*Sister Ki, a North Korean defector, who, now lives in South Korea, spoke to Open Doors UK about discovering she was from a family of secret Christians, being trafficked in China, and returning to North Korea, only to be arrested and imprisoned. She was eventually able to escape.
Sister Ki says: “My life story testifies of the power of prayer.”
Discovering her family’s secret
When she was a child in North Korea, her father came home one day, completely distraught, crying so loudly she feared the neighbors would tell the police. She thought someone must have died.
Ki’s intuition was correct. Her father’s younger brother had been executed for his faith in Christ.
She was let in on the family secret: most of her relatives were Christians. But Ki knew that “threats” against the government were not tolerated, and she did not want to have anything to do with the Christian faith.
“I wanted life to go back to normal so I focused on school,” she told Open Doors. “I wanted to leave North Korea. The North Korean state actually gave me the opportunity to go to China in a sponsored student program, but I refused.
“Going abroad under the umbrella of the state meant they would monitor and control me severely. No, if I wanted to leave, I had to go by myself without telling anyone.”
Escape to China
Sometime after leaving school, she went to the Chinese border, swam the river that divided the countries, and left her home country behind. She then trekked inland until she came to a village.
“I was caught by human traffickers, and sold to a Chinese farmer,” she recounted. “He wasn’t as bad as most Chinese men, who buy North Korean women. I had a child with him. But still… I thought I could never feel at home in this family.”
Her mother-in-law also lived with Ki and her Chinese husband, and Ki began to notice “suspicious” behaviors” by the woman. Some days she [the mother-in-law] left without telling where she was going.
“One night, I decided to follow her,” she told Open Doors. “It was a long way before she reached the place where some kind of meeting was going on. I called her. Of course, she was very surprised to see me. But I was still invited to participate. I quickly discovered it was a Christian meeting, which made me uncomfortable because, in my country, I had always been against Christianity. My curiosity beat my fear and I decided to stay. I actually wanted to learn more about God.”
Ki continued to go to the meetings with her mother-in-law, and grew in faith and knowledge of God. After some time, Ki wanted to let her family back in North Korea know that she had become a Christian.
However, her Chinese family, probably less naïve than she was, did not want her to make this dangerous journey, but in the end they let her go.
Back to North Korea
The border crossing back into North Korea went “horribly wrong.” Ki was almost immediately arrested by a military patrol and sent to prison.
“When I saw how the other prisoners and I were treated, as if we weren’t humans, I gave up life. I trembled often in prison and thought I would never see my earthly family again,” she said.
After some time, she began to notice something different. “Something was stirred in my heart that was impossible to resist, like an invisible power,” she said. “I felt it every time I wanted to give up hope. That power was God himself. He was with me and didn’t want me to give up.”
Ki remembered Bible verses she had memorized, especially verses 6 and 7 from Psalm 62: “Truly He is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty rock, my refuge.”
“Then, I begged God for mercy. All I wanted was a chance to be reunited with my family and to worship God together with them.”
After a few months in the camp, the prison guards found out her family background, and — as is the custom in North Korea — she was transferred to a camp closer to her hometown. This camp, it said, had less surveillance.
“I took this as a sign from God to try to escape,” she recounted. “I knew He would protect me. One night, the guards were drunk and they hadn’t locked the door of the barracks. I snuck out and ran through the gate. My heart was pounding so fast! I didn’t stop running until I came to a sign that pointed me the way to my hometown.”
Worshiping God together for the first time
After her escape, Ki was finally reunited with her North Korean family. “It was the most joyous experience ever,” she said. “We were so happy to see each other, and for the first time, we worshipped God together as a family. Later, I also attended small gatherings of other Christian families
“Slowly, I came to the realization that God had guided me every step of the way. He had a purpose for every experience, no matter how painful it was. It all happened to prepare me to share the gospel to the lost people in North Korea and China. First and foremost, to the next generation.”
“That’s why I decided I needed to go back to my Chinese family. My husband and my son had to hear the gospel too. It was a dangerous trip. I could get arrested again and be severely punished. But nothing could extinguish my passion for Christ.”
Escaping to China — again
It said that she arrived safely back in China, thanks to various people who helped her.
“They were truly the hands of God to protect and guide my journey. I wish more people could have the blessing that I received through them,” she said.
Now in her mid-forties, her husband and son, who became believers, are now in South Korea with her, and is she said that they are happier than ever before and serve God by supporting a North Korean mission.
“I will never forget my childhood,” she stated. “There are so many Christian parents in North Korea who cannot share their faith with their children. It breaks my heart. I was once a victim of this too.
“But thanks to praying people I found God in the end. And thanks to the prayers of my mother-in-law, I survived prison too. My life story testifies of the power of prayer.
“I hope this can be a call to all brothers and sisters in Christ to join in prayer, so that God will bring grace and justice to my country.” — ASSIST News
If you want to know more about a personal relationship with God, go here
Open Doors UK states that North Korea is number one on the Open Doors 2018 World Watch List, making it the most dangerous place in the world to be a Christian. Despite this, Open Doors estimates that there are between 200,000 and 400,000 Christians in North Korea, worshiping secretly, or imprisoned in labour camps. Every year Open Doors publishes the World Watch List – a ranking of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
Open Doors workers risk their lives to smuggle Bibles and other vital aid, such as food and medicine, into North Korea, to support persecuted Christians. Open Doors also runs safe houses for North Korean defectors in China, and broadcasts Christian radio programs into North Korea. Open Doors has launched an appeal to support this work.
*Name changed for security reasons.
Sheraz Khan, East Asia Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service, is a Pakistani-British journalist. He lives in Scotland and can be contacted by e-mail: [email protected]
I occasionally pray for the desperate state of the people of North Korea – deprived of the water of life and the living bread and natural water and food too. The terrible camps where even children are detained and starved and put into forced labor.
This testimony is one of the grace of God! How wonderful to read of it!
Comments are closed.