World Watch update: North Korea

2011 World Watch List Ranking:         1
Leader:                                                 Kim Jong-Il
Population:                                          22.7 million
Majority religion:                                All religions harshly suppressed
Type of government:                          Communist dictatorship
North Korea is a country in complete crisis, and where persecution of Christians is the most severe in the world. Famine holds vast swathes of the nation in its grip, and untold thousands live in poverty and misery. The populace are kept ignorant of the outside world and forciblay indoctrinated into “Juche”—a bizarre ideology focusing on the self-sufficiency of man, which teaches that the trinity consists of the father (deceased leader Kim Il-Sung), son (current leader Kim Jong-Il) and the “Juche spirit” of self-reliance. Christians in North Korea are forced to keep their faith secret—those who are discovered face torture, labor camp and even death.
Please pray:

• For strength and courage for the estimated 50,000 believers currently languishing in North Korea’s prison camps.
• For safe printing and distribution of Bibles to Christians in North Korea.
• For outreach work amongst North Korean defectors who’ve escaped to China’s border areas, that many will respond to the hope and truth of the gospel.