Korea North

By BosNewsLife Asia Service SEOUL/PYONGYANG (BosNewsLife)-- An American, who has been linked to a Protestant group spreading Christianity, was expected to spend New Year behind bars in North Korea on charges of "hostile acts against the republic".

By BosNewsLife Asia Service SEOUL, KOREA (BosNewsLife)-- A five-day visit by Pope Francis to South Korea has highlighted the plight of persecuted Christians in the region, including two detained Americans and a South Korean, who have been held in neighboring North Korea for their Christian activities, activists said.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- Amid international pressure, North Korea released an American missionary Saturday, February 6, and sent him to China after holding the young man for more than a month, officials confirmed.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- A frail elderly Korean-American aid worker is awaiting trial in China on what supporters believe are trumped up charges linked to his Christian activities on the border with North Korea.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (BosNewsLife)-- A North Korean defector has been detained in China for helping an American missionary cross into North Korea, Korean media said Sunday, January 17, citing Free North Korea Radio.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service with BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos SEOUL/PYONGYANG (BosNewsLife)-- An international Christian advocacy group welcomed Wednesday, August 5, North Korea's decision to release American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling but warned that at least 200,000 religious and political prisoners remain behind bars in labor camps across the isolated Communist nation, where executions of inmates continue.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service with additional reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos SEOUL/PYONGYANG (BosNewsLife)-- The ex-girlfriend of North Korea's autocratic leader Kim Jong-un and nearly a dozen others have reportedly been executed after some of those detained were found to have Bibles in their possession.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service SEOUL/PYONGYANG/SEATTLE (BosNewsLife)-- An American Christian missionary imprisoned in North Korea is in "deteriorating health" and has been moved from a prison labor camp to a hospital, his family said in comments monitored by BosNewsLife Sunday, August 11.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife PYONGYANG/TORONTO (BosNewsLife)-- A Canadian pastor freed from a North Korean prison camp says he has forgiven those who wrongfully caused his prosecution by posting comments on the internet. Hyeon Soo Lim made the remarks in an interview with 100 Huntley Street, Canada's longest running daily television show after he was unexpectedly released last month following two and a half years of hard labor.

By BosNewsLife News Center with BosNewsLife's Senior Special Correspondent Johan Th. Bos reporting from the Netherlands AMSTERDAM/WASHINGTON D.C. (BosNewsLife)-- One of the world's largest mission agencies, Open Doors, named North Korea and Iran Wednesday, November 6, as "the worst persecutors of Christians".