World events are creating very creative opportunities to reach the North Korean people. Wars and shifting political alliances are creating substantial opportunities for passport holders from outside the current mainstream mission force. KRIN is working fast to capitalize on those opportunities. The good news is that there are now 6 missionaries from Central and South America in the pipeline, who are going to places workers from N America and western European countries just cannot get to. There are many challenges to overcome for this to happen, but God is opening up doors and scenarios, as well as people who are passionate to go! One woman, named “A”, sensed the call to go to a NK border area several years back but didn’t know how or where. When she heard someone share about the need and opportunities at a conference focused on mission work among NK migrants, she quickly responded!

Pray for “A” as she moves early next year to a border nation to reach NK people living there! KRIN has been able to facilitate some connections there. Ask that those connections are solid and “A” is smoothly granted the visa she is applying for.

Pray for 6 other missionaries from these diverse countries who are preparing to go to work among NK migrants! Ask the Lord for provision for their needed support and training, etc. Praise God for connections we have in the region to receive them and assist them in their transitions!

Pray for the hearts of NKs in these places to be prepared to respond to these new mission workers in friendship and ensuing discipleship. Ask the Lord that the discipleship tools and processes can retain their simplicity so that they can be more easily reproduced by new disciples.

Ask the Lord of the Harvest to mobilize more prayer for NK. Join us in praying that KRIN can help to create programs to send and receive missionaries in some very sensitive areas through creative access. We continue to be amazed at the people God is raising up as we are faithful to keep moving forward!

For most defectors who arrive in South Korea after an arduous escape from the North, the initial joy is like a dream. But their joy at arriving in the prosperous South soon gives way to a difficult adjustment period. Every day brings new challenges, and most defectors know no one outside of any family members they may have arrived alongside. There are many cultural differences and they have to start life all over again in a high-tech, democratic society, which can be quite overwhelming. The South Korean government does provide a three-month resettlement school where they learn various things about South Korean society: how to use an ATM machine, modern transport infrastructure and get a job. Despite the effort of community centers to provide extended resources for resettled refugees, the supplies and programs often do not meet their social needs for the long-haul.

Who looks out for them? Many defectors have suffered extreme trauma but are unlikely to seek help or know where to find it. While some local churches work in tandem with government programs to get acquainted with their new neighbors, there is still a gaping need for more engagement by those who can be the hands and feet, especially the listening hearts, of Christ’s love to these North Koreans.

Join in Prayer For:

A move of the Holy Spirit to stir up mercy toward ‘aliens’ in the hearts of Christians throughout South Korea.

Increasing numbers of South Korean disciples of Jesus to have their hearts deeply touched with compassion for North Korean defectors in their communities.

More churches and individual Christians to take action to get involved in community-based programs that support the defectors in their neighborhood.

Those who are Christ followers to see the defectors as their brothers and sisters, seeking them out with friendship and welcome.

Zechariah 7:8-10 Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Execute true justice, show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother.’

Pray for Connections between People in NK with the Rest of the World.

Having successfully escaped to the outside world, P is now a committed Christian brother seeking to disciple his circle of family, friends and former colleagues back in North Korea. P utilizes various opportunities to exchange information with them, including contact through mobile phones. For the most part, domestic mobile devices and systems in NK are restricted from receiving communication from the outside world, and one way that NKs get around this is by using mobile phones from nearby nations in certain geographic areas. This month, there has been another crack-down on such activity, as the government there punished about 30 of its citizens for contacting the outside world. Pray for open lines of communication with people inside NK!

Pray for the reopening of North Korea:  In August, NK announced the reopening of its door to international tourism for the first time since 2020 during the outbreak of COVID-19. May this reopening play a positive role in keeping lines of communication open for people within NK.

Pray for true discernment and favor: The state security ministry has tried people using mobile phones from other places for “anti-state” behavior. Ask the Lord for officials to have supernatural godly discernment to distinguish between political subversion and authentic Christian discipleship, and grant favor accordingly.

Pray for protected connections: As the regime continues its crackdown on illegal cross-border activities, ask the Lord to mercifully protect all possible connections for the sake of sharing God’s Word and discipling those who will disciple others.

Pray for mercy on the accused: While eradicating illegal behavior is a good thing for society, many reports circulate about people falsely accused and sentenced to labor or prison camps along with their family members. In such camps, they are subject to torture and even execution. Pray for God’s mercy on those individuals; may those who are already Christians be strengthened by the Spirit of God to have hope and continue sharing the Gospel with fellow prisoners.

Pray for discipleship generations: As long as such harsh crackdowns are in force, ask the Lord to anoint those who already have God’s Word and/or are already trained in some discipleship principles to courageously and effectively pass on what they have received to new generations of disciples. Although NK officials warn that people contacting information abroad will be eliminated from NK society for generations to come, God promises in Psalm 22 that “dominion belongs to the Lord and He rules over the nations. … future generations will be told about the Lord, they will proclaim His righteousness,  declaring to a people yet unborn: ‘He has done it!’”