North Korean Christian Man Facing Death

The international effort to free a North Korean Christian man from death row continued in early August with the Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) calling all citizens to write letters and send e-mails on Son Jong Nam's behalf to North Korean officials, the United Nations, the U.S. Department of State and their elected officials. VOM, an Oklahoma-based Christian advocacy group for the world’s persecuted Christians, launched an international campaign in July to free a man awaiting execution in a reportedly torturous North Korean prison. Sources at VOM maintain that Son Jong Nam, a former North Korean Army officer turned underground evangelist, is being beaten and tortured for his Christian faith in a bleak prison basement cell in the capital city of Pyongyang. VOM enlisted the high-visibility help of presidential candidate Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, who sent letters signed by four other U.S. senators asking Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to work for immediate and safe release of the Christian man. “All religions have been harshly repressed in North Korea [and] thousands of Christians have been murdered since the Korean War,” said Todd Nettleton, a spokesman for VOM. “Christians must practice their faith in deep secrecy and are in constant danger.”