{"id":12785,"date":"2025-12-25T06:17:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T06:17:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/man-reveals-what-its-like-celebrating-christmas-in-country-where-its-banned\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T06:17:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T06:17:05","slug":"man-reveals-what-its-like-celebrating-christmas-in-country-where-its-banned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/man-reveals-what-its-like-celebrating-christmas-in-country-where-its-banned\/","title":{"rendered":"Man reveals what it’s like celebrating Christmas in country where it’s banned"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

When Il-yong Ju was a child, something strange would happen in his tiny village in rural North Korea every December 25th.<\/p>\n

His grandfather would visit and send him out to the mountains to cut down a pine tree. He would bring it home and small balls of cotton were hung on its branches.<\/p>\n

In many countries, it’s a familiar ritual: setting up and decorating a tree for Christmas Day. But in North Korea<\/strong>, December 25th is just another day and Christmas is effectively banned.<\/p>\n

Ju said: “In my home, we just celebrated that kind of thing. But we didn’t know what that day was about; just every December 25th, my grandfather asked us to do that.<\/p>\n

“My grandfather taught us ‘hey grandson, the other countries beside North Korea, every December 25th, they make this kind of tree and celebrate this day’.”<\/p>\n

Not knowing the origins of the tradition, his family displayed the tree openly.<\/p>\n

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The neighbours called it a “yolka” – a tree put up to mark the new year in the Russian-speaking world.<\/p>\n

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\n <\/div>
Image:<\/span>
\n North Korean children stand on the banks of the Yalu River that marks the border with China. File pic: Reuters
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

With Christianity being suppressed in North Korea, nobody knew the real origins of the tradition, and the family faced no repercussions, Ju said.<\/p>\n

He explained: “It was possible because my village was a very small village. There were only 30 households living in my town, and it was very isolated from the main city.”<\/p>\n

The family would also clap and lead a chant. Its nonsense words sounded like “belly hem, belly hem, say goodbye, say goodbye”.<\/p>\n

What was the reason? Mysterious radio transmissions from across the border in South Korea offered a clue.<\/p>\n

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\n \"North<\/div>
Image:<\/span>
\n North Korean soldiers training after snowfall in North Hamgyong province. File pic: Reuters
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\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Those broadcasts would take Ju from the countryside of North Hamgyong Province to the White House.<\/p>\n

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“Me and my family actually listened to the illegal foreign radio broadcasting in North Korea,” said Ju.<\/p>\n

“We listened to the FEBC (Far East Broadcasting Company), which is South Korean Christian broadcasting. It’s very clearly heard in North Korea in the very early morning.<\/p>\n

“So that was the first moment that we heard about gospel and Christianity.”<\/p>\n

\n
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\n \"Il-yong<\/div>
Image:<\/span>
\n Il-yong Ju, now free in South Korea, with a Christmas tree
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

If the tree was tolerated, the radio was not.<\/p>\n

Agents of the state would turn up unannounced and search the home, checking radios to see what frequency they were tuned into.<\/p>\n

Ju said: “We had to risk our lives because we were listening to South Korean broadcasting that is highly prohibited in North Korea.<\/p>\n

“If you get caught, you would go to political prison camp or even be executed, because it was Christian broadcasting.<\/p>\n

“So every time we covered the window with a blanket and lowered the volume to prevent someone from hearing.”<\/p>\n

He continued: “That radio broadcasting was very impactful for my family.<\/p>\n

“That radio was what motivated my father to escape from North Korea. He escaped first.<\/p>\n

“When my father resettled in South Korea, he sent a broker to us. So me, my mother, and one of my sisters escaped in October 2009.”<\/p>\n

Escaping North Korea<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ju was just a child when he fled across the border to China, beginning a journey that would take him through three countries en-route to South Korea.<\/p>\n

Staying at a missionary’s house after crossing the frontier, he got some answers about this mysterious faith.<\/p>\n

And on a cross-country bus through China, he embarked on a spiritual journey too.<\/p>\n

He said: “On my bus, I did a sinner’s prayer and received Jesus as a saviour.”<\/p>\n

Arriving in South Korea, where he can worship openly, Ju began to understand parts of his story in a new light.<\/p>\n

That strange chant on Christmas Day?<\/p>\n

“Belly hem was Bethlehem, and say goodbye was sacrifice,” he said.<\/p>\n

“My grandfather was trying to teach us about Christianity and Christmas Day.”<\/p>\n

He soon recognised other ways in which Christianity had breached the secure borders of North Korea.<\/p>\n

He recalled a “funny story” told to him by a friend of his father about a man and woman in a garden.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"Il-yong<\/div>
Image:<\/span>
\n Il-yong Ju decorates a Christmas tree
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

“When I became a Christian, that story was exactly the same in the Bible,” said Ju, now 29.<\/p>\n

“That was actually the Garden of Eden, and Adam and and Eve’s story.”<\/p>\n

Years later they were able to reach the man, still in North Korea, via a smuggled phone.<\/p>\n

He revealed he was a missionary, who had converted to Christianity after crossing the border to China, and returned home to spread the gospel.<\/p>\n

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\n \"The<\/div>
Image:<\/span>
\n The Yalu river which marks the border between North Korea and China. Pic: AP
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\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Ju knows only too well the risk he took in doing so.<\/p>\n

He said: “My aunt and all of her family were sent to political prison camp, just because my aunt’s grandfather-in-law was a Christian.<\/p>\n

“When people get to that camp, they cannot come out until they die. So it’s a slavery camp, and there is torture in there.<\/p>\n

“We are still praying that my aunt’s family are surviving there, but we cannot find them now.”<\/p>\n

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\n \"A<\/div>
Image:<\/span>
\n A drawing of North Korean labour camp no 18 by survivor Kim Hye Sook. Pic: Reuters
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\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Ju saw this tragedy play out again through his work with TIMJ, an organisation advocating for North Korean human rights.<\/p>\n

“Some of the North Korean underground church members were working with us secretly,” he said.<\/p>\n

“A few of them got caught and sent to political prison camp, because they were caught sharing the gospel.<\/p>\n

“Nobody knows whether they’re alive or not.”<\/p>\n

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\n \"North<\/div>
Image:<\/span>
\n North and South Korean soldiers face off across the demilitarised zone at their shared border. Pic: Reuters
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\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Open Doors, a charity championing the cause of oppressed Christians worldwide, named North Korea as the country where believers face the most extreme persecution in 2025.<\/p>\n

North Korea has topped the list every year since 2002, with the sole exception of 2022, when Afghanistan pushed it into second place.<\/p>\n

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Ukrainian children ‘sent to abusive camp in N Korea’
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“I think it’s because Juche ideology, which is North Korea’s ruling ideology, has many similarities to the Bible,” said Ju.<\/p>\n

“So if you just erase god and put Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-il, Kim Il-sung on there, that is Juche ideology.<\/p>\n

“So when people know about Christianity, I think the North Korean government is afraid that people would know that Juche ideology is a lie.”<\/p>\n

Meeting Trump<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s a message that Il-yong brought to the White House in 2019 when he met Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

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\n \"Il-yong<\/div>
Image:<\/span>
\n Il-yong Ju meeting Donald Trump in the Oval Office in 2019. Pic: AP
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

“I testified about Christian persecution in North Korea and I shared about my aunt’s story,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I shared that even though the persecution is ongoing, people still worship there and they are craving freedom of faith.”<\/p>\n

In North Korea, December 24 is a public holiday, marking the birthday of Kim Jong-suk, the grandmother of Kim Jong-un and the first wife of Kim Il-sung – North Korea’s founding dictator.<\/p>\n

But Ju now lives in Seoul, South Korea, where Christmas Eve looks very different.<\/p>\n

\n
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\n \"Il-yong<\/div>
Image:<\/span>
\n Il-yong Ju, seen standing at his laptop, in front the congregation at his church in Seoul, South Korea.
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

He said: “Every Christmas Eve, we gather at the church and we sing together, worship together, share meals together, and we prepare gift boxes and exchange them together.”<\/p>\n

“Normally I spend Christmas Day in the church with the church members.”<\/p>\n

He’s even had the chance to experience Christmas in Britain.<\/p>\n

\n
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\n \"Il-yong<\/div>
Image:<\/span>
\n Il-yong Ju with a Christmas tree
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

He said: “The Christmas trees and neon signs were so pretty. I really enjoyed it. So beautiful.”<\/p>\n

And he’s got a message for Britain this Christmas.<\/p>\n

“When many people think about North Korea, the first pop-out image is nuclear weapons, Kim Jong-un, and famine,” said Ju.<\/p>\n

“But I really want to let people know that we need to pay attention to the people, not the regime.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/sub><\/p>\n

Man reveals what it’s like celebrating Christmas in country where it’s banned<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Il-yong Ju was a child, something strange would happen in his tiny village in rural North Korea every December 25th. His grandfather would visit and send him out to the mountains to cut down a pine tree. He would bring it home and small balls of cotton were hung on its branches. In many…<\/p>\n

Read More “Man reveals what it’s like celebrating Christmas in country where it’s banned”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12786,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}