N. Korean Believer's Tale of Persecution Survival

Millions of Christians around the world will unite this weekend to mark the International Day of Prayer for the persecuted church.

The annual event is a time for standing with those who suffer for following Christ.

Attacks against Christians in countries like Nigeria, Pakistan, and Egypt are increasing, yet the worst place to be a Christian is in North Korea's Hermit Kingdom.
    
Christians are under intense pressure in Muslim countries, but North Korea tops the Open Doors list each year as the world's worst persecutor of Christians.

Foley talked more about Bae's story and the plight of North Korea's Christians, on CBN's Newswatch, Nov. 8.  Stay with CBNNews for that interview after 5pm ET.

Nearly one year after the death of Kim Jong Il, little has changed. His son and successor, Kim Jong Un, is continuing efforts to rid the nation of Christianity.

Christians are arrested, imprisoned, and even executed simply for believing in a faith other than the state religion known as Juche, or self-reliance.

CBN News protected one North Korean Christian by hiding his face and calling him by a different name: "Mr. Bae."

Bae was imprisoned for evangelizing a friend.

"There were interrogations, tortures," he told CBN News. "But the most difficult thing was sit still on the floor without moving my neck, arms, legs for more than a year."

Bae said his faith grew deeper as time passed.

"I felt as if God was with me. I would not die," he recalled. "I came to have faith and at the end I was released without any charges, so that I knew that it is not the work of man, but it is the work of God that I am alive."

Bae told his story to Rev. Eric Foley, CEO of the Colorado-based ministry Seoul USA. His family experience of Christian suffering is detailed in the new book, These Are the Generations.