An American Christian is facing trial in North Korea on charges that he was trying to undermine the country’s government.
His crime? He left a Bible in his hotel room after he and his tour group checked out to head back to America.
Jeffrey Fowle, 56, is being charged with leaving the Bible in his room, which is “inconsistent with the purpose of a tourist visit.” The North Korean government has not officially named charges against Fowle, just stating he will be tried for leaving behind the Bible.
“The significance of these arrests and trials cannot be overstated: North Korea is choosing to publicly blame Christian missionaries for its human rights problems and internal difficulties,” Seoul USA CEO Pastor Eric Foley told The Christian Post. “There are important lessons to be learned from the arrests by Christians seeking to reach North Korea in the future. Now is not the time to comment on the strategies of those being detained. But what we can conclude with certainty is that there is no ‘back door’ into North Korea – no strategy for sharing the gospel there that does not involve paying the highest of personal prices. This is what North Korean underground Christians have known and practiced for years.”
A spokesman for Fowle’s family said that he was not in North Korea on any kind of church mission. They denied there was anything that he could have done to “confirm suspicions” of undermining the government as claimed by North Korean prosecutors.
The U.S. State Department has repeatedly warned American citizens traveling to North Korea that they could be detained for any reason and imprisoned without trial or charge. The U.S. does not have diplomatic relations with North Korea.
An American tourist in North Korea was detained Friday for “hostile activities” after he left a Bible in his room after checking out.
Jeffrey Edward Fowle is now the third American being held captive by North Korea’s oppressive regime.
The official Korean Central News Agency said that Fowle is being questioned for violating his tourism visa regulations.
“US citizen in custody for committing anti-DPRK (North Korea) hostile activities,” the report reads. “[Fowle] acted in violation of the DPRK (North Korea) law, contrary to the purpose of tourism during his stay. A relevant organ of the DPRK detained him and is investigating him.”
The U.S. Department of State has issued an official warning to Americans who want to visit North Korea. The warning reads in part that being a part of a tour with a North Korean tour guide does not guarantee you will not be detained and arrested by North Korean authorities for actions perfectly legal in the U.S. such as carrying a Bible.
A ministry that works with Christians in North Korea says that those in that country who follow Christ do not believe that their country is the worst in the world for Christians.
The Reverend Eric Foley says that North Koreans actually embrace their sufferings as a means to show their love and dedication to Christ.
“If you are a Christian in a country where no Christians are suffering for Jesus you probably ought to be more concerned than if you are a Christian in a country where nearly every Christian is suffering for Jesus,” he said. “Christians are ambassadors. If one truly understands one’s identity as an ambassador, one glories in that identity rather than grumbling about the country where one got posted.”
North Korea has been listed at number one on the Open Doors list most oppressive countries for Christians for the last 12 straight years.
North Korean Christians have told Open Doors that despite the persecution, God is moving strongly in their country.
“Of course God is at work! Of course prayers help. I am such a weak person. I hardly had any Bible knowledge, but God used me to explain the Gospel to others. Sometimes, God sent me on the road. I clothed my six-month-old baby, fastened him on the back and I walked for miles and miles and miles,” a refugee identified only as Hana told Open Doors. “Until I saw some stranger and I knew this was the person I needed to talk to. Because of him or her God had sent me out on the road. I said what I needed to say and went home. Do you think that would be possible without God? Please, tell your friends that they need to continue to pray. God is answering their prayers.”
A South Korean missionary arrested in North Korea on charges of spying and setting up a network of underground churches has been sentenced to life at hard labor.
Kim Jung-wook was sentenced after a trial where North Korean authorities claim he admitted to “committing anti-North Korean religious acts” and “malignantly hurting the dignity” of ruler Kim Jong-Un.
According to North Korean state media, Jung-wook had a defense attorney but there were no details about whether a defense was actually provided during the trial that international observers called a sham.
Kim Jung-wook had been arrested last October after he entered North Korea from China. When he lived in China, he had been instrumental in helping North Korean Christians escape to South Korea. He had crossed into North Korea to learn about food storages and was caught by authorities.
Prosecutors presented what they called evidence of his actions including religious books. The court could have sentenced the missionary to death but decided to issue the life sentence.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has told the State Department they need to add eight countries to the list of “countries of particular concern” where severe violations of religious freedom are taking place.
The group is calling for Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam to be added to the list that already includes Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan.
“With religious freedom abuses occurring daily around the world,” USCIRF Chairman Robert George wrote, “the United States must by words and deeds stand in solidarity with the persecuted.”
The announcement is the 15th from the group since they were founded in 1998. The commission often travels to foreign nations to study the levels of religious freedom in countries and to determine levels of persecution.
Christian persecution advocacy group Open Doors said that all of the countries on the proposed list are in their top 50 worldwide for Christian persecution and 11 were in the top 15.
North Korea is preparing to execute 33 people for being Christians.
The official charge from the government is “attempting to overthrow the government.” In reality, the group was working with a South Korean Baptist missionary to set up underground churches.
Missionary Kim Jung-wook has been jailed and tortured for a year because of his attempts to start underground churches in North Korea. He was presented at a press conference last week where he apologized for his “anti-state crimes” and appealed for his release.
He was also forced to say that South Korea Intelligence services had provided him with information and equipment. The South Korean government said they had no involvement with Kim Jung-wook.
North Korean officials say the 33 people involved with Kim Jung-wook were planning to build a church on the site of a massive statue of North Korea’s founder after they overthrew the government.
Kim Jong-un has been on a murderous rampage including members of his government. His top deputy disappeared last week and some people have speculated that the North Korean leader has killed him.
The United Nations report on the atrocities committed by the North Korean government is slowly being completely released to the public and the latest information shows horrific drawings of torture.
A man who survived two years inside a prison camp gave the sketches to the UN. The drawings show a glimpse into the camp where cameras are forbidden by the North Korean government.
“This was the first thing that I saw: there it said that ‘if you run, you die,'” Kim Kwang-Il told the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights.
“We are supposed to think there’s an imaginary motorcycle and we are supposed to be in this position as if we are riding the motorcycle. And for this, we pose as if we are airplanes ourselves. We are flying. And if we stand like this there’s no way that you can hold that position for a long time. You are bound to fall forward. Everybody in the detention center goes through this kind of torture,” said Kwang-Il, who was able to escape to South Korea.
Kwang-Il was sentenced to 29 months in a labor camp for smuggling pine nuts into the country.
Witnesses say the prisoners are kept starving to the point they would eat rats or snakes that they would catch in their cells or outside their buildings.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is pressing for the International Criminal Court to put North Korean leaders on trial.
A Christian missionary from Australia is being held captive by the North Korean government on unknown charges.
75-year-old John Short, a missionary to Hong Kong for 50 years, was taken into custody a day after arriving in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. Short’s family says that police came to his hotel to question him and then later returned to place him under arrest.
While no charges were mentioned for the arrest, Short was believed to be carrying Christian tracts written in the Korean language.
Short has been arrested previously in China for giving out Christian materials including Bibles written in Chinese.
Short is the second Christian missionary known to be held by the North Korean government. American Kenneth Bae was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor after being convicted of committing hostile acts. Bae provided Christian materials to North Korean Christians.
Australia has no embassy in North Korea and usually works with the Swedish embassy on international matters. The Swedish embassy says they have had no contact with North Korean officials about Short.
A new report from a United Nations investigative panel has found atrocities in North Korea that the panel compared to crimes committed by Nazi Germany.
The report said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered women kidnapped from China to be strapped to a table and injected with abortion drugs. He also ordered women who had infants to drown them or smother them in his presence if there was any possibility the children were fathered by Chinese nationals.
“The gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world,” the U.N. Commission on Inquiry wrote in a 372-page report.
The Commission took the unprecedented step of warning the North Korean leader that he could be tried for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court for his actions.
The forced abortions were part of a campaign by Kim Jong Un to create a “pure Korean race” and that any child which is not purely North Korean is “contamination of ‘pureness’.”
The report also found multiple “secret” prison camps where hundreds of thousands of North Koreans and kidnapped people from South Korea or Japan were executed.
Out of the top ten countries for oppression against Christians, nine of them are because of Islamic Extremism.
The annual World Watch List was released yesterday showing that Islamic extremism is a threat worldwide. Of the top ten, only North Korea, which was ranked number one for the 12th straight year, does not have Islamic extremism driving its persecution of Christians.
The rest of the top ten: Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Maldives, Pakistan, Iran and Yemen.
The overall list shows the top 50 nations worldwide that contain levels of persecution against Christians. 27 of the 50 listed have what is considered “severe” levels of prosecution according to Open Doors, which conducts the survey.
Only one nation in the top 50 is located outside of Asia and Africa. Colombia is ranked 25th on the list despite Christianity being the main religion in the nation. The nation routinely has Christians attacked by FARC rebels and drug cartels who oppose acts of Christian charity.