NK Investigative Report 2001

The Challenge of North Korea Missions

from "Re-examining North Korea Missions" by David Lee, download entire thesis (185k, pdf)

Chapter 1:
Obstacles to Mission Work in North Korea

What makes North Korea one of the most difficult places in the world to do mission work? This is the core question of this chapter. In an attempt to answer this question, the writer will examine access into North Korea, Juche Ideology, the famine, and uncertainty of change as key obstacles inhibiting current mission work. We need to understand the reasons why North Korea is one of the most unreached places in the world if we want to have a realistic chance of sharing the gospel light to this country. The contents in this chapter will help answer the overall question, "What is the most effective missions strategy for North Korea missions?"

A. Access into North Korea

One of the major factors, if not the greatest, inhibiting mission work in North Korea is that missionaries are not officially allowed to enter the country. Even if they enter secretly, they are hindered if not completely prevented from propagating Christianity. The government's concept of religion and Christianity, government surveillance, and propaganda play key roles in blocking access of mission efforts into North Korea.

1. Concept of Religion and Christianity

The North Korean government strongly discourages all organized activity except that which serves the interests of the State. In fact, many would agree that in North Korea the official religion is the cult of Kim Il Sung. In North Korea the leader is like God. Hwang Jang Yop, defected North Korean Party secretary for ideological affairs, says, "At the end of the day the 'Leader' is the source of life of the individual. Because he lives, they live. He is like God, or like the sun. The people really believe that..."

When Kim Il Sung passed away in 1994, the personality cult of Kim Il Sung was passed on to his son Kim Jong Il. Initially, many foreign observers speculated that in this transition North Korea would collapse because Kim Jong Il did not have the same charisma as his father, Kim Il Sung. However, this proved not to be true as Kim Jong Il took over his father's position as divine leader of the country. One of the reasons that made this transition of power between father and son possible was the nature of the personality cult in North Korea. While in communist countries the personality cult would revolve around the leader himself, in North Korea the personality cult revolves around the family of Kim Il Sung. Kim Il Sung is the divine father and all his family members are divine also. Thus, when Kim Jong Il took over leadership of North Korea, he was able to take full advantage of the divine legitimacy he inherited from his father. In fact, it can be said that Kim Il Sung is not dead, but rather is personified in the form of Kim Jong Il. The North Korean newspaper, Minju Josun, reported, "Comrade Kim Jong Il, who has led our Republic to victory and prosperity and who has throughout personified the great leader's ideas, leadership traits, and loft virtues, is today's President Kim Il Sung."

In North Korea freedom of religion does not exist. Everybody is required to follow the law of the state to absolutely worship Kim Jong Il. Quoting from the Minju Josun, "All our functionaries and working people should absolutely worship Comrade Kim Jong Il, entirely entrust their destiny to the general, and loyally uphold the idea and leadership of the general." The role of Kim Jong Il is not simply that of a leader or president. Rather, he demands absolute worship, as if he were God himself. Also, he invites the total laying down of one's destiny before him, meaning one should commit his entire life to Kim Jong Il.

The North Korean government views Christianity as a threat to its very existence. In the government's eyes, any allegiance pledged to another "god" besides Kim Jong Il, is allegiance that is taken away from the Kim Jong Il regime. Furthermore, Christianity in North Korea has been associated with foreign imperialism. Christianity, successfully propagated by American Protestant missionaries in the late 1800s, is viewed by the North Korea regime as a cover-up by foreign powers to infiltrate and seize control of the country.

2. Persecution of the Church

The North Korean government's persecution of the church also makes it difficult to enter the country to do mission work. As a result of the government's antagonistic view of Christianity, the North Korean regime has sought to completely eliminate Christianity in the country. North Korea, however, does maintain an appearance of toleration towards Christianity by showcasing a Christian Association and two churches, one Protestant and one Catholic, in Pyongyang. Defector Hwang Jang Yop paints the picture of religious freedom in North Korea:
Although, officially, freedom of religion exists, and is theoretically guaranteed by law, we don't even have a real church. Two churches were built for the World Youth Games in 1986 in Pyongyang but only for public-relations purposes. Those that really go there are state-ordered "believers." If someone really wanted to attend church, or declared allegiance to it, he would be shot within five minutes. The people should only believe in Kim Jong Il.

North Korea used to be a dynamic Christian center with a sprouting church before Kim Il Sung took power. Until 1950, according to some estimates, there were 2,850 churches, 700 pastors, and 300,000 Christians in North Korea. Michael Breen describes, "In 1946, when Mr. Kim... took power, the North Korea capital of Pyongyang rang with church bells. Known among Asian Christians as the Jerusalem of the East, it was the center of Presbyterian resistance to Japanese imperialism in the first half of the century." Today, North Korea is a spiritual wilderness where the only church worship services are completely done in secret.
Due to the intense persecution of Christians by the North Korean government over the years, many Christians have been killed or detained in concentration camps. The U.S. State Department estimates that North Korea detains about 150,000 political prisoners and family members in maximum security camps in remote places. These camps are called, in North Korea terms, "Special Dictatorship Target Areas," and they detain prisoners who have been given life sentences.

3. Government Surveillance

Another factor that makes it difficult for missionaries to have access into North Korea is the tight government surveillance that exists inside the country. Even if a missionary could enter North Korea he would be extremely prohibited in his activities after entering. In North Korea, every action of the foreigner, as well as every national, is watched by government authorities. North Korea closely resembles a totalitarian state that is under the total control of the central government.

The institution that monitors the citizens' political behavior is the State Security Agency. It supervises whether people are following every order of the government. The standard of every citizen's behavior is the 10-point Principle for Solidifying the Party's Monolithic Ideological System. These are the Ten Commandments of North Korea. They are as follows:
1) All society must be dyed with Kim Il Sung's revolutionary ideology,
2) Kim Il Sung must be upheld with unswerving loyalty,
3) Kim Il Sung's authority must be made absolute,
4) Kim Il Sung's revolutionary thought must be regarded as the people's belief, and his instructions as their creed,
5) the principle of unconditional loyalty must be observed in carrying out Kim Il Sung's instructions,
6) the Party's ideological unity and revolutionary solidarity, with Kim Il Sung at the center, must be strengthened,
7) Party members must emulate Kim Il Sung and equip themselves with the same Communist personality and revolutionary working methods as he has,
8) Party members must keep the political life given to them by Kim Il Sung and return his political confidence in them with loyalty,
9) the entire Party, nation and armed forces must establish strict discipline to behave uniformly under the monolithic leadership of Kim Il Sung, and
10) the revolutionary task initiated by Kim Il Sung must be inherited and perfected generation after generation. This principle, which in fact reigns over the constitution, is regarded as the most important norm ...

The instrument the State Security Agency uses to keep watch over each citizen is the Five-Household System. It is a watch system designed to place the entire populace under constant political surveillance. Five households are organized into one team in which Party propagandists supervise the ideological indoctrination of the residents. The key is that every member of the team is used as an informant against everyone else. Thus far, the North Korea regime has been successful in keeping it people under constant watch and fear. Any complaint against the government or religious activity other than worshipping Kim Jong Il can be punished by incarceration or death.

4. Propaganda

The government's control of media and its use of propaganda further prevent the access of Christian missions into North Korea. If information could flow into North Korea freely, the gospel could enter the homes of the people through radio, television, and newspapers. However, all information flow into North Korea is designed, disseminated, and controlled by the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Central Committee of the Korean Worker's Party. Thus, except for a small number of the elite, the North Korean populace is completely unaware of the outside world.
The government uses all forms of media- radio, television, magazines, and newspapers- to carry out the ideological indoctrination of the populace. Radio sets in North Korea are capable of receiving only government stations and broadcasts. The U.S. Department of State reports, "the regime prohibits listening to foreign media broadcasts except by the political elite, and violaters are subject to severe punishment." Thus, the only "intellectual food" that most DPRK citizens are fed is the controlled press. Influence from abroad is getting even weaker than before, since fewer people travel nowadays to other countries.

As a result of government propaganda, the North Korean regime has succeeded in creating a special people that has lost the ability to perceive reality and is exhausted to its limits psychologically by fear. Propaganda has taken control over every thought in North Korea. People have lost the ability to think for themselves. Defector Hwang Jang Yop explains:

"The North Korean system is much more brutal and inhumane than Stalinism. It totally and completely controls the soul of the ordinary citizen. Their thoughts have been bombarded for decades with propaganda about the heroism of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. Most of these people are simply incapable of thinking about being critical."

Not surprisingly most North Koreans believe that their society is the most just and prosperous in the world. All they hear is the voice of the North Korean government.

5. The Challenge of Access in North Korea Mission Work

Lack of access into the country due to the North Korea regime's antagonism toward Christianity, persecution of the church, close surveillance and propaganda are sources of great difficulty in North Korea missions. If missionaries are not allowed into the country, then how can the gospel be preached? However, this obstacle is not impossible to overcome because no government can successfully keep out the gospel of Jesus Christ completely. No government can destroy the invisible church of God. No government can go against God and succeed. Thus, the obstacle of access into North Korea should be seen more as a challenge that we must overcome to be successful in North Korea missions.

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