Restricted Nation: North Korea by P. Todd Nettleton and Voice of the Martyrs (2008)
It’s hard to review a book like this, an investigative summary by a ministry whose stated goal is to help the persecuted church. Certainly, I can’t critique it, but I can provide an overview, if for no other reason than to let the world know it exists.
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Summary of Restricted Nations: North Korea
At just over 100 pages, this little book is nearly a pamphlet, but it packs a great deal of pertinent information into its tiny size. Although slightly outdated (18 years old this year), we’re all pretty aware that very little has changed in North Korea in the intervening years…or in the decades prior.
The majority of the book recounts the history of both Christianity and politics inside “the Hermit Kingdom.” It’s not a thorough textbook of information, but as an introduction, it’s sufficient. It’s also interspersed with interviews and letters from people on the inside.
If your heart doesn’t break when reading details of the quagmire of oppression in which so many fellow human beings live, you’d better check your own pulse. And if you don’t feel twitches in your gut when you read about the persecutions, imprisonments, forced labor, starvation, and outright murder of Christians—and their non-Christian family members!—then you need read it again. This is neither a novel nor a fabrication, and it’s disgusting that such a place still exists on planet Earth.
Some Highlights from Restricted Nations: North Korea
Missionary Robert Thomas, Years of Openness, and Denominationalism
The book opens with the story of a missionary I’d never heard of before, Robert Thomas, who literally gave his life in 1865 to step upon the soil of North Korea for the sake of the Gospel (9-15). His was an inspiring tale, and perhaps someday we’ll see him highlighted in M.R. Conrad‘s missionary-biography devotionals!
As history progressed, the whole Korean nation did eventually open to the Gospel. As more and more people came to Christ through the efforts of missionaries and the Koreans they trained, the larger the churches became.
Each denomination busily served the needs of their growing church bodies in Korea; and the more they served the people, the more they felt ownership over their churches. As numbers in each denominational church grew, denominationalism grew as well. (48)
The larger the missionary and church projects grew in Korea, however, the more closely they were controlled by the missionaries’ organizations in their home countries. With the familiar stench of colonialism creeping across the landscape (even if the missionaries never intended it to be so), the Korean leaders wanted the foreigners out. The rise of Communism, American involvement in the Korean War, and the resulting division of the Koreas brought this about.
Isolation and Persecution
Since that time, the once prosperous and victorious North Korea closed itself off completely from the world, lost its clutches on reality, and promoted a new religion (Juche) with its leadership as gods. It then reverted to become the darkest, most isolated, most depressed kingdoms on Earth.
The brief description of Juche is perhaps my favorite part the book. Pages 87-95 first offer contextual background to the religion, but Nettleton also provides a chart that depicts basic doctrines and their corresponding teachings. These are things we’ve heard for years—that North Koreans worship their leaders or believe their country to be “Paradise on Earth”—but this brief synopsis helps us to realize that these aren’t merely laws, they’re a religion and woven into the fabric of North Koreans from birth.
This truth makes me shudder. Despite their starvation, they’re told that the world outside their borders is even worse! I told this to my kids, and my 14yo son said, “Even when there’s fast food restaurants on every corner in America?” Yes, even then. Millions of human souls are being duped by their despotic, selfish, lavishly-living leaders while they literally starve to death. It’s been true for generations now. When will it ever end?
The only hope these souls have is Jesus—the only One who can provide true Paradise (Luke 23:43). Any religion but Juche is outlawed in North Korea, and according to this book, those caught with Bibles or proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus are either killed on the spot or sentenced to years in prison—along with their whole families. It’s inhuman.
We hear all the time from the Left about “Human Rights Violations,” yet only when political or social agendas can be achieved. “Free, Free Palestine” and anti-ICE riots make students and childish adults feel great about themselves, while North Korean deaths go another decade ignored. Where are the campus protests for these victims? I guess if there’s no way to blame the Jews or Donald Trump, then the problem isn’t worth mentioning. The same goes for the martyrs in Nigeria.
When activism becomes so choosy along party lines, then activism’s a joke.
Conclusion
Well, that took a turn! And my apologies for skirting the edges of whataboutism, but these inconsistencies really irk me.
I didn’t intend to get so political in this post, but I have to admit that I hate seeing US protests in favor of people like Maduro or Ali Khamenei—monsters the both of them—all the while similar protests are being waged against our own law enforcement and against Israel’s attempts to preserve its existence—all because people hate President Trump so much. It’s insanity.
Back to North Korea, though. Perhaps the best documentary on this issue and the North Korean desire for escape is Beyond Utopia directed by Madeleine Gavin (2023). If you’re even remotely interested in Christian persecution or the plight of North Korea, this is an absolute must-watch.
This book was an eye-opener for me. I’ve appreciated VOM publications in the past, and I’d look forward to finding more national-synopses books like this in the future.
©2026 E.T.
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