Being a Christian, or even having had contact with a Christian, is one of the most serious crimes that a North Korean can commit.

Believers in North Korea have either been caught and live in concentration camps, or live secret Christian lives. Those in concentration camps are brutally punished and many die. Most secret Christians must live totally underground and cannot tell their family about their beliefs, although in some cases a family might be worshipping together.

Christians cannot witness to others or show a Bible to anyone without fearing for their lives. In most cases they are very alone in their Christian walk.

Not surprisingly, Christians, like many other oppressed North Koreans, try to escape. Some make it across the river to China where they find conditions little better. We believe that tens of thousands of Korean refugees on the Chinese side of the border are believers as a result of Christian missionary activity there.

The refugees live in terror of Chinese authorities who employ bounty hunters to capture and send them back to North Korea. Other converts return voluntarily to share the Gospel with family and friends. In both cases authorities deem them priority cases, liable to certain imprisonment and death if caught.

But we hear that these returning new Believers often become radical Christians. A contact says,

"One refugee would read the Bible literally all day for months after she accepted Christ. When I talked with her, she couldn't stop telling me how Jesus had changed her life!"