July 7th, 2020
“Why can’t you just stop launching for a while?”: A word to Christians around the world about our situation in South Korea
“Why can’t you just stop launching for a while?”

This is the question we at Voice of the Martyrs Korea are always asked about our work of sending Bibles into North Korea by high-altitude helium balloons. It is work that began 18 years ago in response to a promise Dr. Foley and I made to underground North Korean Christians. It is work that has continued every night over the past 15 years when the weather has permitted us to successfully launch (typically 10 -15 times each summer), as according to our computer modeling software and GPS tracking devices. It is work that has continued even during the moments of greatest conflict between north and south: when Kim Jong-Il died, when the Cheonan submarine was sunk, and when Yeonpyeong Island was shelled. By the grace of God, it is work that has enabled us to place more than 600,000 Bibles inside North Korea, raising the percentage of North Koreans who have seen the Bible with their own eyes from 0% when we started to nearly 8% today.

However, from the day we started, it has always been unpopular work.

In 2018, people said to us, “Peace is upon us now. Why can’t you just stop launching for a while?”

Now in 2020, people say to us, “War is upon us now. Why can’t you just stop launching for a while?”

The answer is this:


In 2014, Deacon Jang was kidnapped from China and sentenced to 15 years in prison for his work helping North Koreans who came across the border to China.

Write the NK Ambassador to the United States to ask for his release.


Chinese police ruined 12 homes of church members in a surprise raid of the Xingguang Church in Fujian Province.

Learn more about what happened and watch videos of the actual raid by clicking below.

Global Links
NK Links
Pray for the current situation related to balloon launching and NK ministry:   Gyeonggi province in South Korea has now declared any activity related to balloon launching to be a crime. We currently have police stationed at our building watching everything we are doing. There is also a government investigation being conducted against all four balloon launchers, including VOMK, alleging fraud, embezzlement, misallocation of donations, and even national security endangerment. These are of course ridiculous charges, but in some ways we are now as unpopular with the South Korean government as we are with the North Korean government! Please pray that the Lord would be glorified in everything related to our balloon work and that we will respond to all things with the love and grace of Christ. 
 

Pray for Underground University (UU) mission trips: Please pray for God to lead VOMK staff and North Korean UU students on where to go and who to meet for our mission trips this year. Due to the Coronavirus travel restrictions, we are considering options that we normally would not have thought of and are being led by God to meet and disciple new people.