Stories from the Underground Church of North Korea

People often ask how many Christians are in North Korea, and though it is impossible to say, I have seen and met with many inside, disproving the notion that there are none.  There is no way to measure the number of North Koreans from merely meeting a few, however, it is possible to say the number of North Korean Christians is more than zero.

In fact, from publicly available data, not only are there Christians in North Korea, but they are growing in number.  In 2024, Forbes reported that there are between 200,000 and 400,000 Christians in North Korea, and as many as 70,000 Christians in prison for their faith.  Compare that to a 2007 report by Newsweek, entitled “Prayer in Pyongyang” which estimated the number of Christians in North Korea to “range from the low tens of thousands to 100,000.” 

If those two reports from 2007 and 2024 are true, that would mean that the Christian population in North Korea today has increased from 100k-400k or from 200%-400% in the last 17 years.  That is roughly one new Christian believer in North Korea every single hour!  Regardless of the exact number, it seems that the data confirms that there is indeed growth in North Korea. 

What techniques are they currently using to see such growth in almost impossible situations? Not all of the methods that they are currently using are known, but the following testimonies reveal a few we have witnessed.  

“Due to the situation in North Korea, it’s not possible for people to gather together on Sundays to worship.In other areas, when people worshipped together they all got caught within a night. In one situation, a young man went to China, believed in Jesus, returned to North Korea, and evangelized his friends. After they met together to pray, all of them suddenly disappeared. It is dangerous with too many people, so worship is done quietly with two people or within one family.”

It is widely known that the North Korean government is hunting for Christians, so we asked how it is possible for Christians to gather together in secret without being caught and this was the response:

“I went from village to village preaching the Gospel. I wasn’t allowed to travel, so I did most of my movement at night. The believers would eagerly receive me and listen intently to my teachings. There would only be three or four people at a time in our meetings. They were not allowed to have Bibles, so there was usually a loose board on the floor or a loose brick in the wall or foundation that portions of a Bible could be hidden in. When it came time to pray or meet, the Scriptures would be pulled out of the secret hiding place with utmost care. After some time, there would be no need to pull out the Scripture because every word would have been memorized.”

For a closer look at the changes that happened to the church over time, one elderly sister who has since passed away wrote the following:

“I was a young lady, twelve years old, when I first believed in Jesus. My parents were Christians. Prior to the War of Southern Aggression [the Communist name for the Korean War], there were many Christians in Chosun. Due to persecution during the Korean War and afterward, most of them fled to South Korea.

In 1954, I was 12 years old. Many Christians began to disappear. There was once a church building in my town but it was dismantled in 1954. Its deacons and pastor disappeared. During school, teachers asked students to turn in any black books they might find in their homes. They were promised money. Some students did this, but later their families disappeared. We were told that they had moved, but since we were not allowed to move, we knew the government was responsible.

My family kept our Bible. For three years, I memorized as much as I could. My father said I would need it, because one day our Bible may be found. Persecution of Christians became so bad that my father disposed of our Bible for the safety of our family. I did not know that would be the last time I would see a Bible for almost fifty years.

My parents both died of tuberculosis when I was 17. I did not know of any other Christians after their deaths. I had heard rumors of even family members turning each other in for being Christians. Every day I recited in my mind the parts of the Bible I remembered, which were Mark, First Timothy, and many Psalms. They were my only hope for years.

Things in my country got worse and worse. After being raised by an uncle and made to work in the fields by the government my life was ok, that is, until the famines. By the time I was in my fifties—I forget the exact year—famine became worse and worse. I was raising my cousin’s two daughters. She and her husband had died of complications from not having enough food. The children were about to starve to death, so I began going to China illegally to find food and bring it back. This secret route I established during these times proved vital. By sharing with the border guards the food I was retrieving from China, I was allowed to cross without trouble.

In 2004, my age and health no longer permitted me to continue to make the trip. I found a permanent place to hide in China, in a small one-room shack with a coal heater. One day, in 2006, I was told by a friend who was helping me that a pastor was coming to meet me. I was so excited! I had a few RMB saved, so I bought extra coal so my shack would be warm for him. I was so amazed that a pastor would come and visit me. I could not believe it when he brought me a Bible! It was the first Bible I had seen since I was a young girl. All I could do was weep. I just wept and wept.

“Chinese Christians provided this Bible,” the pastor informed me. My eyesight was so bad, I could barely read the Bible, but I was excited none-the-less. God gave me a clear vision of how I could help my people once again. I witnessed how North Koreans escaped to China, found Jesus, and returned to their villages in North Korea. Some of those Christians brought Bibles in audio format from China, so that we could listen to them when we were alone. I was so touched because I knew there were many Christians like me that could not read the Bible.

I helped deliver some more of the secret audio Bibles into North Korea. I know of over 100 North Koreans who have been saved because of audio Bibles. I too have escaped to China, but my health has become worse. I cannot receive medical treatment in China. If I try, I will be turned in to the authorities and sent back to Chosun. Next week I will be taken to Laos and then Thailand by Christians working in China. Once in Thailand, I will most likely be jailed for illegal entry, but later released and sent to freedom in South Korea, where it has been arranged for me to receive medical treatment for my tuberculosis. That is what I have been told anyway.

I regret having to leave, and would rather give my life for this sake, but I am too contagious to be of help without endangering others. I am only glad that I have been used of the Lord after having to be a secret Christian for so long.”