House Church Leader Reported Arrested

Norbert Vollertsen sends:

The leader of an underground church and his familymembers were arrested last July. The details are as follows:

Place: Peeyeong Gun, North Pyongan Province

Arrested: Moon, Seong Jeun(age 64), the leader of the church and some or all of his 8 brothers and sisters.

Arresting Authority: Local branch of the State Security Agency.

Charge: Attempt to overthrow the government. Moon was regarded as the “ringleader of their clandestine activities.

Status: Interrogation was nearly completed as of early September. The Agency reported the process to the Party Central and received the directions from there.

Others: Some of the 80 church members were questioned by the Agency.

Background: Moon became a Christian through his father’s influence who was a deacon at Palgol Churchin Pyongyang. Because of their missionary activities he and his family members were expelled from Pyongyang to a small town near Chinese border in North West Korea. In the new town he continued the work and had 80 followers where he was called ‘Reverend Moon’ by them.

Prospect: The interrogation is being processedwithout publicity. From past procedures Moon and many followers are likely to be executed. However, that may be prevented through publicity from the USA. It is hoped the public opinion in the USA would become strong enough to prevent North Korean regimefrom executing them.

Well, hoping isn’t enough.