Hardly a day goes by that North Korea (called The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK) isn’t a focus of world news. Known as the "Hermit Kingdom," North Korea has isolated its people from the outside world for 50 years, and so this added exposure is drawing attention.
Did you know? One of the greatest revivals in all of Asia took place in North Korea. Now, over 100 years later, it is one of the spiritually darkest places on earth.
From the late 1880’s, North Korea was the center of a spiritually thriving country. Pyongyang, its capital, was called the “Jerusalem of the East.” At the beginning of the Korean War (which lasted from 1950-1953), before the Soviet Union installed an atheist Communist regime in Pyongyang headed by Kim Il-sung, Pyongyang was the center of North Korean’s spiritual life. In 1942, approximately 1.5 million North Korean Christians—15% of the population—became refugees, most running for their lives to South Korea.
Most thought the church in North Korea was destroyed. But a body of believers there has held out for generations, even after years of persecution and attempts to destroy Christianity. Even today, thousands of North Koreans in the underground church quietly live and die for Jesus.
How do North Koreans hear Thru the Bible?
Yes, in spite of these harsh spiritual realities, the name of Jesus is proclaimed in North Korea and God’s Word is heard on Thru the Bible in two ways:
- Thru the Bible is broadcasted on a powerful AM station from Jeju Island, off the southern Korean peninsula. This 250,000-watt station (5x stronger than any AM station in the U.S.) has shot its signal directly into North Korea since 1988. Any jamming signal DPRK would use to block this pervasive means of broadcasting is expensive and ineffective.
- Thru the Bible is also heard on a 100,000-watt station just 35 miles south of North Korea. This signal spills over the border so that people in North Korea can also hear it.
How to Pray for North Korea:
- Pray with confidence that God’s Word is bearing fruit in North Korean believers.
- Pray with joy that people will hear and respond in faith to the offer of eternal life in Jesus Christ, taught on Thru the Bible.
- Pray with hope that God’s righteousness will prevail, even in the satanic grip of North Korea’s current leadership.
Some estimate that over the past 15 years, more than two million North Koreans have starved to death. Millions more are starving spiritually; most people under 60 years old have never heard the name of Jesus. Ask God to multiply
Thru the Bible’s impact in the lives of the Korean people, trapped behind their national borders. Pray with urgency and expectation that God is already at work.