6/13/2025 North Korea (International Christian Concern) — In North Korea, the presumption of “guilt by association” is applied in an extreme way.

Shortly after Kim Sung-sik was arrested for distributing Bibles and leading a house church, authorities went after his family.

Kim’s wife, Joo Chun-hee, 43, their son Kim Cheol, 16, and daughter Kim Hyang, 12, were arrested and charged with being involved in the underground house church activities that their husband and father led.  

According to a testimony from a former officer with the local Ministry of State Security in Musan, after Kim Sung-sik was arrested, their home was bugged with surveillance equipment for six months. 

During that time, it was alleged that the underground church activities were recorded inside their home, leading to their arrest. Authorities also claimed that these house church activities were outside the framework of the state-sanctioned Korean Christian Federation and that Joo Chun-hee had formed an illegal association aimed at subverting the national system.

“That case was largely fabricated by the officer in charge,” said a North Korean defector who also lived in Hoeryong City and wished to remain anonymous. “There was no evidence that they preached or spread their beliefs to others. They were purged simply for practicing religion as a family and were labeled traitors. It was rumored that the Ministry of State Security used the Joo Chun-hee family as scapegoats to close the investigation into those incidents.” 

Joo Chun-hee was sent to the Hoeryong City Counterintelligence detention facility in October 2007. She was last seen in February 2008 and has been missing since then. Her children were reportedly transferred to a political prison camp in early March 2008 under the principle of guilt by association. There has been no record or update on their whereabouts or health since early 2008. 

“The cases of Joo Chun-hee and her two children are examples of the depravity of the North Korean communist regime and the twisted ways they persecute and abuse Christians living out their faith inside North Korea,” an International Christian Concern (ICC) staffer in Asia said. “The arrest and disappearance of an entire family for allegations of distributing Bibles and gifts in their community and having an illegal Bible fellowship is tragic. Yet, this type of persecution is common for Christians in North Korea and across Asia. As Hebrews 13:3 reminds us, we must remember Kim Sung-sik, Joo Chun-hee, and their children because they are our brothers and sisters in Christ.” 

This story is one of 70 captured in “Remembering the Disappeared: A Testimony Report on North Korea’s Political Prisoners,” which will be released this week during the North Korea Freedom Week in Berlin, Germany. 

To coincide with North Korea Freedom Week, ICC will share other stories of other disappeared North Korean Christians. Please join us in praying for new information on the Kim family’s status, for their release, and for the many other imprisoned North Korean Christians who have disappeared.

To read more news stories, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email press@persecution.org.