I think there is at least one...the guy who was hiking in the mountains in China, was kidnapped from the Chinese hiking trails by North Korean forces, and then was forcibly taken to North Korea.
The story is that he is now living with his [North Korean] wife, [and his North Korean children???], and he is a teacher of English to North Koreans.
Whether he is still doing LDS missionary work is highly doubtful...it is very probably a crime which would result in execution (maybe including his wife and children as well).
I don't think he was doing missionary work. It sounds like he was helping North Korean defectors get out of China and was targeted by NK.
I doubt the church is crazy enough to have any missionary or presence in NK. North Koreans do not have the ability to practice any religion and that sort of activity would be very dangerous for all parties concerned.
Whiskeytango Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I don't think he was doing missionary work. It > sounds like he was helping North Korean defectors > get out of China and was targeted by NK. > > I doubt the church is crazy enough to have any > missionary or presence in NK. North Koreans do not > have the ability to practice any religion and that > sort of activity would be very dangerous for all > parties concerned.
My post was tongue-in-cheek. :)
From the news accounts I read at the time, he was out (recreationally) hiking when he was kidnapped. (Evidently this happens, at least from time-to-time, on these sorts of hiking trails in that general area.)
As an LDS missionary, I doubt very much that he was trying to help North Korean defectors get out of North Korea---something that could [understatement here] cause an "international incident"...with the LDS Church right in the middle of the international goings-on. The Church definitely does NOT want that kind of international scrutiny.
I hope he has a fairly good life right now [given the incredibly undesirable realities of living in North Korea]. As one possible example, he and his family are probably receiving extra food rations (over what is generally available to the North Korean populace), plus they probably live in [comparatively] better accommodations than do most North Koreans.
On the other hand...he, and his family, and his wife's extended family, are probably under incredible surveillance 24/7/365, and there is probably not a single person outside of his nuclear family that he can trust.
This is a pretty brutal, and probably lifetime, consequence for innocently being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/2017 12:29AM by Tevai.
I was under the impression that he was in China hiking not serving as a missionary and that he had drawn attention to himself by being fluent in Korean from his mission to South Korea and that he was actually in China while working with a Sout Korean advocacy group that was trying to assist North Korean defectors. While he was a returned missionary his journey to China did not appear Church related.
I "served" a mission in South Korea in the early 90's. At that time, there were rumors that there were "secret" missionaries in North Korea. They were rumors. As far as I or anyone I could talk to could determine, there was no North Korean Mission, using the church's "humanitarian" method or otherwise. I can't believe that would have changed at any point in the last few years.
There were rumors that during tense political times, that Missionaries were given instructions to avoid certain areas, take different routes home each night, etc. But, because we couldn't watch TV, didn't have the internet at the time and our mail was pretty much censored, and the Mission home didn't tell us anything, we really didn't know what was going on politically at the time. The rumor at the time among the missionaries and many of the members was that when Kim Joun Il died, that his son, Kim Joun Un (current "Supreme Leader" of North Korea) would march on Seoul the morning after his Dad's funeral. He's pretty much considered to be insane.
Our mission president's wife was North Korean, no one seemed to know her story, how she defected, she was a very sweet lady though, I'd imagine it was an interesting story.
I do wonder what, if anything, the missionaries today are being told today. If the church is taking any precautions, it certainly hasn't made the news. I'd imagine the rumor mill is working over time.