WCC FEATURE:The high cost of religious persecution

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World Council of Churches - Feature

THE HIGH COST OF RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION

For immediate release: 22 October 2010

By Fofo Lerefolo (*)

After Sook (not her real name), a young woman from North Korea, gave 
her
testimony during the Lausanne Congress in Cape Town many were moved to
tears. They had just witnessed – in their midst – the tragic face of
suffering.

Born in Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, this petite 18-year-old is 
the
daughter of a former high-ranking government leader – an assistant of
the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il.

In 1998, when Sook was the tender age of six, her father suffered 
severe
political persecution, and the family was forced to flee to China. It 
was
there that her parents came to know the amazing grace and love of God.
After only a few months, her mother, pregnant with her second child, 
died
of leukemia.

“It was in the midst of this family tragedy that my father joined a 
Bible
study led by missionaries from South Korea and America, and after a 
time
his strong desire was to become a missionary to North Korea,” she 
said.

In 2001 her father was reported and arrested by the Chinese police, 
then
sent back to North Korea, where he was sentenced to prison. 
Desperately
crying out to God during this time, his three-year incarceration 
served
only to strengthen his faith. After his release he returned to China, 
and
Sook was reunited briefly with her father.

”Not long after that, he chose to return to North Korea - instead of
enjoying a life of religious freedom in South Korea - to share 
Christ’s
message of life and hope among the hopeless people of his homeland.”

In 2006 her father’s work was discovered by the North Korean 
government,
and once again he was imprisoned. Sook has not heard from him again; 
in
all probability, he has been publicly executed on charges of treason 
and
espionage. This is often the fate of confessing Christians in North
Korea, according to reports.

Left in China, Sook was adopted for a while by the family of a young
pastor, and their love, care, compassion and protection made a deep
impression on her. When they left for America, she was given the
opportunity to go to South Korea.

While staying at the Korean Consulate in Beijing, waiting to go to 
South
Korea, the young girl’s life was dramatically and irrevocably changed
when Jesus came to her in a dream.

“He had tears in his eyes,” she recalled. “He walked towards me and
asked, ‘Sook, how much longer are you going to keep me waiting? Walk
with me. Yes, you have lost your earthly father, but I am your 
heavenly
Father and whatever has happened to you was because I love you.’”

Praying to God for the very first time, she gave him her heart, soul, 
mind
and strength, asking that she would be used in concert with his will. 
A
deep love for the lost people of North Korea and the need to bring the
love of Jesus to them has subsequently become her life’s purpose.

”I look back over my short life, and I see God’s hand everywhere. Six
years in North  Korea, eleven in China and now in South Korea. 
Everything
I suffered: all the sadness and grief, all that I have experienced and
learned, I want to give it all to God and use my life for his 
kingdom. In
this way I also hope to bring honour to my father.”

Still a student, this young and vibrant follower of Christ describes 
her
intention to enter university to study political science and 
diplomacy,
and then to work for the rights of the voiceless in North   Korea.

”Brothers and sisters here in this place, I humbly ask you to pray 
that
the same light of God’s grace and mercy that reached my father and my
mother, and now me, will one day soon dawn upon the people of North 
Korea,
my people.”
As one body, the huge throng of participants in Cape Town arose in 
silence,
after which a burst of applause in response to God's glory 
reverberated
from the walls of the vast auditorium of the International Convention
Centre.


(*) Fofo Lerefolo is an intern in the WCC programme on Unity, mission,
evangelism and spirituality from South   Africa.

Website of the 3rd Lausanne Congress for World Evangelization
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=390a8d4d8cb998160437 )

WCC programme on Unity, mission, evangelism and spirituality
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=046e2e294dbdc4f19095 )

Read the latest blog posts by the WCC consultant for Evangelism John
Baxter-Brown (Link: 
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=0ab5ff78aba38b06c677 )


The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, 
witness 
and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship 
of 
churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 
Protestant, 
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 
million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the 
Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse 
Tveit, 
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, 
Switzerland.



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