Life in the shadows
Investigating the risks and persecution faced by Christians in North Korea and China
“I escaped from North Korea twice. I was imprisoned four times. Now, I’m living a free life in the United Kingdom.”
When it comes to comparing the feelings of freedom to totalitarian control, few people will understand it more than one man. Timothy Cho. From the outside, he seems a fairly ordinary individual. As he talks to me from his flat in Manchester, the 34-year-old speaks with confidence and bravery, yet just over a decade ago his life was incredibly different.
Timothy - not his real name due to security reasons - was born in North Korea to a successful family. His parents were high school teachers, educating children all about the infamous Kim family and North Korean lifestyle. In his own words, he was delivered into a “good family, a decent family background”.
But, at nine years old, Timothy’s life changed forever when his own mum and dad - the parents he loved so much - abandoned him in their own search for safety.
“I came back from school and our home was empty,” he explains in our conversation on Zoom. “There was an eerie silence. On the dinner table lay a small note saying that they had left. I ran to the train station hoping to join them, but I was too late.
“It left me heartbroken. I could not ask for any help as it would put my parents and wider family at risk so I became homeless and slept wherever I could. If there was shelter then I would desperately take it."
It was at that moment that Timothy knew he would try to join his parents. He had no idea where they were. He had no idea how he could make contact with them again. He had no idea whether they were even still alive. But he knew now that he wanted to escape.
“The first time I escaped I was arrested in China at the Mongolian border and sent back to North Korea. There are three routes out of North Korea: across the two million landmines to South Korea, across the mountain region into Russia, or into China.
An information board on the border of China looking across the Yalu River toward North Korea. Credit: J Pics / Flickr
An information board on the border of China looking across the Yalu River toward North Korea. Credit: J Pics / Flickr
“When North Koreans escape to China, they are often arrested very easily and they also have a price tag on their head. Chinese people can be given money for reporting known North Korean escapees.
“I was arrested and sent back to North Korea. Only 35,000 North Korean defectors have officially managed to escape to free countries, but many, many, many more will have been sent back and ended up in prison camps - especially those who had contact with Christian missionaries in China.”
TW: The remainder of this article references methods of physical and emotional torture, including sexual abuse.
Timothy was fortunate that one of the only physical impediments that he struggled with once released from a detention centre was an inability to walk properly. Unfortunately, there are many cases of prisoners suffering barbaric forms of torture including rape, starvation and forced abortion.
Timothy says: “I still suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. The images of screaming and anguish continue to haunt me. I was not sent to a concentration or prison camp, but I was sent to an investigation centre.
“North Korea has the most creative torture systems in the world. So many acts of inhumanity would happen before my eyes, but I am grateful to God that I somehow managed to get free.”
A UN report published in 2014 claims 200,000 people, including children, may have been subject to “enforced disappearance” having been sent to North Korea from other countries. Worse, they estimate that hundreds of thousands of political prisoners “have perished in these camps over the past five decades”.
"The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea systematically employ violence and punishments that amount to gross human rights violations in order to create a climate of fear..."
Meanwhile, a report in 2020 by the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief claims that of the 80-120,000 prisoners deemed “enemies of the state”, around 50,000 are understood to be Christians.
Korea Future, a non-profit, non-governmental organisation investigating human rights violations in North Korea, holds a database of independently verified cases of persecution.
More than 100 of these individuals have been imprisoned for the offence of “possession of religious items”.
One man in his 30's was arrested in China for studying the bible. He underwent intense interrogation and torture in the Changchun Chubei penal facility. He was made to sit on a wooden chair with a backrest made from corrugated iron and a crossbar across his face.
Across three days of torture, he was deprived of sleep and his spine deformed. Eventually, he died in custody.
A re-enactment of prison conditions in North Korea (Credit: Open Doors)
A re-enactment of prison conditions in North Korea (Credit: Open Doors)
Another victim - a woman in her 50's - was also detained for having been involved in Christian activities in China. Having been deported to Kyongsong, North Korea, she was physically assaulted by being struck with a squared wooden club until it splintered into two pieces.
During her 12 month imprisonment, the victim was assaulted every two days. Despite this, however, she continued to show tremendous courage by engaging in private prayer during her interrogation.
Unfortunately, at the time of publication, the North Korean government is yet to reply to our letter offering the right to reply on these issues.
Timothy went on to escape North Korea a second time, but in 2014 he was arrested by Chinese police and imprisoned for the fourth time in his life. Whilst in the “dark place” of expecting deportation from China and an inevitable public execution, he was met by a figure who completely changed his life.
“While I was in prison I had a few cellmates who were from America, Japan, Colombia, China, Malaysia, and South Korea. I was the youngest,” he says.
“The South Korean man was a mafia gangster. We speak the same language in North and South Korea so he was the only person I could speak to. When you looked at him, he was such a scary person, but this terrifying guy was just sitting reading the bible.
“He asked me at the time whether I wanted to join him in reading it and even pray with him. I had never read it in my life and prayer was far from the usual for me - it felt so unnatural.
“There I am waiting for my return to North Korea, awaiting execution, and I ended up asking him how to pray. My first one was so simple. I just said ‘I don’t want to die. Amen. I don’t want to go back to North Korea. Amen.’. I was desperate for survival.
“Prayer was a form of hope and strength for me. Chinese police were telling me that I was going to be sent back to North Korea. I had some doubts still, but in my desperation, I asked God to prove his existence by rescuing me and, if he saved me, then I would devote my life to him.”
After around two months of desperate prayer, Timothy and his cellmates were released by the Chinese authorities with no knowledge that - whilst imprisoned - there had been a huge international campaign led by the USA for them to be set free.
Now, 18 years on from his arrest in China, Timothy is living a happy life in the United Kingdom.
Timothy Cho (front) is involved in local politics and represents the UK at international events on freedom of religion and North Korea (Credit: Timothy Cho)
Timothy Cho (front) is involved in local politics and represents the UK at international events on freedom of religion and North Korea (Credit: Timothy Cho)
Whilst there are many people fleeing countries such as China and North Korea each year due to the persecution of Christians, there are plenty of missionaries crossing borders into such countries with the intention of evangelising and sharing their beliefs with others.
Mark Hatfield, 60, is just one example of many Christians who have risked their lives in order to evangelise to those in South Asia.
An American pastor now living in South Carolina, Mark has worked and lived all over the world including Russia, India, Kenya, Zambia and - until a few years ago - China.
He moved to China in order to help a Church in the country’s capital, Beijing. The fairly lengthy distance between the North Korean border and where he was living means he does not know for sure whether he came across refugees, but he does remember meeting plenty of people in “dire straits” whilst doing his work.
“There were a lot of people who could you look at and - based on their appearances - you could make an assumption that they had faced a troubled past," he explains.
“Towards the end of our time in China, we were able to determine where people were from based on how they looked; whether they were Chinese, South Korean, Mongolian or North Korean.
“During my six years, we had some unusual people coming through the Church. They might know enough to speak to us at Church or on the subway, but not enough for us to find out their full background.
“The numbers of people who cross that border are staggering, so we don’t know for sure that we met North Koreans but we certainly met people in dire straits.”
Each year hundreds of North Korean people flee as refugees, with many heading to China either to set up a new home, or as part of their journey to freedom.
A small percentage of those fleeing North Korea into China will be leaving due to threats made against them due to their faith, but there are equally fierce limitations imposed on those living under the Five-star Red Flag.
Chinese citizens and non-Chinese passport-holding citizens would be segregated with many people turning towards ‘underground’ churches in order to try and minimise scrutiny from the authorities.
“The Chinese believers and pastors are all very careful about what they do due to their fear,” Mark tells me from his home in southeast America.
“I have preached to an underground church, these are churches that are unregistered by the Chinese government. I was always careful about that and if I was there now I would be even more so.
“The leader of the Church I visited was in Beijing and was run by a member of the Chinese opposition group and a graduate of the Peking University. He and we were all very cautious about that.”
"I was always careful about preaching to underground churches and if I was there now I would be even more so."
He adds: “The Chinese pastors and churches knew they were under scrutiny. That’s why they will have a 1,000 member Church that meets in groups of 20 or so. I met with and gave hospitality to Chinese non-believers. I gave them bibles and things, but that was a breach of their rules. You know the scrutiny is there, but you live with it.
“The last two years my wife and I spent in China knowing we could receive a knock on the door and be told we had to leave the country. We accepted that.”
Derek Joseph works for Pioneers International and helps train missionaries across the world but speaks to me in a personal capacity as he reiterates some of Mark’s points.
He says: “When we started sharing the Gospel in China, it did not seem like there were any risks. The police might ask you a few questions, but it would not necessarily be a big deal.
“That was until the last few years though when they would start arresting and detaining people, seizing the property of foreign missionaries too and kicking them out of the country.”
Derek and his wife Tracey when they lived in China (credit: Derek Joseph)
Derek and his wife Tracey when they lived in China (credit: Derek Joseph)
Derek visited China along with missionaries from a number of other countries - including from the UK, Canada and across Europe - but admits he would be more fearful about sharing his faith in China in the present day.
He says: “Up until five years ago, depending on the locality, the central government did not do anything to the unregistered churches.
"However, about five years ago there was a massive law that was passed that was designed to bring unregistered churches into line with the Communist Party’s values.
“Before that, the registered churches had a lot of freedom too. Now, the state is basically regulating what gets taught and said.”
The coronavirus pandemic has seen Governments all over the world take stringent action to control the spread of the virus but, whilst most countries are retreating from the draconian measures, China and North Korea have used this as an opportunity to clamp down on human rights.
There is often very little independent Governments can do to resolve human rights issues aside from applying external pressure through sanctions.
Whilst it is reassuring that - as Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, a representative from the Foreign Office, says - the UK Government is “deeply concerned by the appalling human rights situation in North Korea, including within prison camps”, some missionaries are calling for much more to be done.
Derek says: "We have learned from the past about how short-term change does not always achieve what we go out wanting. In countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, we have seen how expecting a very quick change in mindset very rarely works.
"Colonisation may appear to be a dirty word in our current culture, but it is possible that it could be the best possible option in order to change world view and fundamental structures in countries such as China and North Korea."
Mark adds: “Fundamental to the Chinese mindset and way of doing things is that they are very happy to send their goods to the world, but they are quite self-protective.
“My experience from working with Chinese students here in the US is that they will ask fewer questions; it’s not a function of the language difference, but a functional mindset difference.
“It requires a mindset change. To be able to ask why; to think and press deeper into life’s big questions.
“I think China are more protective of themselves and their people don't want to question things.
"That doesn’t decrease my love for Chinese people, but the citizens are a product and mirror of the communist regime and so I pray that the Gospel will be brought effectively to them.”
If you have been impacted by any of the accounts within this article, speak out and you can receive help. Contact Samaritans by calling 116 123 or click here.
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