Spreading the Gospel a Mission of Death

Spreading the Gospel a mission of death [Excerpts]

Christian converts sent back to evangelize in North Korea

Like most North Koreans, Son Jong-namknew next to nothing about Christianity when he fled to neighboring China in 1998. Nearly 11 years later, he died back in North Koreain prison, reportedly tortured to death for trying to spread the Gospel in his native land, armed with 20 Bibles and 10 cassette tapes of hymns. He was 50.

His story, pieced together by his younger brother, a defector who lives in South Korea, sheds light on a little-discussed practice: the return of North Korean converts to evangelize in their home country - a risky move, but one of the few ways to penetrate a country that bars most citizens from outside TV or radio and the Internet.

Little is known about the practice, thought to have started in the late 1990s. Missionaries won't say how many defectors they have sent back to North Korea, citing their safety and that of the defectors.

"It's their country, where people speak the same language. They know where to go and where to escape," said the Rev. Isaac Lee, a Korean-American missionary in Seoul who has dedicated his life to spreading Christianity in the North. "But I agonize a lot whenever I have to send defectors to the North, as I know what kind of punishment they would get if arrested."

Officially, North Korea guarantees freedom of religion for its 24 million people. In practice, authorities crack down on Christians, who are seen as Western-influenced threats to the government. The distribution of Bibles and secret prayer services can mean banishment to a labor camp or execution, defectors say.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/8/spreading-gospel-a-mission-of-death/print/

(Hyung-jin Kim, "Spreading Gospel a mission of death," AP, July 8, 2010).