Imprisoned pastor describes life in North Korea as 'hell'

A North Korean pastor who was once tortured in prison for his Christian faith has described his life in the U.S. as "heaven" compared to the "hell" he experienced before he managed to escape from the isolated country.

"There is an enormous difference between my life in North Korea and my life in the U.S," said Choi Kwanghyuk, who now lives in Los Angeles after he defected from North Korea a few years ago. "The life in North Korea is hell, life in America is heaven," he added.

Choi, 55, had started an underground church with about nine worshippers while he was living in North Hamgyong province.

"We had only one Bible. North Hamgyong province is very cold. In the winter, we would dig a big hole and store kimchi there. We sometimes had services there. In the summer, we had services in the mountain or by the river," Choi told Fox News. "I never heard the term 'underground church' until I got here [to the U.S.]," he added.

North Korea has been ranked by the advocacy group Open Doors as the worst country in the world for Christians.

Although there is a "slow church" in Pyongyang for tourists, public worship is forbidden in the country and Christians are forced to hide their faith from the authorities and even from their own relatives.

In 2008, North Korean authorities caught up with Choi and threw him in prison, where he was interrogated about his faith and routinely tortured.

Choi had feared that he would be sent to Camp 22, where prisoners are subject to horrific forms of torture, so he attempted to escape.

Camp 22, also known as Hoeryong concentration camp, is an 87-square-mile penal colony in North Hamgyong province, where most of the inmates are people accused of criticizing the government.

According to a former guard, prisoners at the notorious camp live in bunkhouses with 100 people per room, and 30 percent of the inmates show markings of torture and beatings, such as torn ears, gouged eyes and faces covered with scars.

The church leader managed to escape to China before he could be sent to the camp. He had heard at the time that the image of North Korean defectors was not positive among those in South Korea, so he applied for asylum in the U.S.

Choi was granted asylum in 2013 and lived in Dallas before he made his way to Los Angeles. He is unable to work due to the injuries he sustained while being tortured, but he has committed himself to telling the world about the human rights abuses in his native country.

"There is no freedom in North Korea. By law, they have the freedom of religion and the freedom of the press, but the reality is very different," he said.