P'YONGYANG

North Korea is a country in East Asia that occupies the northern portion of the Korean peninsula. The national capital, P'yongyang, is a major industrial and transport center near the west coast. North Korea faces South Korea across a demilitarized zone 2.5 miles wide established by the 1953 armistice that ended fighting in the Korean War. The Korean peninsula is one of the most ethnically homogeneous regions globally. The North Korean population, which has been isolated mainly since 1945, is almost entirely Korean.

North Korea has a command economy in which the state controls all means of production, and the government sets priorities for economic development. Outside specialists have concluded that the country has consistently failed to meet its stated goals. North Korea's economic and social values have always been linked to the government's policy of self-reliance. The country has long shunned foreign investment and trade. Absolute control by the central government has made North Korea one of the most harshly regimented societies in the world. Enduring food shortages and tyrannical monitoring of its people have enslaved North Koreans to their Supreme Leader, Kim Jung-Un. Kim's regime is particularly oppressive towards the Church.

When Jesus followers are caught, they are at immediate risk of imprisonment, severe torture, and death. An estimated 50,000 to 70,000 Christians are imprisoned in North Korea's notorious system of prisons and labor camps. A family will often share the same fate as the person captured, to make matters worse. In March, a secret gathering of dozens of Jesus followers was interrupted by state police. All believers were immediately executed, and over 100 family members were sent to labor camps. Despite tremendous challenges that lay before the underground church, Jesus has declared the harvest in North Korea is ripe, and the invitation stands for the global Body to war in prayer on behalf of the nation's Jesus followers.