ICC Note: North Korea is widely regarded as the world’s worst persecutor of the Christian faith. On a recent trip to the country the president of Vision Beyond Borders, Patrick Klein, reported facing “spiritual oppression” unlike anything he had encountered before. He shares one particularly horrific story where children were tricked by teachers into finding their parents Bibles and bringing them to school. The children’s parents were subsequently imprisoned in labor camps and the children sent to state orphanages. Owning a Bible is illegal in North Korea, as is practicing or sharing the Christian faith in any way. 
8/13/2013 North Korea (MNN) – Concern is growing for a U.S. Christian being held in one of North Korea’s infamous gulags.
Kenneth Bae, a 45-year-old U.S. missionary, was recently moved to a hospital because his health is rapidly declining. Detained in November 2012 and sentenced to 15 years of “hard labor” in April, Bae is accused of “hostile acts” against the country of North Korea.
According to the Associated Press, Bae is the sixth American to be detained by North Korea since 2009, and at least four of the people imprisoned in recent years are devout Christians.
Vision Beyond Borders President Patrick Klein just returned from the oppressive nation.
“It was unbelievable spiritual warfare. I mean, just constant,” says Klein. “I’ve never faced such spiritual oppression before in my entire life.”
Klein and a few others were visiting foreign workers in North Korea, looking for ways VBB could start supporting believers in the country.
“I think the people of North Korea are hungry,” says Klein. “But there’s incredible oppression, and I believe that’s why we have to pray that God will break through that and that the people will see the Truth of Jesus Christ.”
Idolatry is a significant challenge in North Korea because the national government insists people worship their leaders as gods. Klein recalls an oft-played video; he feels it was intended to showcase North Korea’s supremacy.
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“[This government] is so wicked that they actually turn children against their parents,” says Klein.
He shares a story he heard while in-country: “‘Some of your parents have a little book,’ teachers told their students one day. ‘Your assignment is to go home tonight and find that book, and bring it back to school tomorrow.'”
In class the next day, 16 children came to class with their parents’ Bibles and were paraded around the classroom to much applause and cheering. One little girl was so excited by the celebration, Klein says, she couldn’t wait to run home and tell her parents about it.
However, “when she got home, her parents were gone, and [they] never came back. They were taken to a concentration camp, and the little girl was taken to a state-run orphanage,” Klein says.
“What a wicked, wicked system,” he continues. “But we know that God is so much greater and that He Himself can break through this. I believe that prayer is the key.”
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