In the next couple of weeks, the UN Commission of Inquiry into the widespread human rights violations in North Korea will be producing their report, following a year of investigation. CSW campaigned for this inquiry for years, and testified to the Commission based on our own research into North Korea. But North Korea needs our prayers now more than ever. Christians were reportedly publicly executed last year for ‘crimes’ including possessing Bibles. Any Christian the authorities find is likely to be sent to a prison camp, if they are not executed. The situation in North Korea for Christians and people of other faiths is among the worst in the world.

This week, please:

• Pray for the families of those executed last November, all reportedly taken to labour camps;
• Ask God to bless and protect North Korean Christians who face daily terror as they live out their faith;
• Ask that God would soften the hearts of the political leaders in North Korea to the oppression of the North Korean people;
• Pray that the Commission of Inquiry’s work will make people around the world more aware of North Korea’s human rights situation;
• Pray that the North Korean authorities would cooperate with the UN;
• Pray that the UN will take decisive action on the Commission’s recommendations, to bring freedom to North Korea.

Lent reflection: Read Psalm 33:5 and praise God that his heart is for justice.