# Why is North Korea so utterly irresistible to proselytizing Christians? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 5, 2014, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841 "2014-08-05T02:51:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841/1 "2014-08-05T02:51:21Z")
You’d think by now people would know enough to leave the Bibles at home, but no… gotta drop a Bible on the Best Koreans. [U.S. Tourist Jeffrey Fowle Was Detained In North Korea For Leaving Bible In A Bathroom](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/02/jeffrey-fowle-north-korea_n_5643464.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular) > [@](#): > > Two months before Fowle visited North Korea, Australian missionary John Short had been arrested for leaving bible tracts at areas open to tourists in the isolated country. Short, 75, was released on account of his advanced age after state media released a written apology. > > Fowle appeared in an Associated Press video on Friday alongside Miller, who was arrested for ripping up his tourist visa and attempting to claim political asylum, according to state media. > > North Korea has three U.S. citizens in custody, including Kenneth Bae, a missionary of Korean descent who was arrested in November 2012 and convicted and sentenced to 15 years hard labor last year. > FOWLE’S ARREST > > Chongjin is one of the most sensitive cities open to tourists visiting North Korea. The scene for much of journalist Barbara Demmick’s ‘Nothing to Envy’ book, based on a collection of interviews, it is the very epitome of the grim, grey Orwellian North Korea recalled by defectors. > > “They don’t mess about in Chongjin,” one tourism source with experience of working in the city said. > > If Fowle had hidden a bible anywhere else in North Korea, he probably wouldn’t have been arrested, sources in the North Korean tourist industry said. Sources working in North Korea are often forced to remain anonymous when talking to the press for fear of state reprisal or loss of business. > > If the staff at the Seamen’s Club who found the bible had told Fowle’s guides, and not the authorities, they might have avoided the arrest too, the source familiar with his arrest said. > > Fowle hid the bible on May 4. He later admitted to the group that he had left it there deliberately, for "someone to read ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841/2 "2014-08-05T02:58:55Z")
_shrug_ To a committed Christian, how could you _not_? There’s a huge number of miserable people who are going to hell; how could a good “real” Christian turn away from that? Lots of people to save, or at least console with the Word. I’ll give 'em credit for guts, if not sense. (Atheist here, but really seems obvious to me) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841/3 "2014-08-05T02:59:06Z")
I can see a devout Christian feeling that North Korea is one of the places that most needs salvation. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841/4 "2014-08-05T04:16:11Z")
There is a bright side with a happy ending, too. North Korea catches them and executes them. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841/5 "2014-08-05T04:26:07Z")
People who go on overseas missionary adventures are by definition narcissists with martyr complexes. I’m surprised there aren’t more of these twerps arrested in NK every year. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841/6 "2014-08-05T04:33:21Z")
Missionaries have also done quite well in South Korea over the past few decades, so there probably is the idea that the folks up north would be receptive too if they can just get to them. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841/7 "2014-08-05T05:09:04Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > There is a bright side with a happy ending, too. North Korea catches them and executes them. You are one grumpy old man, aren’t you? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Collaborator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Collaborator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Collaborator)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841/8 "2014-08-05T06:52:00Z")
Because the population is susceptible to indoctrination and currently a blank slate as far as religion is concerned. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841/9 "2014-08-05T06:56:44Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > There is a bright side with a happy ending, too. North Korea catches them and executes them. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841/10 "2014-08-05T07:12:22Z")
Well, if you got a whole nation that believes their (former) dear leader sunk 18 holes in one, getting them to believe all the crazy stories in the bible shouldn’t be too much of a challenge. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841/11 "2014-08-05T07:13:13Z")
> [@galen\_ubal](#): > > _shrug_ > To a committed Christian, how could you _not_? There’s a huge number of miserable people who are going to hell; how could a good “real” Christian turn away from that? Lots of people to save, or at least console with the Word. I’ll give 'em credit for guts, if not sense. > > (Atheist here, but really seems obvious to me) > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I can see a devout Christian feeling that North Korea is one of the places that most needs salvation. “Amen” to all the above. There have always been zealous adherents of “missionary creeds” of all kinds – including secular ones --who have felt called to go to spread their particular “word” in places particularly hostile to it; taking great, sometimes suicidal, risks to do so. However demented one may consider these folk, ridiculing and belittling them seems mean-spirited. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841/12 "2014-08-05T07:21:32Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > There is a bright side with a happy ending, too. North Korea catches them and executes them. I’m not a believer but this post is rather offensive, I really hope you are joking ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841/13 "2014-08-05T09:38:12Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#): > > I’m not a believer but this post is rather offensive, I really hope you are joking Do a search on username. ---
**Author:** ![here\_and\_there](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f07891/32.png) [@here\_and\_there](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/here_and_there)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841/14 "2014-08-05T09:56:02Z")
… assuming of course that these missionaries are true believers, and not secret service agents. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841/15 "2014-08-05T10:13:20Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > Missionaries have also done quite well in South Korea over the past few decades, so there probably is the idea that the folks up north would be receptive too if they can just get to them. ‘Over the past few decades’ ??? Korea, north and south had a substantial local Christian church before the Japanese occupation. It was associated with the resistance movement, and in North Korea was suppressed by the communists with the usual brutality. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841/16 "2014-08-05T10:20:27Z")
> [@galen\_ubal](#): > > To a committed Christian, how could you _not_? There’s a huge number of miserable people who are going to hell; how could a good “real” Christian turn away from that? Lots of people to save, or at least console with the Word. I’ll give 'em credit for guts, if not sense. But then they start screaming bloody murder for rescue once they get arrested. “Tough shit,” I say. They went into North Korea knowing that could happen, and it did. Let them live with the consequences of their choice. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841/17 "2014-08-05T10:28:04Z")
Isn’t there probably some confirmation bias here as well, in that a missionary being caught and punished by NK is more likely to make the news than a missionary going to any other country and going about their business? In other words, we have no real evidence that more missionaries go to NK than any other particular country. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841/18 "2014-08-05T11:06:08Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > Isn’t there probably some confirmation bias here as well, in that a missionary being caught and punished by NK is more likely to make the news than a missionary going to any other country and going about their business? In other words, we have no real evidence that more missionaries go to NK than any other particular country. I read the OP not as “Why do SO MANY proselytizing Christians go to NK?!” but as “Why do ANY proselytizing Christians go to NK - haven’t you idiots leaned YET?!” ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841/19 "2014-08-05T11:27:59Z")
Perhaps what we’re noticing is a sort of natural, or maybe even Darwinian, selection in Christian missionaries. Which strikes me as sort of ironic. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841/20 "2014-08-05T12:25:18Z")
> [@](#): > > If the staff at the Seamen’s Club who found the bible . . . Heh. Their country, their rules. But what’s with Christian Controversy always occurring at places with snicker-worthy names? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-north-korea-so-utterly-irresistible-to-proselytizing-christians/694841.md?page=2)