Un Hyuk was arrested for crossing into China from North Korea, out of curiosity. All his life he had belonged to a family loyal to the Communist Party. He had received a government scholarship to a physical education school at the age of 12. But one day he was ice skating and China “called”. They caught him just over the border and, of course, sent him back. Now, “returned” to North Korea is not the same as “returned” to Mexico. He was held in solitary confinement underground for 20 months! He then sent himself for a second dose of punishment, 18 months, elsewhere.

While in the first location, the guards kept him constantly awake and forced him to sit still for days. [All for ice skating into China]. Down the hall was a man who had spilled ink on a picture of the North Korean leader. Another that he had not dusted off a photograph of the “Great Leader” properly.

At the second site, it was time to do the manual labor. His first job was to break the ice, jump into the water and wade waist deep for rocks and lay boards to re-channel the water. Many died on this very job from exposure or lost body parts to frostbite. Second job: going to the top of the mountain, cutting down huge, heavy hardwood trees, and lowering them down by hand. Many died in this project too.

Fortunately, he was able to escape, tell his story, and be a part of the gradual unfolding of the evil that is North Korea. Too bad for most of us, the book she published in Seoul (Yodok List) was written in Korean.

Now, my brother-sister in the Lord. If spilling ink, not dusting off photographs and ice skating in China brings periods of misery like this, can we imagine the pain of a believer in Jesus who will not renounce his faith in our Lord Jesus? What can we do today for a North Korean prisoner? As always, we are called to pray, to give, to go and, of course, to be prepared to carry the cross of Christ ourselves.

Some of the information for this article was obtained from the online works of David Hawk.