Fleeing North Korea: Finding God in China

Min-Ji's story began in North Korea when she was arrested by the authorities in 2008 for selling DVD's from South Korea.  Min-Ji's husband, Kun-woo, feared for his life as he was a high ranking member of North Korea's State Security Department.  His wife's crime was a death sentence, and the authorities would not only execute her, but could decide to execute the entire family.  Kun-woo decided to flee to China while their family bribed officials so that Min-Ji was only sentenced to prison, and not death.  Following her release from prison, Kun-woo returned from China, but he was now a changed man, for while in China, he discovered Christ.  In North Korea, being a Christian is illegal, and very dangerous.  Neighbors are trained to spy on each other and evening being overhead mentioning Jesus could lead to one's arrest as the nation's "no mercy law" decreed that anyone who elevated God above Kim Jong Il would be taken to a camp without trial.  Eventually, Kun-woo was reported, and the couple was arrested.  They would never see each other again.  

Christians who are arrested are sent to North Korean Concentration Camps where they perform slave labor, are starved, tortured, and often beaten to death.  Human rights activists estimate that there are 30,000 Christians in these camps.  Min-Ji's family managed to get the authorities to send her to a labor camp, or a kyohwaso, where she had to perform slave labor for 15 hours a day while only receiving two scant meals a day.  However, those in labor camps are eventually released.  Those in Concentration Camps, known as kwanliso's, are not.  They're their for life, and many are eventually executed if they don't die of starvation.  Kun-woo was sent to a kwanliso, and he was never heard of again.  After spending 6 years in the kyohwaso, Min-Ji was released, but with her husband in a Concentration Camp and her already serving two prison sentences, Min-Ji realizes her family had no future in North Korea.  After her release, she bribed a border guard to allow her to escape into China, but she was forced to leave her children behind.  

Unfortunately, her ordeal did not end here.  Upon entering Beijing with other North Korean defectors, the group tried to gain permission to join their relatives in South Korea.  However, the Chinese authorities accused the group of being human traffickers and had them imprisoned.  Min-Ji spent another two years in prison.  Though not treated nearly as badly as she was in the North Korean prisons, she feared being deported back to the country, which would mean her death.  However, as time passed, she began to study the Bibles that were smuggled into the prison, and over time, she gave herself to Christ.  She began to socialize with other believers in the prison and understood the great love that Jesus offered.  After two years, Min-Ji and others were released and she was able to contact her nieces in South Korea and received permission to join them.  Upon her arrival, Min-Ji met was put into contact with the Voice of the Martyrs through another North Korean Defector and began training at the VOM's Underground Technology Program.  Min-Ji's adult children also managed to escape and joined her in South Korea where they too became believers.  Though Min-Ji misses her husband and still mourns for him, she feels that he is still with her, because their shared faith in Christ created a powerful bond that will never be broken.  

Sources:

"Finding Jesus on a Prison Wall."  Voice of the Martyrs.  February 2021.