Underground Technology, or UT for short, is our foundational discipleship training program for North Korean defectors in South Korea. Sadly, many South Korean churches do not have a systematic discipleship method for their North Korean members. So we have seen North Korean defectors who have gone to church and morning prayer in South Korea for literally a decade who truly do not understand even the first principles of the Christian faith.

As we have been doing UT school for several years, we have learned that it is very important to teach UT students the basic Biblical concepts and repeat them many times. North Koreans often inadvertently blend Christianity into their existing North Korean Juche (Kim Il-Sungist) ideology. So we focus on teaching UT students about creation, sin, redemption, and the character of God, reprising and reviewing the core concepts each week. Dr. Hyun Sook Foley, the UT dean, incorporates a lot of visual materials and life applications to aid students in understanding the basics of the faith clearly and effectively.

Dr. Foley recently taught on the subject of God as our Abba Father. UT students watched a short video about the lost son based on Luke 15:11-32.

UT student CHJ shared that she still has a long way to go in understanding the love of God, which she first sensed in a North Korean labor camp. She was sent to labor camps in North Korea four times before coming to SK.

The third time, she met 19 underground believers in the camp. They ranged in age from 16 to 79 years old. They came from five families (likely an entire church network) that were caught together. CHJ said they clearly had no fear but showed only peace and gentleness. One of them told CHJ, “God is here with us. Why would we be afraid? God protects us.”

Through the encounter, CHJ was greatly encouraged and started to pray to this unknown God who was protecting the underground believers. She is now coming to know this God as her Abba Father. Through the video, she was once again reminded of the love of our Father God toward the believers in prison.

You may not like it, but God knows that the best way to reach people in prison in North Korea isn’t to smuggle a Bible in. It’s to permit a Christian to be sent to jail.

Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today I am reminded of my shortcomings. ¹⁰ Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he imprisoned me and the chief baker in the house of the captain of the guard. Each of us had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. Now a young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, giving each man the interpretation of his dream. And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us (Genesis 41:9-13, NIV).