NORTH-KOREA: TEENAGER ESCAPES AND FINDS JESUS
	After his father died and his mother abandoned him, Joseph Kim, at 12 years old, became homeless. Suffering in the great famine of North Korea, he struggled to survive. One day he met an ex-convict who imparted a wonderful secret: if he managed to elude authorities and defect to China, the Christian churches there would give him money. What was a Christian church? Kim wondered. Raised in a closed and atheistic totalitarian regime, he had been taught to revere the country's leader and distrust outsiders. "Why do Christians give money to strangers?" Kim asked the ex-convict. "It's just what Christians do," he replied. "They give things away. They're not like normal people." One day, almost on a whim, with no previous planning or preparation, Kim decided to cross the frozen Tumen River bordering China on foot in plain daylight. His audacity contributed to his success. No one ever dared defect during the day. At night, those who got caught were either shot or tortured in prison. When North Korean soldiers finally caught sight of him on the far side of the river, their shouts were more of astonishment than outrage. Not a shot was fired. He was only 14 years old. Once in China, Kim made his way to the city of Yanji, where he looked for churches. One kind pastor's wife took him in, and an elderly lady in the church hired him for household help. He called the elderly Christian lady 'Grandma' and she taught him many things about the Bible. Once when he sang a hymn with Grandma, he was deeply moved by the lyrics: "Father, I stretch my hands to Thee, No other help I know; If Thou withdraw Thyself from me, Ah! Whither shall I go?" The Holy Spirit touched his heart and imparted saving faith. "I felt something pierce my heart," Kim recalls. "I understood this. This was my life. That night alone in my room, I began to cry." He attempted to talk to God for the first time. "I don't know who You are," he said. "I don't understand the Scripture. But I'm surrendering myself to You." Not long afterward, a missionary visited Kim and explained to him the option to go to the U.S. as a political refugee. At first he didn't like the idea because he remembered the North Korean indoctrination that Americans are evil. But after praying, he agreed for his new friends to smuggle him to the U.S. Consulate. In the U.S. he moved in with a host family, attended high school, and became a speaker on behalf of human rights organizations. Today, he is serving Jesus, happy and free. Last year Kim published his life story - 'Under the Same Sky: From Starvation in North Korea to Salvation in America.' [Source: Joseph Kim , Joel News International 1004, 23 Aug. 2016].