Some Western and South Korean Christians believe that through religious tourism and humanitarian aid, North Koreans can at least be exposed to Christians in a way that brings about a gradual religious change.
Interestingly, Kim Il Sung believed that to be an effective strategy—an effective strategy for changing Western and South Korean Christians, not Juche.
He wrote, “Some people ask me if I was much influenced by Christianity while I grew up. I was not affected by religion, but I received a great deal of humanitarian assistance from Christians, and in return I had an ideological influence on them.”
So, you see, it’s not Christians that North Korea objects to. The North Korean government remains confident that it can receive humanitarian aid from Western and South Korean Christians and influence them ideologically.
But the unbound, unrestrained historic Christian proclamation—only that has the power to unmask North Korea’s Juche ideology as a fraudulent copy of Christianity, and thus break Juche’s enslaving spell.
And that’s why the Kim family has always worked so hard to eliminate North Korean underground Christians: Because North Korean underground Christians prize the proclamation of the gospel over their own lives.
That is why the near totality of the work of the North Korean underground church is proclaiming the gospel.
Voice of the Martyrs Korea exists to support the ministry of these North Korean Christians in whatever country they are found. All of the projects we do originate from them, not from us. The projects are all evangelism and discipleship projects, because North Korean underground Christians take the proclamation of the gospel as the cross God has uniquely equipped them to carry.