Washington D.C., Feb 9, 2018 / 10:05 am
"Before his escape, when Seong-Ho was being tortured by North Korean officials, there was one thing that kept him from losing hope: over and over again he recited the Lord's Prayer," President Donald Trump said in his speech at the 2018 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.
Seong-Ho's courage and faith were also highlighted by Trump during his State of the Union address in January.
Many North Korean defectors like Ji Seong-ho encounter Christianity through the missionaries who organize the underground railroad that makes it possible for them to escape to China, where they still face the constant risk of being repatriated back to North Korea.
The journey with the Christian missionaries often leads to conversion for defectors. Eighty to ninety percent of North Koreans who pass through the underground railroad identify as Christian after reaching South Korea, according to a 2015 study by Dr. Jin-Heon Jung entitled "Underground Railroads of Christian Conversion."