|PIC1|The Christian persecution watchdog Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) has today launched a worldwide campaign to free a North Korean man awaiting public execution for being a Christian.

For more than one year, former North Korean Army officer turned underground evangelist Son Jong Nam has been beaten, tortured and held in what VOM described as "a bleak, North Korean death row basement jail" in the capital city of Pyongyang.

According to VOM, he has been sentenced to public execution as an example to the North Korean people.

The VOM campaign for Son's life has been joined by US Senator and presidential candidate for the Republicans Sam Brownback, a noted supporter of human rights for North Korean refugees.

Brownback sent letters last week asking US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to work to secure the release of the Christian prisoner. The letters were also signed by Democratic Senators Max Baucus and Richard Durbin and Republican Senators Jim Inhofe and David Vitter.

VOM is calling on people in the United States and around the world to write letters and send emails on Son Jong Nam's behalf which will then be mailed to the North Korean delegation to the UN. The letters of support will be sent together with a letter from VOM asking the North Korean Government to spare Son's life, release him from prison immediately, report on his current status and deliver the personal letter to Son.

In addition, people are encouraged to send emails to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the US Department of State, asking that they intervene on Son's behalf.

"We are asking for prayers for Mr Son, but also that people around the world take action on his behalf," said Todd Nettleton, director of media development for VOM. "Jesus said ministering to a prisoner was like ministering to Himself. Every letter and email can make a difference."

In his letters to Secretary of State Rice and Secretary General Ban, Senator Brownback wrote: "Future cooperation and engagement with North Korea will be far more challenging if its leaders continue to persecute their own people for religious views. The United States has made political and religious freedoms important elements in its diplomatic relations, and we are gravely concerned about abuses of such basic rights in North Korea."

Some years ago Son complained to the North Korean Central People's Committee when his wife, while being investigated by the secret police, was kicked in the stomach and miscarried. He made plans to leave North Korea after being pressured to drop the matter.

Son defected to China in 1998 with his wife, son and brother. His wife died after arriving there. It was in China that he met a South Korean missionary and became a Christian. Son continued his religious studies and felt called to be an evangelist in North Korea.

Before he could return home, however, Son was arrested by Chinese police in 2001 and sent back to North Korea, charged with sending missionaries into his native country. He was imprisoned and brutally tortured for three years. Many of his 200 fellow inmates were Christians, imprisoned themselves for studying theology in China. Many died within six months, said VOM.

Son was released on parole in May 2004 and expelled from Pyongyang to Chongjin to work at a rocket research institute. According to VOM, his health was so bad when he was released that he was unable to walk.

After receiving medical treatment, he went back to China to meet with his brother but was arrested again when he returned to North Korea in January 2006, and has remained in prison since.

In February, it was revealed that he is being kept in a prison in Pyongyang, although VOM is uncertain as to the reason behind his imprisonment.

According to Nettleton, the communist one-man dictatorship in North Korea is one of the most repressive and isolated regimes in the world and denies every kind of human right to its citizens.

The country's previous leader, Kim Il Sung, founded an ideology called 'juche', or 'self-reliance', which is enforced in every aspect of the culture by the ruling elite. Kim Jong Il, the son of deceased leader Kim Il Sung, is the current leader of North Korea, where both Kims are exalted as deities.

"All religions have been harshly repressed in North Korea," said Nettleton. "Thousands of Christians have been murdered since the Korean War. In 1953, there were an estimated 300,000 Christians; however, the number is much lower today. Christians must practice their faith in deep secrecy and are in constant danger."

There are three official churches in North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, said Nettleton, but they are only for show. Many North Koreans have fled to China, some of them Christians, and have been known to return to North Korea to share the gospel, he said.

"Any North Korean sent back by the Chinese Government faces almost certain death if it is discovered they've had contact with Christians in China," Nettleton said.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) issued a report last month accusing North Korea of international crimes against humanity and urging the UN to establish a commission of inquiry.

The report said a prima facie case against North Korea for committing "murder, extermination, enslavement/forced persecution, enforced disappearance of persons, other inhumane acts and perhaps rape and sexual violence".

According to Nettleton, VOM has been launching helium-filled balloons printed with either the Gospel of Mark or the text of a tract called 'How to Know God' into North Korea for years.

The persecution watchdog also continues to smuggle in copies of an audio drama called 'He Lived Among Us' and have sent copies of The New Testament in Korean to northern China through a VOM program called 'Bibles Unbound'.