threat.Open Doors USA announced last week that North Korea -- for the third year in a row -- heads its 2005 "World Watch List." The group says tens of thousands of Christians are currently in North Korean prison camps, and at least 20 Christians were shot or beaten to death last year while in detention. (See earlier article)
Suzanne Scholte is vice chairman of the North Korea Freedom Coalition, a bipartisan coalition of religious, human rights, non-governmental, Korean and American organizations. The group says its primary purpose is to bring freedom to the North Korean people, and to ensure that the human rights component of U.S. and world policy toward the communist nation received priority attention.
Scholte says the repressive regime of North Korean ruler Kim Jong Il has done everything it can to stamp out Christianity in the country.
"This regime believes that Christians are a direct attack on Kim Jong Il and [his father] Kim Il-Sung," she says. "So that's why they try to stamp out all signs of faith. And in the political prisoner camps, there are also believers -- and they are subjected to the worst treatment."
Even those who have tried to escape North Korea are sometimes unable to avoid persecution. Scholte recalls how the nation responded several years ago when refugees fled to China because of the famine in North Korea.
"They instituted a policy in North Korea that whenever a refugee was repatriated from China, the first questions they would ask them [were] 'Have you become a Christian?' and 'Have you been in contact with any believers?'" she explains, "because Christians were basically spreading the gospel back through North Korea."
But Scholte says despite the persecution, Christianity remains in the country. "There is a very strong, but small remnant of the Church in North Korea," she says, adding her opinion that Christians worldwide will eventually benefit from that small group.
"One day we will know these people," she explains, "and they'll be the ones that will help us because they will have been the strongest possible believers [and] because they have nothing to gain except persecution and execution."
According to the Coalition spokeswoman, many Christians in North Korea are ultimately executed simply for being followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Chad Groening, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
