In a highly unusual press conference in Pyongyang in September, the National Security Service of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) announced the arrest of "foreign spies" and "native citizens working for a foreign intelligence service." The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM), a ministry serving Christians in restricted nations who are persecuted for their faith, announced last week that those arrested in North Korea were in fact Christian believers and not spies. The security service spokesman at the press conference, Li Su Gil, said that those arrested "carried out the missions by means of diverse espionage equipment." He did not name any of those arrested, but VOM has identified the North Korean Christians who have disappeared and are believed to have been arrested by government authorities. According to VOM sources working in North Korea, they were not involved in espionage activities. It is believed that equipment taken by the government was in fact photography equipment used in portrait studio work.
