The Righteous Outlaw
More Thirsty Than Hungry
by
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Brother J had been living in China, near the North Korean border, since becoming a defector in the early autumn of 1999, hiding in the mountains as an illegal alien. He was forever blocked from returning to North Korea after he and his friends attacked a munitions factory there. He was a former member of the North Korean political elite. His status was downgraded from a cadre at the Workers Party in Pyongyang to a farmhand in a rural farming community, far away from that capital city of North Korea, guilty of not complying with state’s principal agricultural technique. This story begins in the spring of 1996 when Brother J lived in a farming village and was sent to get fertilizer from the Province Farm Bureau. Brother J tells us in detail how he was tricked into becoming a Christian in North Korea where the Christian faith is strictly forbidden and about his journey to becoming a true Christian in exile. He describes vividly the scenes of famine in North Korea and how many of his dear friends were executed because they were Christians. It is an extraordinary and heartbreaking testimony. Brother J was tragically killed in October 2012 in China near the North Korean border. His story is equally compelling as a witness to life in North Korea at the turn of the millennium and to native Christian evangelism in a primitive and embattled church setting. It is a raw account that exudes authenticity. Brother J was truly a child of God, and he is now with the Lord in heaven. Praise be to God. Amen.
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About the Book
This book tells the compelling story of Brother J, who became a Christian in North Korea, where such faith is forbidden, in the spring of 1996 through God’s Providence. Brother J reminds our readers that God has not forgotten the people of North Korea; His light is shining even in that dark land. North Koreans are coming to Jesus Christ for salvation. Once they become Christians, these underground North Korean brothers and sisters are steadfast and resolute for the Lord. They stand up for the Truth despite persecution and heavy penalties, even death. They work as one to spread the Gospel of salvation in the clandestine society of North Korea.
About the Author
Only a brief background of Brother J is available. Brother J was born in 1962 as the third and youngest child to intelligentsia parents in Pyongyang, North Korea. His father was an army reporter and his mother was a history teacher. His mother’s grandfather fought very closely with Kim Il-Sung, the founder of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), against the Japanese in Manchuria. Therefore, Brother J’s family enjoyed the special, privileged political status of living in the capital, Pyongyang, during Kim Il-Sung’s reign. Only an elite group of DPRK citizens are allowed to live in Pyongyang. Kim Jong-Il succeeded his father, Kim Il-Sung, following his death, and became the Supreme Leader of the DPRK in 1994. Kim Jong-Il immediately formed his own coterie, and Brother J’s family were pushed out of the mainstream. From then on, Brother J’s family began to encounter political persecution and was branded as anti-party. That was one of the reasons why Brother J was eventually expelled to a remote area of RyangKangDo, formerly North HamKyung Province, the most northern part of the DPRK and far away from Pyongyang. Initially, Brother J wanted to major in Korean literature and become a reporter, but the Workers’ Party steered his career to medicine. Medicine was far from his interest and character, and he quit medical school within a year. We know from Chapter 1 in this book that he finished college, but do not know what his major was. As noted in the preface to this book, Brother J was well schooled in DPRK politics, economy, culture, and military affairs while he was trained as a member of the special forces. Right before he was expelled from the Workers’ Party as a cadre to a rural farming community to work as a farmhand after being found guilty of noncompliance with government agricultural policy, Brother J worked on a team at the Local Committee’s Organization Department of the Workers’ Party in Pyongyang. Brother J was tragically killed in October 2012 in China near the North Korean border.