North Korea Defector Shares Escape and Secret Christmas Celebrations Amid Christian Persecution
Il-yong Ju escaped North Korea in October 2009 along with his mother and one sister, fleeing via China to South Korea. Despite Christmas being banned in rural North Korea, Ju's family secretly decorated a pine tree, known locally as yolka, during December 25, a practice noted by neighbors. The family also listened to illegal South Korean Christian broadcasts on FEBC radio, risking severe punishment including political prison camps or execution. To avoid detection, they hid the radio and kept the volume low.
Ju's father was motivated to escape due to these broadcasts, and subsequently Ju and his immediate family also fled. On a cross-country bus journey through China, Ju prayed and accepted Jesus as his savior before finally arriving in South Korea, where he was able to worship openly.
The persecution of Christians in North Korea is severe: Ju's aunt and her family were sent to a political prison camp for their faith, while members of underground churches faced arrest and possible disappearance. Open Doors’ 2025 report ranks North Korea as the country with the most extreme persecution of Christians, a position it has held since 2002 except for one year in 2022.
In 2019, Ju met then US President Donald Trump at the White House to testify about Christian persecution in North Korea and express the desire for religious freedom among North Koreans.
