Foxe: Voices of the MartyrsНамуна

Pastor Han Chung-Ryeol (April 30, 2016) 

He was warned that his life was in danger. Chinese police and South Korean intelligence officers had told Pastor Han Chung-Ryeol of Changbai, China, that he was at the top of a North Korean “hit list.” 

Han and his wife moved to Changba in 1993 to lead a small church of ethnic Koreans, who compose about 25 percent of the population in that part of China. Han himself was a Chinese citizen of Korean ancestry.

One thing he and his wife hadn’t expected was that their ministry would expand to include North Koreans. When they arrived, they found the border controls between China and North Korea relaxed, with many Chinese and North Koreans crossing back and forth regularly to visit friends or family. Having suffered crippling economic woes and food shortages during the 1990s, North Korea had left its citizens with little choice but to cross the border into China in search of food, medical help, and a better life. Word spread among those seeking help that churches were one of the best places to go. Soon, Han and his wife were helping a growing number of North Koreans, and as a result, many were also placing their faith in Christ.

Han faithfully taught these new believers, many of whom returned to North Korea to share the Gospel with their families and neighbors. Though the pastor and his wife knew they were doing dangerous work, they felt strongly that the best way to get the Gospel into North Korea was through North Koreans evangelizing their own people.

When Han received a phone call one day and left abruptly, his wife did not think of it as especially out of the ordinary. She grew concerned, however, when he didn’t come home that evening. And when he didn’t answer his phone, she called the police. 

By 7 p.m. that night, Han’s body had been found in his car in a remote area near the North Korean border. He had been stabbed in the heart, and his neck was slashed—a common calling card of North Korean government assassins. Additional wounds to his head indicated the degree of his attackers’ anger.

The seeds that Han planted continue to bear eternal fruit. Many North Koreans who met him share God’s love with their friends and family inside North Korea, bringing the light of the Gospel into one of the most restricted countries for Christians.