‘Please Remember to Say a Special Prayer for the People of North Korea’

Deep in a secluded area, the men dug several shallow graves before ordering the family to get in.

With each shovel of fresh dirt, the father and his six children’s screams grew softer until the forest was silent.

Jun (not his real name) grew up hearing the story of how his great-grandfather was buried alive.

The situation in North Korea hasn’t changed much since the 1940s, Jun said, when his great-grandfather was a pastor living in North Korea.

Jun is now a pastor himself. (I’ve changed his name to protect his identity and his ministry.)

Jun’s great-grandfather, whom we’ll call Hoon, moved to North Korea to escape Christian persecution in China.

Six of his children accompanied him while his wife and one daughter stayed behind; they planned to join them soon.

But Hoon’s wife and daughter would never see their family members alive again.

As Hoon and the children settled into their new home, he thought he’d finally be able to spread the Gospel in freedom.

Related: Persecution Takes on a New Urgency for Believers Around the World

But North Korea was becoming more closed and the government was beginning to seek out Christians, imprison them — and even kill them.

One day as Hoon’s youngest daughter was playing in the yard, she was approached by a neighbor.

“Do you believe in Jesus?” he asked her.

“Yes,” she said.

A North Korean communist overheard the conversation, and later that day — men burst into Hoon’s home and dragged him and his children away.

When Hoon’s wife finally arrived in North Korea, the government contacted her and told her where she could find her husband.

As the dirt was brushed away from her family’s lifeless bodies, Hoon’s wife realized her husband had died with his arms spread out. He was trying to protect and comfort his youngest daughter as they died.

Now, 70 years later, Jun is carrying on his great-grandfather’s legacy.

He refuses to let what happened to his family in North Korea hinder him from serving the Lord.

He’s dedicated his life to ministering to the persecuted Christians living there.

“I had decided that I would not look at the land of North Korea after I heard that story from my grandmother,” Jun said.

“But now I am doing it because God has given me love for North Korea. The situation in North Korea in these days is no different from that period. Let us pray for the soul of North Korea and for the freedom of faith.”

This story and others like it from North Korea come from first-hand interviews that World Help or its partners in the Korean Peninsula have done with persecuted believers.

North Korea has been ranked for 18 years in a row as the most dangerous place for Christians to live.

The United Nations reports that its citizens live under “systemic, widespread, and gross human rights violations.”

To make matters worse, the nation just started testing nuclear missiles again, saying the West should respect its “sovereignty.”

But a country that doesn’t value its citizens and brutally persecutes Christians needs one thing most of all: prayer.

Like Pastor Jun, we need to ask God to work on the hearts of North Korea’s leaders.

There’s no better time to do this than on the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.

Every first Sunday in November, Christians all around the world gather to remember those like Jun’s great-grandfather — who have been martyred for their faith — and to pray for our brothers and sisters still facing persecution.

Will you add your voice to the thousands who will be sending up prayers on behalf of suffering Christ-followers today (Sunday) and always?

If you’re not sure what to pray for, you can download a prayer guide at internationaldayofprayer.com.

And please remember to say a special prayer for the people of North Korea.

Kelsey Campbell writes for World Help, a Christian humanitarian organization serving the physical and spiritual needs of people in impoverished communities around the world. To learn more about faith-based persecution worldwide, click here.

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