In the earlier news article, published on December 5, 2018, titled, "Newsnjoy suspected of being a cell organization planted in the Christian church by the followers of North Korea's Juche ideology" Christian Today confirmed that media outlet Newsnjoy, despite its slogan "church reform,' in fact follows the North Korean Juche ideology. It is a fifth column planted by the so-called Beautiful Village Community with the aim of destabilizing and destroying Christianity.
Newsnjoy has yet to refute the claims in the report. Koo Kwon-hyo, the current editor-in-chief of Newsnjoy, attempted to muddy the waters with an unrelated answer and further attempted to distance the publication from the Beautiful Village Community. However, there is no doubt that personnel from the Beautiful Village Community are still participating in Christian Youth Academy, an organization connected to Newsnjoy. Pastor Choi Chul-ho, the leader of the Beautiful Village Community, will participate in a panel event held by Christian Youth Academy on December 8, 2018. In addition, the Beautiful Village Community newspaper is published in the Christian Youth Academy and is written, for the most part, by former Newsnjoy journalists. There is still a close relationship between the three of them.
It cannot be denied that Newsnjoy and Beautiful Village Community have shown themselves to be followers of North Korea's Juche ideology. Until the present day, they have never expressed any public regret or apology for their activities.
First of all, let's take a look at an article posted by Yang Jung Ji Geon, former editor-in-chief of Newsnjoy, who frankly revealed his identity as a member of the National Liberation Front. Christian Today's previous article confirmed suspicions that Yang was a follower of the North Korean Juche ideology and was a member of the Democratic Labor Party, the predecessor of the Unified Progressive Party, an organization that was dissolved after being charged with promoting insurrection. Christian Today confirmed this to be true after examining documents related to Newsnjoy.
In 2012, Mr. Yang posted an article on his social media entitled, "Writing about my old love." Mr. Yang stated, "In 2000, my love came into the world by the name of the Democratic Labor Party. That's when I became a member of the party." He also said that, a few years later, his affection for the Democratic Labor Party ceased and he even left the party, but he expressed positive views on its successor, the Unified Progressive Party, saying, "It's much healthier than the factions in the real political parties" and "It's much more democratic than existing political parties."
The Unified Progressive Party started in 1997 with the name "The People's Victory 21," and subsequently changed its name to the Democratic Labor Party. In 2012, the name changed again to the Unified Progressive Party, and finally, it was forcibly dissolved in 2014. Throughout its history, however, and no matter what name it went by, the Unified Progressive Party was dogged by controversy caused by its North Korean sympathies. Affiliates of the National Liberation Front and followers of the Juche ideology have been leaders of the organization for a long time.
Mr. Yang joined Newsnjoy as a reporter in the early 2000s, before quitting to become secretary general of Hanbit Nuri, a related organization. He appeared to have returned to Newsnjoy as editor-in-chief in early 2016, before quitting again a year later.
Mr. Yang wrote about the different views on the human rights of North Korean defectors in an article on why his enthusiasm for the Democratic Labor Party cooled. However, he neglected to mention the fundamental cause behind problems faced by defectors, namely the North Korean regime itself. He also stated on social media, "I thought I was National Liberation Front myself, but I felt I was like a People's Democracy Revolution member in the Democratic Labor Party."
In 2015, Mr. Yang said on social media that Paektu Mountain is "the holy mountain of revolution," the mountain where Kim Il-sung's revolutionary history allegedly began. He further described the ruling Kim family as the "Paektu bloodline."
It's well known that in North Korea, the Juche ideology has the status of a pseudo-religion with absolute and extrajudicial authority over all aspects of North Korean life and involves the worship of Kim Il-sung. No person, ideology, organization, or authority that opposes Juche can exist in North Korea. As a result, North Korea is notorious for its persecution of the Christian faith, being listed by Open Doors International as the worst country for persecuting Christians every year from 2002 to 2018.
Can a group that believes in Kim Il-sung's anti-church Juche ideology and dictatorship be described as Christian? What is the "church reform" that they are calling for? In response to this group, a Christian church figure pointed out that North Korea views the churches in Korea as the biggest obstacle to communizing the Republic of Korea and focuses on destroying them. In fact, so many churches have complained against Newsnjoy for causing or exacerbating church conflict to the point of making mission outreach harder.
In particular, a certain pastor from a church in Seoul(who maintains anonymity due to fear of reprisals) claimed that there was an associate pastor in his church who joined the Beautiful Village Community one day and began to take church youths to the Christian Youth Academy. Then those youths began causing much trouble in the church, resulting in the youth department of nearly 200 people being destroyed. Coincidentally, it's been said that Koo Kwon-Hyo, the current editor-in-chief of Newsnjoy(and former reporter for the Newsnjoy-related publication "Gospel and Context' goscon.co.kr), was a leader of the youth department in that church at the time.
Christian Youth Academy is an educational institution established by Newsnjoy, and Pastor Choi Chul-hyo, the representative of Beautiful Village Community, served as chairman of its operation and education committee. Disturbingly, an instructor at Christian Youth Academy who came from Beautiful Village Community expressed very radical and biased ideas, describing the Korean War as a "unification war." Furthermore, one of the students at Christian Youth Academy posted in Newsnjoy that the student movement education he received there was based on the National Liberation Front's viewpoints.
Mr. Koo also proudly and openly declared in 2015 that he was not currently attending church. In an article he posted on Newsnjoy's social media, he said, "I'm saying because it's just between us. I'm a member of Canaan." Canaan is a newly coined term that means "people who claim to be Christians but do not go to church anymore" because the Korean word "Canaan" sounds like "I don't go" when it's reversed. It is absurd for a person who doesn't even attend church to claim that he is a Christian reporter whose only aim is to reform the church.
One Christian church figure said of Newsnjoy, "We cannot serve both God and Kim Il-sung." He added, "We should not deceive the churches with the worldview of North Korea's Juche ideology and claim it's freedom of speech. Newsnjoy is not qualified to speak of church reform, and first of all, they should immediately and publicly repent of their propensity to follow North Korean Juche ideology and withdraw from that ideology."
Related Articles:
- Newsnjoy Faces Controversy Over ‘Cell Organization Planted by Juche Faction in the Christian Community’
- Key personnel of Juche faction with connection to Newsnjoy caught operating in the ROK armed forces and punished
- Are Newsnjoy-related organizations Christian, or followers of the “Supreme Leader”?
- Christian Today’s reporting on Newsnjoy declared “valid,” legal case against Christian Today dismissed by prosecutor
