Eric Foley

Activist group members sent to prosecutors over anti-North leaflet launches Members of an activist group accused of launching balloons carrying anti-North Korea leaflets and other items from the South's border areas have been referred to prosecutors without detention, the Gye...

Notable: Prosecution of one group for launching Bibles and snacks to NK from Jan 2024 to Apr 2025.

tinyurl.com/54asd4xu

Religious freedom clampdown: what is and isn't happening in South Korea - Mission Network News Policies implemented under the administration of South Korea’s newly elected president, Lee Jae-myung, have driven reports of religious freedom being curtailed in that nation.

Great reporting here from Mission Network News: Don’t be misled by reports of major crackdowns on religious liberty in South Korea; . But do pay careful attention to decisions being made which significantly impact North Korean ministry. tinyurl.com/4r9xafpt

FYI. Dr Foley and I are joining Bob Fu in hosting the East Asian part of the 24-hour prayer relay for Zion Church tomorrow. www.eventbrite.com/e/global-day...

Deacon Jang, who ministered to North Koreans in Changbai, China alongside martyred Pastor Han Chung-Ryeol, served more than 12 years of a 15 year sentence.

More information about Deacon Jang’s case can be found at vomkorea.com/en/2020/04/2...

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URGENT: Voice of the Martyrs Korea is reporting that Deacon Jang Moon Seok 장문석, also known by his Chinese name Zhang Wen Shi, was released from prison in North Korea and returned home to China on November 5. 1/2

Democratic Party Revives Leaflet Ban via Aviation Law Democratic Party Revives Leaflet Ban via Aviation Law Revised bill bans border balloon launches, facing opposition as unconstitutional revival

The most troubling thing about the wildly inaccurate reports of South Korean Christians losing their religious freedoms is that accurate reports about actual troubling legislative changes go almost completely unreported. Exhibit A. www.chosun.com/english/nati...

YouTube video by The 700 Club Christians in South Korea Are Being Targeted

Pastor Son's case certainly deserves review on its own merits; however, to claim that Korean Protestants see his case as representative of a growing constriction of their religious liberties is simply inaccurate. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsgI...

God has made his decision about North Korea.
www.instagram.com/reel/DOYnoOo...

Voice of the Martyrs Korea to add fifth daily broadcast to North Korea - Mission Network News North Korea (VOMK) -- Christians broadcast another radio segment to North Korea as political pressure mounts.

While others are zigging, we are zagging: We're adding a fifth daily half-hour Voice of the Martyrs Korea shortwave radio broadcast to North Korea. www.mnnonline.org/news/voice-o...

South Korea's move to lower tensions with Kim Jong Un threatens 400,000 Christians A move to lower tensions with Kim Jong Un's hermit kingdom has led to vital radio broadcasts of Christian material being cut off from the people who need it most.

Poor article by Fox. What it should have said was: US/SK govt broadcast cancellation frees up NK jamming resources that could be used to jam Christian broadcasts, which have not been cut back (in fact, at VOM Korea we are increasing from 4 daily NK broadcasts to 5).
www.foxnews.com/world/south-...

Christian Groups Perplexed, Wary After Korea Bible Incident - Christianity Today South Korea detained six Americans trying to send rice and Bibles by sea to North Korea.

"In [Foley's] view, the first thing people should do before undertaking any activity to serve North Korea is to take the time to ask believers there, “What would be helpful to you?” www.christianitytoday.com/2025/07/amer...

Six Americans detained for attempting to send Bibles to North Korea – why the story matters - Mission Network News Americans reportedly tossed bottles filled with Bibles, and rice into the sea, hoping they’d reach North Korean shores — but were detained.

My comments on the six Americans detained for rice bottle launching in South Korea: Wow, I wish you guys wouldn't have done that. mnnonline.org/news/six-ame...

96 Year-Old Persecuted North Korean Christian Says that Enduring Persecution is God’s Work “Who’s in charge?” the Communist soldiers shouted as they brandished a sickle before a small group of North Korean believers. The believers were gathered outside of a small church in a mountainous …

Mrs. Lee, a 96-year old North Korean defector wasn't a Christian when she lived in the north. But the way she saw Christians endure persecution there prepared her for the persecution she experienced when she became a Christian in South Korea.
dotheword.org/2025/05/27/nk/

“The North Korean worker wrote, ‘Pitifully, [the NK workers returning from China due to illness] will have a very difficult life in NK but there are many women who have gone back carrying hope.”
vomkorea.com/en/2025/05/1...

Korean Christian leaders making clear that Jeon Kwang-hoon is not driving the Christian bus in present political matters. tinyurl.com/2z35vwaa

The Case for South Korea Prohibiting Anti-North Korean Leaflet Launches That the provocations exchanged between the Koreas – leaflets, balloons, and noise – were of relatively low intensity should give no one a sense of security.

"[Private groups] could be managed by...a military-administered permit system."

So since the military, not private groups, allegedly gave us the botched PY drone & loudspeaker provocations, we should require private groups to apply for permits from them.

tinyurl.com/j5w62nfv

North Korea no longer tops global persecution - Mission Network News International (MNN) -- Global Christian Relief Red List exposes the world’s most dangerous places to follow Jesus.

Methodology problem: Persecution in Nigeria is absolutely severe, yet Nigeria also has 16,000 churches, the largest one with an auditorium seating 120,000--more than the total number of Christians in NK. Simply counting cases obscures the nature of persecution in each country. tinyurl.com/3vvvfwcf

‘Squid Game’ Season 2 Highlights The Popularity Of Korean Shamanism The second season of the global streaming sensation “Squid Game” introduced viewers to several new characters. One of the most intriguing has been Player 044 due to her strong religious beliefs. Playe...

Shamanism features prominently in Squid Games Season 2...and in pretty much everything associated with Yoon Suk Yeol's presidency.

Squid games shamanism: tinyurl.com/mr46eke3
Yoon Suk Yeol shamanism: tinyurl.com/bdh4d7ec

South Korea’s Unification Ministry Shifts Stance on Anti-North Korea Leaflet Campaigns SEOUL, Dec. 16 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s Ministry of Unification announced on December 16 a shift in its approach to anti-North …

"The [MOU] requested that private organizations exercise restraint in distributing propaganda leaflets."

The govt allegedly buzzed PY/crashed a drone. If the govt persuades itself not to launch, regular launchers prob won't present more difficulties than they have since '69.

tinyurl.com/3499jpfa

Worth noting how normal life still is here in Korea. I see headlines about how Korea has descended into chaos. Korea's political order, yes. Korea, no. There are demonstrations where one would expect them. But outside of those areas, it's all city sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style.

Simone Weil's On the Abolition of Political Parties:

1. A political party is a machine to generate collective passions.

2. It is designed to exert collective pressure on its members.

3. Its ultimate goal is its own unlimited growth.

Thus, every party is totalitarian potentially & by aspiration.

Where is Ahn Chang Ho? Where is Cho Man Sik? Where is Kim Kyo Shin?

John Ross and the Korean Protestant Church: The First Korean Bible and its Relation to the Protestant Origins in Korea John Ross and the Korean Protestant Church: The First Korean Bible and its Relation to the Protestant Origins in Korea [Choi, Sung Il] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. John Ross and the Korean Protestant Church: The First Korean Bible and its Relation to the Protestant Origins in Korea

"...from that of the Western missionaries who would reject his translation, his missionary methods, and even his own offers to help them, despite the unparalleled success of Ross and his indigenous Korean partners." www.amazon.com/John-Ross-Ko...

John Ross and the Korean Protestant Church: The First Korean Bible and its Relation to the Protestant Origins in Korea John Ross and the Korean Protestant Church: The First Korean Bible and its Relation to the Protestant Origins in Korea [Choi, Sung Il] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. John Ross and the Korean Protestant Church: The First Korean Bible and its Relation to the Protestant Origins in Korea

Our newest book, on how the Bible came to Korea, is now available: "Missionary John Ross is widely honored as the father of the Korean church despite spending almost no time in Korea & despite his conception of the Christian life & faith being different from ..." 1/2

www.amazon.com/John-Ross-Ko...

ROK border province indefinitely extends ban on anti-North Korea leafleting | NK News South Korea’s Gyeonggi Province has indefinitely extended a ban against launching balloons carrying anti-regime leaflets into North Korea, after previously designating 11 border areas as “danger zones...

New leaflets blew in from NK today on around 40 balloons, according to @nknewsorg.bsky.social.

No word on whether the 120 government employees who daily patrol the designated balloon launch "danger areas" of Gyeonggi Province will be dispatched to help with the cleanup.

tinyurl.com/p4p5cv97

French team behind VLC player says it sent ‘Game of Thrones’ to North Korea | NK News Two French software developers behind the widely used VLC media player say they launched balloons carrying movies and TV series toward North Korea last week, despite local authorities’ efforts to crac...

There's a reason these kind of colorful toy balloons haven't been used by serious launchers for the past 25 years: They simply have virtually no chance of entering North Korea. www.nknews.org/2024/11/fren...