North Korea Defector Reflects on Christmas Amidst Extreme Christian Persecution
Il-yong Ju, a North Korean defector, escaped with his mother and sister in October 2009; his father had fled earlier to South Korea. In rural North Korea, December 25 was treated as an ordinary day. Ju's family decorated a pine tree with cotton balls, which their neighbors called a "yolka," associating it with New Year traditions rather than Christmas.
The family secretly listened to illegal South Korean Christian radio broadcasts from FEBC early in the morning. Possession or listening to such broadcasts was dangerous, potentially leading to political prison camps or execution, so they hid their radios and covered windows to avoid detection. These broadcasts inspired the family's faith and influenced Ju’s father to escape. Ju and his family fled across the North Korea–China border, traveled through China, and eventually reached South Korea, where Ju prayed and accepted Jesus.
In 2019, Ju testified at the White House to then-president Donald Trump about the ongoing Christian persecution in North Korea, emphasizing that people continue to worship despite severe oppression. Currently living in Seoul, Ju attends church on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and has experienced Christmas in Britain, noting decorations such as Christmas trees and neon signs.
Open Doors has named North Korea the country with the most extreme Christian persecution in 2025, a position it has held continuously since 2002 except for 2022. Ju argues that the North Korean Juche ideology mirrors the Bible but also fuels fear of religious faith.
Notably, December 24 is a public holiday in North Korea to celebrate Kim Jong-suk’s birthday, underscoring the regime’s control over religious life and the environment Ju fled from.
