Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
To loose the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the heavy burdens,
To let the oppressed go free,
And that you break every yoke?

Isaiah 58:6 NKJV

It is often the case that the people and places that God has touched the most on earth are the very ones and the very territories that Satan will later request access to from God. For it is certain that the Devil can access nothing without the permission of God (see The Book of Job 1-2). The Devil must ask God because he is not in control and God is infinitely sovereign over all things. What a strange revelation it is that Satan relentlessly prays (preys) to God, yet his requests are only for evil: to poison, pilfer, paralyze, penetrate and persecute the righteous, the innocent, and any and every person or place that has potential to be used of God. Perhaps when we fail to pray, Satan succeeds in his perverted praying. God uses the Devil to remind us of our eternal need for Him.

Pyongyang is one such place. Once called the “Jerusalem of the East,” the capital city of North Korea was in the early 1900’s the epicenter of the Korean revival. Over 2,000 churches once flourished here, yet since 1953 this so-called “people’s democratic republic” is anything but the people’s country and it resembles nothing befitting a democracy or a republic, having been ruled by a tyrannical communist regime headed up by the Kim dynasty, currently presided over by the grandson, Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.

As the world’s most isolated country, North Korea is possessed by Juche ideology, a delusional form of “self-reliance” that has kept the country suffering economically and logistically under widespread food shortages which have caused the deaths of three million North Koreans since 1994. The starving North Koreans have been forced to forage for food in forests and even engage in cannibalism via the black market. In addition, the country is held hostage by a religious cult, Cheondogyo, inextricably tied to the Kim dynasty, whereby the people must worship the present and deceased Kim leaders. No other beliefs or religions are tolerated. They have even spent over a billion dollars (in USD terms) on statues of Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il, and Kim Jong Un while the people starve.

North Korea is a true dictatorship. There are forced-labor camps where they work hundreds of thousands to death because they were suspected to have differing political or religious ideas other than Cheondogyo. To say, “I believe in Jesus Christ” openly is to be either executed or sent to a prison labor camp, no exceptions. They train neighbors to spy on neighbors, parents to spy on children, and children to spy on parents. Anyone who seems to be drifting from the political and religious expectations of the state is to be reported. Failure to report on family and friends is considered a crime and if found guilty of protecting anyone, those discovered will be arrested and sent to the prison camps or reeducation centers. There is no external freedom, only in the mind and heart and spirit of the people.

This why during six out of the past seven years, North Korea has been ranked #1 on Open Doors World Watch List for being the most dangerous place to live as a Christian. North Korea even introduced an anti-reactionary thought law in 2020 in an attempt to monitor even more closely the people’s daily lives and activities. The level of fear-induced paranoia the citizens live under across the country is systemic.

It may be hard to believe that in the world we live in there is a country that is insularly similar to Nazi Germany, but there is. The reason for writing this article is to make anyone who reads this aware, and to ask for you to pray for the North Korean people. God has a purpose for this people that have been in national lockdown for decades. The repression and oppression and intimidation they have endured for so long is not going to be wasted. North Korea is a spiritual powder keg that Satan desperately wants to keep from ever expanding out to the rest of the nations. So, as the Body of Christ, let us lift up this country and our brothers and sisters who are enduring so much for the sake of Christ. And let us petition the God of Heaven to prepare the way this year in 2026 for the dismantling of the North Korean regime, that the people would be set free from horrific oppression and would enter into a time of jubilee and liberty. In God’s perfect timing the chains of this regime will break off and rejoicing that has never been known will come to the people of North Korea. In Jesus’ Mighty & Victorious Name!

Please check out these resources to help you learn and pray for the people of North Korea. Thank you. And remember: God is faithful!

https://www.opendoors.org/en-US/persecution/countries/north-korea/

https://pray4nk.org/en

https://prayercast.com/prayer-topic/north-korea/

https://www.persecution.com/globalprayerguide/north-korea/

https://www.wisdomonline.org/prayer/north-korea/