One item upon which this book of recent interviews sheds light is the punishment for North Koreans who are found "in church." It is now alleged that "simple attendance at a Korean Christian church in China [after having escaped North Korea] may not be considered a ‘political' crime." Some refugees claim that "they found leniency when insisting that their affiliation with South Korean groups or churches was temporary and needs-based."

One interviewee, a former guard, expressed it this way: "If a repatriated refugee insists that they went to church because they were hungry... we let them pass and tell them not to tell anyone that they went to church."

Nevertheless the fact remains that those who had other reasons for staying in church faced inhumane torture. Here are three more eyewitness accounts:

"There are no preliminary hearings when religious people get caught. We regard them as anti-revolutionary elements... the NSA officers surround the person and kick and beat the person severely before interrogating. When... interrogated, they are first asked whether they had gone to a church in China. North Korea is very concerned about religion. However, no question is asked on Buddhism. Most of those repatriated... pretend to know nothing of religion... However, if they get caught during the interrogation, they are turned over to the NSA..."

"We usually just ask them general questions like ‘Did any South Koreans give you money?' and ‘Is God good?' to test them... Interrogations are more difficult now since too many refugees have been to church in China. If a repatriated refugee insists that they went to church because they were hungry... we let them pass."

"If [the repatriated] confess that they have met missionaries or deacons... then without any further questions, they will be sent to the NSA and they are as good as dead...In order to find out the truth we interrogate seven-eight times...If we don't find out what we want during interrogations we let people go hungry for about three months, then they inform on each other naturally. In prison, we give two big spoonfuls of bean-mixed rice and it is comprised of 20 percent beans, 70 percent corn, and 10 percent rice. If they behave well, then we give a full cup of soup and they can at least fill their stomach with water. We don't give enough water. Also because the place is cramped, the prisoners are seated in two rows and are not even allowed to raise their heads."

I think of those people in the life of Jesus, like the man born blind, who while poor and needy offered no challenge to the reigning powers and were left alone. But given their healing at the hands of the One who scared them so, the government trembled, and sought to humiliate not only the Healer but the healed.

So it is in North Korea. Be born and raised in Kim's regime as a pauper with a disease, and you will be left alone. Go for food, get healed, have your life turned around, and you face death in several new ways.