SEOUL, Korea (NNI) – Two thousand Korean Christians publicly pledged to “evangelize North Korea,” following a three-day missions conference held at the world’s largest Presbyterian church in late April.

The Young Nak Church, built by Christians fleeing North Korea in the late 1950s, hosted the gathering in conjunction with a relatively new mission organization, Diaspora International, which encourages Korean Christians throughout the world to work on behalf of their persecuted brethren in North Korea and China. The conference was a preliminary event to the upcoming “Love North Korea” symposium scheduled for the week prior to the Summer Olympics beginning September 18.

Conferences like the planned “Love North Korea” have usually met with disapproval by the South Korean government, which has banned them until recently. Yet, skepticism of the Communist North still prevails, as was the case of an employee working in the printing company where the “Love North Korea” brochures were being printed. According to reports, the employee called police and reported that he was being used to “print North Korean propaganda.”

Peter Lee, chairman of the symposium’s organizing committee, said the print run was allowed to continue after the senior investigating officer, who happened to be a Christian, “put his job on the line when he recommended that the investigation into the brochure cease.”

The “Love North Korea” symposium is the first missionary conference ever to focus entirely on North Korea.