Christian Missionaries in North Korea

For several years I have read about South Korean churches sending missionaries across the border into North Korea. They quietly talk about Jesus and hand out illegal Bibles. Their work is extremely dangerous, so none of the South Korean churches publicize it. The excerpt below is from this month's issue of Foreign Policy Magazine. It is the first time I have read about Christian mission in North Korea outside of Christian magazines. If you wish to read the full article, here is the link.

FP: Did you encounter any other investors in the "special economic zone"?


PC: Matter of fact, we bumped into some Americans. They actually were missionaries, based just across the border in China. They can't preach in North Korea, of course, but they've come as "investors" to build and run an orphanage, a bread factory, and a soy-milk factory. These "businesses" don't make money; they're just there to help people. To this day, one of most popular themes in North Korean propaganda involves evil Christian missionaries who inject Korean children with deadly germs, before the revolution. They even put the story in comic books for kids. Officially, they're inhuman monsters. Unofficially, the government invites them in because they're the only people willing to extend a lifeline.