If you escaped the darkest place on earth… what would make you go back?

Joo Min fled North Korea – and found Jesus at an Open Doors safe house. What would make her go back to the darkest place to be a Christian?

It wasn’t the first time that Joo Min* had crossed the border between North Korea and the neighbouring country. She knew that the river was deep and treacherous. Guards patrolled the riverbank, holding machine guns. If anybody discovered her, she’d be arrested and hauled to a North Korean labour camp, where conditions are unimaginably bad.

Last time Joo Min made this dangerous journey, she was escaping starvation and an oppressive regime in North Korea.

This time, she was choosing to go back.

A North Korean childhood

Joo Min was born and raised in North Korea. In school, Joo Min was taught that North Korea was the greatest country in the world, and that the ruling Kim family were to be gratefully obeyed and even worshipped.

She did hear about Christians – and how they were to be feared. “I was told to stay away from missionaries,” she remembers. “They said missionaries were like wolves pretending to be sheep.” Her school textbook said the same thing, telling stories of American spies pretending to be missionaries. These spies – so the textbook claimed – were sent to North Korea to kidnap children and sell them into slavery.

Severe food shortages

Despite what she was taught about life being wonderful in North Korea, Joo Min’s actual experience didn’t match up. Her family was desperately short of food. Her father started abusing alcohol, meaning he couldn’t afford even the meagre amount of food available on the black market.

“My father told me I had to provide for our family,” says Joo Min. “Driven by the need to provide, I crossed the border in search of work.”

Joo Min was one of tens of thousands of North Koreans who crossed the border looking for sources of food and income. While it’s illegal for North Koreans to leave the country, the authorities are less vigilant in stopping them during periods of severe food insecurity. If Joo Min had been caught, the punishment would have been dire – but the border crossing wasn’t as heavily guarded as it is at other times.

Joo Min hoped to find a way to survive when she reached the other side of the border. She found so much more than that.

Hearing the gospel

At first, after reaching the other side of the river, Joo Min wasn’t sure what to do. Soon, she met someone who said they could help her, and take her to a safe place. Unknowingly, she had met the first Christian she’d ever known. She’d met a secret Open Doors fieldworker.

The fieldworker took Joo Min to one of the safe houses for North Korean refugees run by Open Doors underground networks, where she found herself part of a community of people who’d made the same difficult journey as her. At the safe houses, these local fieldworkers provide food and help people find jobs. More than that – they tell people about Jesus.

“In the safe house, I heard the gospel for the first time,” says Joo Min. At first, she was very resistant. Not only had her schooling taught her that Christians were evil – she knew what she’d face if she were discovered and deported back to North Korea. If you’re found even to have met a Christian while outside the country, you are targeted for particularly harsh punishments.

“Go back to North Korea”

Even with the extreme risks, Joo Min couldn’t help wanting to know more about Jesus. The Christians she met weren’t like the sadistic missionaries in her North Korean textbook: they were kind, loving and offered her help without asking anything in return. “Despite what I was told as a child, I accepted Jesus as my Saviour,” she says. “I started attending Bible studies and training every week.” Eventually, Joo Min chose to be baptised.

After a long period of biblical teaching and persecution survival training from Open Doors fieldworkers, Joo Min felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit. She knew God had a plan for her – and it would require extraordinary courage.

“I felt like God was telling me: ‘Go back to North Korea,’” she says. “I felt a calling to share everything I’ve learned in my homeland.”

And that’s what brought Joo Min back to the border, and to the dangerous crossing into North Korea. As she walked into the water and made her way across, this time it wasn’t because of financial necessity or hunger – it was because her life had been turned upside down by the hope and love of Jesus.

Smuggling light

Today, Joo Min is still serving as a leader in the underground church. “I know the risks involved,” she says. “If I am caught, I could end up in a labour camp, paying a heavy price for being a Christian now.” Yet, by the power of the Holy Spirit and with the help of the training she received from Open Doors fieldworkers, she continues her ministry.

The light she found in the safe house is what she now smuggles into North Korea and nothing – not food shortages, the danger of imprisonment, or even the seemingly all-powerful Kim dynasty – can stop the light from shining brightly in the darkness. “Please pray for me,” she asks. “Pray for protection and courage, so that I can be like salt and light in a land overshadowed by darkness.”

You can help North Korean Christians

Joo Min’s story is a little different from many stories you’ll read from countries on the Open Doors World Watch List. She hasn’t been attacked or imprisoned – but she risks extreme persecution every day. At any moment, she could be seized by the authorities. But she is determined to continue her ministry.

With your help, other North Korean refugees can encounter the gospel at Open Doors safe houses outside the country – and receive the vital training that enables them to return home and share the gospel in the darkest place on earth.

You almost certainly won’t ever be called on to cross the border into North Korea. But, with your support and prayers, you can stand shoulder to shoulder with believers like Joo Min as they courageously smuggle light into darkness.

*Joo Min’s story is taken from accounts of two North Korean believers. As the real people are currently living and ministering in North Korea, some details have been combined or omitted to protect their identities.