Christians Call for International Day of Prayer for North Korea to Fight 'Demonic Principalities'

Christians around the world will observe for an International Day of Prayer and Fasting for North Korea as uncertainty and political tension shroud the region. 

The fast will take place on April 28th, and will mark the first day of North Korea Freedom Week, which aims to raise awareness of human rights abuses in the hermit kingdom.

"This regime is a personification of evil." Suzanne Scholte, chairman of the North Korea Freedom Coalition told CBN News. "Kim Jong Un has set himself up as a God. He's taken the tenets of the Christian faith and the regime has perverted that to worship him as a deity." 

North Koreans are forced to practice Juche, a belief system that elevates the Kim family as counterfeit gods. Scholte believes the way to win against North Korea is to wage spiritual warfare. 

"This actually came from a congressional international religious freedom caucus briefing in January where the foremost expert of Juche, which is really the religion of North Korea, said to combat the demonic principalities in North Korea, we need to not only pray, but we need to fast," she said. 

The theme of this year's North Korea Freedom Week is "Truth Will Set Them Free." The organizers decided on this theme after North Korean defectors told them that only the truth of the gospel can change the country. 

"They kept telling us that if you want to change North Korea, you need to get the truth," Scholte said. "When they find out he's not God and find out about the one true God, it changes everything."

This prayer movement comes at a time when the nation's leaders plan to meet with Kim Jong Un about the future of the Korean peninsula. 

This week North and South Korean leaders are holding talks that include ending the Korean war and declaring peace between their two nations.

After that President Trump is planning to meet Kim Jong Un in hopes of ending the regime's nuclear program.

While many view these meetings as a positive step forward, Scholte isn't so sure. 

"When it comes to Kim Jong Un, I believe we have to see action and I would be very skeptical and cautious," she warned. 

"We should at the very least be demanding that he release the prisoners, the Americans that he's holding, most of whom are Christians," Scholte added. "We should be demanding that he stop torturing his own people when they try to escape...There are certain things I believe could be a strong signal that there's a change in the heart of Kim Jong Un. I just don't see that happening at all."

While no one can predict how North Korean leaders will respond to international pressure, Scholte is sure of one thing - "with God all things are possible."