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Korea was separated into North and South after World War II. Communist North Korea invaded the South, who got support from the United States. The war dragged on until 1953.
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North Korea is still one of the most repressive regimes in the world – and its border with South Korea is impenetrable. Access to the country and movement within it is severely restricted to a small number of chaperoned visits. Christian literature and Bibles in Korean are confiscated.
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All religions are harshly repressed – thousands of Christians have been put in labour camps where many have died or been executed. The church has gone underground with house churches often consisting of just one family. The church is small with only 400 000 Christians in a population of 25 million.
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During the 2002 football World Cup (held in South Korea) soccer fans from South Korea would try to shout out the scores or play radios at the borders for people in North Korea – who weren’t allowed to know what was going on. According to the North Korean authorities even soccer results are ‘propaganda’ – they even tried to drown out all the noise with Communist broadcasts at the border.
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Pregnant Christian women are sometimes forced to abort their babies to stop more Christians being born.
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By their own omission, North Korea has the cheapest labour costs in Asia; however, little is know about their working conditions.
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North Korea replaced Saudi Arabia as the country where Christians are most severely persecuted according to the “World Watch List” published by Open Doors.
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International meetings with North Korea have been successful for all. Despite continued testing, North Korea have made a wavering agreement not to pursue nuclear weapon capability in exchange for assurances by the USA. If they stand be the agreement it will result in a better relationship with the US who has traditionally supported South Korea.
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Thank God that despite the odds, in one of the harshest places in the world, there are Christian surviving.
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Thank God for the safety of those who escape to china and the Chinese Christians who risk everything to help them.
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We don’t know very much about the Church in North Korea – because it is so dangerous to be a Christian all the churches have to take place in secret. Over 100,000 Christians are also being held in labour camps. Pray for the safety of Christians in North Korea.
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As many as 3 million people died from starvation between 1994 and 2000, yet the government stockpiles food reserved for the army. Pray that food and aid would reach people in desperate need.
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