Jeffrey Fowle, who became the center of an international incident when he left a Bible in North Korea, and who later served nearly six months in detention for doing so, knew exactly what he was doing.
He knew the risk and he knew the possible consequences. And he thinks it was all worth it.
He also now has a chore list about a mile long.
Fowle, a Miamisburg, Ohio, husband and father of three children, spoke publicly Friday for the first time since being released. He said that his visit to North Korea in April was motivated in part by a desire to visit the country, which few Westerners have seen in decades. But clearly this was a trip about faith —and proselytizing.
In the weeks before Fowle left Miamisburg for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, another American was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for spreading the word of God. So Fowle knew the risks.
“I did. I knew I was going against the laws of the DPRK,” Fowle said. “Having seen the plight of the people, I knew about the severe Christian persecution. I wanted to help them.”
So Fowle left a Korean/English Bible in a public bathroom in a restaurant/bar in Pyongyang. Clearly his tour group was being watched because the next day the tour guide asked if anybody had left anything behind. Fowle would not deny his actions, even though he knew it meant trouble. He raised his hand and said he left a Bible.
For two days nothing happened. Then, at the airport at Pyongyang, when he was preparing to leave the country, Fowle was detained.
He was held in his hotel room for nearly a month, and then a detention center for the next five months. Did he think God would protect him? “Yes, and I believe I was protected, I was never harmed physically,” Fowle said. “I was never in jeopardy of giving up faith.”
But that is not to say his time was easy. The beginning, especially, was arduous. Fowle did not know what his wife knew about his disappearance. He kept thinking of Tatyana waiting for him at an airport. He wondered about the fears of his children, Alex, 13, Chris, 11, and Stephanie, 9…Read More
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