the Christian, who awaits public execution, apparently for his Christian activities.
The Voice Of the Martyrs (VOM), which assists persecuted Christians around the world, said it joined an initiative by United States Senator and presidential candidate Sam Brownback, a noted supporter of human rights for North Korean refugees.
Brownback sent letters, signed also by other Senators, asking US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon "to work to secure the release" of the Christian prisoner.
VOM said it has been calling on people in the United States and around the world to write letters and send emails on Son Jong Nam’s behalf. They are directed to go to VOM web site www.prisoneralert.com where they can compose "a personal letter of support and encouragement" to Son.
NORTH KOREAN DELEGATION
The letter is to be mailed to the North Korean delegation to the United Nations, along with a cover letter asking the North Korean government "to spare Son’s life [and to] release him from prison immediately", said VOM.
Son, in his late 40s, was detained in January, 2006, after he risked his life returning to North Korea to preach the Gospel, VOM and other rights watchers said.
Son Jong Nam initially defected from North Korea to China in 1997 with his wife, son and brother. He attended Church in China and became a Christian, seen as serious crime in North Korea.
While his brother was successful in reaching South Korea in 2002, Son Jong Nam
was reportedly repatriated in April 2001 and imprisoned for three years in the Ham-Gyung-Buk area prison camp in North Korea.
RELEASED ON PAROLE
He was released on parole in May 2004 after the intervention of what Christian rights watchers described as "influential contacts." In May 2004 Son was able to meet his brother in China but returned to North Korea where he was apparently reported by an agent for North Korea’s secret service. He was reportedly detained again by secret police in January last year after leaving his younger sister’s house in Pyongyang and has been awaiting his public execution ever since.
Christians often suffer as North Korea’s Stalinist system is based on total devotion of the individual to an ideology promoted by the late leader Kim Il Sung and his successor and son, Kim Jong Il, according to observers who visited the isolated nation.
The ideology, which preaches self-reliance, is known as Juche, of which the late Kim is the central figure – so much so that the North Korean calendar begins with the year of his birth in 1912. One of the tallest structures in Pyongyang is the Juche Tower, built in Juche 70, or 1982.
Christian rights groups Open Doors has put North Korea on top of its World Watch List of 50 countries with what it calls "severe persecution" of Christians. (With BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos).
Please help us to continue our ministry by taking a volunteer subscription for any amount for a year. You receive the latest news flashes and updates. Want to republish? Special Offer: From just $120/year (or more if you wish to help) you receive all rights to republish all BosNewsLife stories. Please click. bosnewslife.com/index.php?//page.volunteerSubscription&menuId=18 Thanks so much.
