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A family who lives in a Salt Lake City suburb accidentally left their 3 year old child in a corn maze. The mom left him around 7:30 at night and didn't realize he was gone until the next morning. The police officers had him stay with them and watch a movie on a laptop. The mom called the police to say she might have lost her son in a corn maze. She was reunited with her son. The reason they believe she lost him was because she has many other children living under her roof.

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Pro-tip for families planning to visit a corn maze this fall: It doesn't count as solving the maze if your children don't make it out with you.

One family failed to heed that advice and left a 3-year-old boy behind at the Crazy Corn Maze in the Salt Lake City suburb of West Jordan, Utah, Monday night. The mother failed to notice her son was missing until the next morning.

An unrelated guest found the boy near the maze entrance at about 7:30 p.m. MT.

"He was crying and upset and obviously scared," Kendall Schmidt, who runs the maze, told The Washington Post.

"We couldn't get him to give us his name," Schmidt added. "He could say his brother's name and his cat's name, but not his own name."

An off-duty police officer let the boy watch a movie on a laptop in her patrol car while staff members walked through the maze with a bullhorn trying to find the parents. When they couldn't find his family, they waited for someone to return for the boy.

Closing time came and went, but no one ever arrived. The Utah Division of Child and Family Services kept the boy overnight.

The child's mother woke up Tuesday morning and finally noticed he was missing.

"She realized she may have left him at the corn maze and called us," West Jordan police Sgt. Joe Monson told The Salt Lake Tribune. The Division of Child and Familly Services told police the mother would be subject to questioning before the boy could be returned to her custody.

Monson said the mother arrived at the police station with about 10 children, according to the Associated Press.

"This was a case of multiple families with multiple children living in the same home," Monson told the Tribune, adding that the DCFS was investigating the incident.
Contributing: Francis Lally, Asbury Park (N.J.) Press, Neptune, N.J.

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3-year-old left in corn maze, family didn't notice

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Pro-tip for families planning to visit a corn maze this fall: It doesn't count as solving the maze if your children don't make it out with you. One family failed to heed that advice and left a 3-year-old boy behind at the Crazy Corn Maze in the Salt Lake City suburb of West Jordan, Utah, Monday night.

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North Korea cyber army attacks U.S.

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A cache of secret U.S.-South Korean military files including plans to taken down North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could have been stolen by hackers last year, a lawmaker for South Korea's ruling Democratic Party said Tuesday.

Rhee Cheol-hee said hackers broke into the Defense Integrated Data Center in September 2016 and stole a number of classified documents, citing defense ministry officials.

The news first emerged in April, with local newspaper Chosun Ilbo quoting anonymous defense ministry sources and noting that the ministry had previously downplayed the seriousness of the hacking.

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According to Rhee, the ministry still has to identify the content of about 80 percent of the 235 gigabytes of data that was stolen.

"The Ministry of National Defense has yet to find out about the content of 182 gigabytes of the total (stolen) data," the lawmaker said in a statement quoted in the South Korean news agency Yonhap.

He also said that among the stolen files were Operation Plans 5015 and 3100. The operation plans are classified to the point that South Korean lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties protested about the superficial briefing received by defence officials when they were introduced in 2015, as reported in the local press at the time.

It later emerged that OPLAN 5015 includes a pre-emptive strike on the North's nuclear and missile facilities, as well as "decapitation attacks" against Kim and the rest of the North Korean leadership.

While OPLAN 5015 is seen as a blueprint for a limited war, OPLAN 3100 instead deals with Seoul's response to possible North Korean localized provocation or commando infiltration.

According to Rhee, the hackers have also gained infortmation about state-of-the-art military facilities, power plants and the joint military drills with the U.S. as well as reports meant for U.S. commanders.

North Korea has denied reports of the hacking, but it is no secret Pyongyang has trained a group of elite hackers over the years. In 2014, a North Korean defector spoke of his experience at the country's military college for computer science where top students are hand-picked to join the cyber warfare cell. Cyber security experts also believe Pyongyang hackers may have been behind the global "WannaCry" ransomware global cyber attack in May.

In 2016, South Korea said more than 140,000 computers at 160 south Korean firms and government agencies had been targeted by North Korean hackers. Among the stolen files were military documents related to blueprints for the wings of F-15 fighters, Reuters reported.

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Secret military plans to "decapitate" Kim Jong Un may have been stolen by North Korean hackers

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A cache of secret U.S.-South Korean military files including plans to taken down North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could have been stolen by hackers last year, a lawmaker for South Korea's ruling Democratic Party said Tuesday. Rhee Cheol-hee said hackers broke into the Defense Integrated Data Center in September 2016 and stole a number of classified documents, citing defense ministry officials.

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11 dead in Northern California wildfire

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live: the us supreme court hears oral arguments - cnn

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LIVE: The US Supreme Court hears oral arguments - CNN

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The US Supreme Court hears arguments in a case involving President Trump's attempt to exclude undocumented immigrants from being counted the Census. The Supreme Court will also hear a second case that examines the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

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Your kansas city chiefs are now 5-0 after sunday nights game

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14th person died in nursing home after it overheats due to AC outage.

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Weeks after Miguel Antonio Franco died when his Florida nursing home lost air conditioning from Hurricane Irma, his wife, Cecilia Franco, became the 13th person to die from the incident, police confirmed to ABC News today.

Another patient was confirmed to have died, authorities said today, bringing the total to 14.

On Sept. 13, more than 100 residents were evacuated from the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills after the facility's air conditioning system failed, subjecting the elderly residents to sweltering heat. The nursing home is affiliated with the Larkin Community Hospital.

Medical staff from Memorial Regional Hospital, which is near the nursing home, described a chaotic scene of evacuating the patients from the nursing home after three came into the emergency room with "extraordinarily high temperatures."

Some of the patients who were admitted to the hospital had temperatures of up to 106 degrees, hospital officials told ABC News. Once hospital staff realized something was amiss at the nursing home, they went into a mass casualty incident mode and began wheeling patients from the nursing home to the hospital on stretchers.

The facility -- which has been shut down -- is now the subject of a criminal investigation. The patients' causes of death have not been released because of an ongoing criminal investigation, ABC affiliate WPLG-TV reported.

The Francos' children last month filed a wrongful death suit against the facility, the family's lawyer, Albert Levin, confirmed to ABC News.

Levin said in a statement to ABC News, "The Franco and Navarro families are now mourning the passing of their mother and grandmother Cecilia Franco, this on the heels of losing her husband of 62 years, their father and grandfather Miguel Franco, both of whom perished in a horrific avoidable tragedy which should never have occurred. Their pain cuts deeply having lost not one but two loved ones."

The lawsuit alleges the facility didn't secure "reliable and effective air-conditioning systems to operate in the event of an inevitable and foreseeable power outage," leaving the patients to suffer "in extreme heat and deplorable conditions," WPLG-TV reported.

Nursing home administrator Jorge Carballo said in an earlier statement that "the center and its medical and administrative staff diligently prepared" for the hurricane.

"We took part in emergency management preparedness calls with local and state emergency officials, other nursing homes and health regulators," he said. "While our center did not lose power during the storm, it did lose one transformer that powers the air conditioning unit. The center immediately contacted Florida Power & Light and continued to follow up with them for status updates on when repairs would be made. Outreach was also made to local emergency officials and first responders."

ABC News' Dominick Proto, Rachel Katz, Julia Jacobo and Tara Fowler contributed to this report.

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Husband, wife die weeks apart after their nursing home overheated

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Weeks after Miguel Antonio Franco died when his Florida nursing home lost air conditioning from Hurricane Irma, his wife, Cecilia Franco, became the 13th person to die from the incident, police confirmed to ABC News today. Another patient was confirmed to have died, authorities said today, bringing...

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At least 11 dead as fires rage in Northern California

The fires were burning in California's wine country destinations -- Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties -- as well as Yuba County, north of Sacramento, with flames ripping through the lush, picturesque landscape.

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More evacuations ordered as deadly wildfires scorch Northern California

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More than a dozen wildfires raged across Northern California for the third straight day Tuesday, with the biggest ones scorching the state's famous wine country, killing at least 17 people and forcing more than 20,000 people to evacuate, authorities said.

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JJ Watt out for the season.

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Houston Texans superstar defensive lineman J.J. Watt suffered a serious left leg injury Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs in the first quarter and was unable to walk off the field under his own power.

The Texans announced Watt has a tibial plateau fracture, and head coach Bill O'Brien confirmed Monday that Watt will miss the season after Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported the news Sunday night.

Watt was seen on crutches entering an ambulance after suffering the injury, per Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle.

Watt and his brother T.J. tweeted about the injury:

JJ Watt @JJWatt
I can't sugarcoat it, I am devastated. All I want to do is be out there on that field for my teammates and this city. I'm sorry.
2017-10-9 11:16:07

Adding to the Texans' woes in Week 5, John McClain of the Houston Chronicle reported Whitney Mercilus needs surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle suffered in the first quarter and will miss the rest of the season.

Injuries are becoming a worrying storyline for Watt. A back injury cost him all but three games in the 2016 season, and he dislocated a finger in the season opener, though he didn't miss a game. He also dealt with a broken hand in 2015.

When he's stayed healthy, he's been the most dominant defensive player in the NFL. In his first five seasons (2011-15), he registered 372 tackles, 74.5 sacks, 15 forced fumbles, 12 fumble recoveries and 45 pass deflections.

Pro Football Focus ranked him as its top player for the 2014 season and No. 5 player in 2015. He's a three-time Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year, four-time Pro Bowler and four-time first-team All-Pro selection.

Watt is the heartbeat of the Texans defense and recently used his platform to raise over $37 million in donations for relief for those affected by Hurricane Harvey as more than 200,000 people donated.

While the team managed to reach the postseason without Watt in 2016, the defense is far better when he's in the lineup alongside Jadeveon Clowney.

In his absence, Brandon Dunn, Joel Heath and Carlos Watkins should see more time in Houston's defensive line rotation.

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J.J. Watt Hospitalized After Suffering Leg Injury, Out for Season

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Houston Texans superstar defensive lineman J.J. Watt suffered a serious left leg injury Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs in the first quarter and was unable to walk off the field under his own power.

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Kansas City, Missouri – Recent articles indicate that only 5% of drivers pay less than $50 a month for car insurance – but EverQuote is changing that.

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Jason Ritter Breaks Guinness World Record For Most Hugs On “The View”

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Jason Ritter used his time on "The View" to break a Guinness World Record. He earned the new title for an individual giving the most hugs in one minute.

Ritter was on the ABC talk show to promote his new show, "Kevin (Probably) Saves The World." Last week, however, he revealed that his appearance would include an attempt at breaking the world record for hugging. He and co-star JoAnna Garcia Swisher even filmed an amusing training video.

For a hug to count, he explained that arms had to go around and torsos had to connect. And with the help of the show's crew, he got a lot of practice in. At one point, though, he was adorably distracted by a tiny dog. Ritter tweeted, "I've got the best hugging coach in the world monitoring my technique, keeping me on track! One puppy break could be the thing that ruins me." The actor said he also planned to study the technique of Krishna Kumar of India, who set the previous record.

Now on the ABC talk show, Ritter revealed that the network deemed Tuesday to be "National Hug A Kevin Day" to tie into the comedy program.

"One of the things on the show is that I have to hug pepple. It's complicated. Watch the show and you'll know what I'm talking about," the actor said, going on to encourage people to embrace embracing. "I will say, first of all, hug responsibly and consensually." He then added, "But today, I'm going to try to break the Guiness Book of World Records record for the most hugs in one minute. So I'm going to need my huggers."

With the record at 79, Ritter enlisted 100 people for his challenge, along with a blue sweat band to keep him cool. Naturally, "The View" co-hosts got in line to be part of the huggers, and Ritter kept going even after time ran out.

Of course, only what occurred before the buzzer counted, and the official Guinness World Records record-keeper on hand confirmed that the star did indeed set a new record, though Gossip Cop won't spoil by how much. The Guinness staffer declared, "You are now officially amazing." He was even presented with a certificate.

Related slideshow: The latest Guinness World Records (via Photo Services)

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Jason Ritter Breaks Guinness World Record For Most Hugs On "The View"

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Jason Ritter used his time on "The View" to break a Guinness World Record. He earned the new title for an individual giving the most hugs in one minute. Ritter was on the ABC talk show to promote his new show, "Kevin (Probably) Saves The World."

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In fact, LaMelo might be the most famous 16-year-old in American sports. He’s already committed to UCLA (following in the footsteps of his two older brothers) to play basketball, which means LaVar’s grand plan—UCLA, then the NBA for all three boys—is proceeding quite nicely.

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Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images
Celebrity children (prodigy athletes and otherwise) have forgone the mythical "high school experience" for ages-why should future Lakers superstar and NBA MVP (if you're listening to his father, at least) LaMelo Ball have to throw on a backpack?
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
LaVar Ball announced that LaMelo Ball will be home-schooled for his junior and senior years of high school earlier this week, to what, at this point, has become a predictable barrage of headlines and tweets. Concerns about LaMelo's education (the possibility of the guy who said he could beat Michael Jordan one-on-one teaching history), his social life (but prom!), and his basketball future (where will he play, if not on his high school team?) suddenly became the A1 topic for , and talking heads reacting to said columns .

Aside from the fact that publicly debating LaMelo's high school education is almost certainly more detrimental to his development than his missing group discussion on The Great Gatsby, the reactionary fervor misses the point: LaMelo Ball-by virtue of the very fact he merits all this discussion-is a celebrity, and many celebrity children are home-schooled. It's Los Angeles; this is normal.

In fact, LaMelo might be the most famous 16-year-old in American sports. He's already committed to UCLA (following in the footsteps of his two older brothers) to play basketball, which means LaVar's grand plan-UCLA, then the NBA for all three boys-is proceeding quite nicely. In the meantime, the patriarch seems uninterested in acquiescing to public hand-wringing about any of his many, many hardline takes which are-at best- bold and funny , and at worst, . His brash style and his progeny's collective shooting percentage are 2017 sports media catnip, which has brought LaMelo 2.7 million Instagram followers and (somewhat controversially) his own sneaker at the age most kids are looking for their driver's license and first job. LaMelo's first car is a Lamborghini : Whether you think it's overkill or not, it's proof he's already so far removed from a "normal high school experience" that physically taking him out of school is almost redundant.

The Ball family has been called the Kardashians of the sports world (much to LaVar's chagrin ) and has the reality show to prove it. Kendall and Kylie Jenner both graduated from Laurel Springs High School , a private distance-learning program based in Ojai, California-functionally, home schooling, and one of the many distance-learning options available for LaMelo. Though the Kardashians give a sense of what it's like to be absurdly rich and famous in high school, the demands of Instagram modeling, appearances and makeup lines are different from what's required to make it in the NBA. (Not harder or easier-just different.)

The better parallel comes from some of the sports world's most famous siblings, the Williams sisters. Both were home-schooled at the behest of a father, Richard Williams, who was criticized for his take-no-prisoners approach to getting his daughters to the top of the tennis world with many of the same dog-whistling adjectives as LaVar has been using: "Some sort of supernatural confidence seems to allow Williams the ability to speak his mind," wrote the Palm Beach Post in 1998, "regardless of what kind of silly, brazen or just plain bizarre thought is going through it." The home schooling coincided with Williams' now-apocryphal decision to coach the sisters himself, despite the fact that he was a self-taught tennis player-a decision that mirrors LaVar's conviction that he'll be training LaMelo on his own (despite the fact that basketball is, of course, a team sport). Compared to Williams, LaVar's middling college basketball bona fides make him seem positively overqualified.
Chris Marion/Getty Images
Emulating Venus and Serena's path is not for the faint of heart and poses unique challenges in a sport so dependent on team hierarchy-not to mention potential eligibility issues when it comes time for LaMelo to (hopefully) head off to UCLA. It's totally possible that his scheme will fall flat, that LaMelo's talent won't live up to LaVar's intentionally hyperbolic claims, and he'll be left being pretty good at basketball with only a superficial knowledge of the periodic table. In the meantime, he will have made more money than most of the people debating his high school enrollment will in their lifetimes (including this writer). Best-case scenario, all of LaVar's dreams come true and the NBA becomes the National Ball Association. Either way, LaVar has made it clear he's not afraid of taking his three sons the hard way to the top.

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Kendall & Kylie Didn't Need the High School Experience, so LaMelo Ball Shouldn't Either

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Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images Celebrity children (prodigy athletes and otherwise) have forgone the mythical "high school experience" for ages-why should future Lakers superstar and NBA MVP (if you're listening to his father, at least) LaMelo Ball have to throw on a backpack?

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At least 11 dead as fires rage in Northern California

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More evacuations ordered as deadly wildfires scorch Northern California

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More than a dozen wildfires raged across Northern California for the third straight day Tuesday, with the biggest ones scorching the state's famous wine country, killing at least 17 people and forcing more than 20,000 people to evacuate, authorities said.

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California wildfires kill at least 11, more than 100 reported missing in wine country

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Texas Tech student accused of killing officer is caught, police say

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A Texas Tech student brought to the university's police station after a welfare check shot and killed an officer Monday night before bolting, officials said, locking down the campus and urging students and staff to "take shelter."

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Alina Sheykhet, a student at the University of Pittsburgh, was found dead in her home.

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A 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student was found dead in her off-campus home Sunday with blunt force trauma injuries, and officials are investigating the incident as a homicide.

Authorities were called to Russian-born Alina Sheykhet's home around 9 a.m. after her parents found her unresponsive on the second floor of the residence, the Pittsburgh Police said in a news release.

Sheykhet's roommates originally thought she was still sleeping, but Sheykhet's brother, Artem, 25, told KDKA-TV she was found unresponsive on the floor after her father forced open the door to her room. Artem, who was celebrating his birthday, told the television station he believed she was murdered.

The Allegheny County medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, but didn't specify what, where or how Sheykhet was struck on her body or what type of object may have been used.

Neighbors reported a party at the residence Saturday night, attended by about 30 people, but police haven't said whether that's a part of their investigation.

The house is located in an area where many Pitt students live in off-campus housing. Several said they were "shocked" by the apparent murder.

"You don't really hear about this often here. You hear about small stuff like robberies or people falling off buildings, but you never hear of a murder," Pitt sophomore James Hennessy told WTAE-TV. "So I'm really shocked. Kind of scary."

Sheykhet attended Montour High School in Robinson Township, a Pittsburgh suburb, after moving from Ivanovo, Russia, according to her Facebook page. The social media page doesn't say how long ago Sheykhet came to the country.

A friend of Sheykhet told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette she was a "talented, careful person."

"I could go on and on about how much of a wonderful person she is," Mark Schlaegle, a former classmate and friend from Montour High School, told the paper. "Alina was the most beautiful, open-minded, talented, careful person."

The university issued a statement expressing sadness and extending "its deepest sympathies to the student's family and those who knew her." The school planned to have counselors available Monday to students who requested them.

The statement also suggested authorities know more than they're letting on about who, or how, Sheykhet was killed than they've stated publicly, saying, "Police do not believe the situation, which occurred off campus, provides further threat to the University community."

Campus police were working with the city's Violent Crime Unit on the investigation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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University of Pittsburgh student found dead in homicide in off-campus home

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A 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student was found dead in her off-campus home Sunday with blunt force trauma injuries, and officials are investigating the incident as a homicide. Authorities were called to Russian-born Alina Sheykhet's home around 9 a.m. after her parents found her unresponsive on the second floor of the residence, the Pittsburgh Police said in a news release.

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Trump challenges Tillerson to battle of IQ tests over reported 'moron' jab

Rex Tillerson reportedly claimed the president was a moron and Trump fired back.
"I think it's fake news, but if he did that, I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win," Trump said.

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President Trump, after seemingly patching things up with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson following a report that he once called the president a "moron" and considered quitting, has challenged the top diplomat to "compare IQ tests" if he indeed said that.

The president made the comments in an interview with Forbes, for a story published Tuesday.

"I think it's fake news, but if he did that, I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win," Trump said.

Tillerson scrambled last week to counter an NBC News report claiming that Vice President Pence had to intervene over the summer to help convince him not to resign - and that Tillerson called the commander-in-chief a "moron."

Tillerson adamantly denied he considered resigning, while a spokeswoman later pushed back on the "moron" anecdote, though reporters stood by the account.

Tillerson's public pushback seemed to calm the waters.

Trump on Saturday denied a frayed relationship with Tillerson but said he sometimes wishes Tillerson would be "tougher."

Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis are scheduled to have lunch with Trump Tuesday.

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Trump challenges Tillerson to battle of IQ tests over reported 'moron' jab

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President Trump, after seemingly patching things up with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson following a report that he once called the president a "moron" and considered quitting, has challenged the top diplomat to "compare IQ tests" if he indeed said that.

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California music teacher allegedly blackmailed student he molested with revenge porn threats.

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Bibles and religious texts are being smuggled into North Korea via helium balloons in an attempt to give hope to impoverished citizens.

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On the nights when the winds are light and the skies are dark, hundreds of helium-filled balloons are sent up and away from multiple points in South Korea, destined a few miles away and into North Korea. Only these are no ordinary balloons - they are considered "Bible Balloons," adorned with the Words of God printed in Korean or flash drives featuring the entire texts of the Testament.

It is one of the few creative - and inherently dangerous - ways bibles are smuggled into the oppressive dictatorship in the hopes that impoverished North Koreans will know that they aren't forgotten. Other activists, such as American pastor Eric Foley, have opted for a much larger hydrogen-fueled 40-foot balloon brimming with bibles and testimonials. These are then dropped into rural areas with the help of GPS technology, in the hopes that even just one will be picked up.

"Growth in Christianity does not happen in waves but always one at a time," Foley - CEO of Voice of the Martyrs Korea - told Fox News.

Nonetheless, the regime is well aware of the biblical balloons - which have been at the center point of bible smuggling since the 90's - and if the endeavor to shoot them down fails, anyone spotted collecting the contents is immediately arrested. These days, flash drives, SD cards, leaflets and photos featuring the strictly outlawed religious texts are also disseminated not only from balloons but also through the use of large drones - and more and more, bibles are being disseminated in electronic rather than print form.

Such smuggling programs generate little funding or support from outside governments, and are generally left up to missionaries, nongovernmental organizations and activists.

"It is becoming too dangerous and bulky to bring in hard copy bibles," one Korean source familiar with the operations said. "Over the past 10 years, there has been a growing demand for 'outside' information - whether religious or secular."

But still, there are on the on-foot actors.

"The bibles are printed in another country, and then secretly taken and distributed in North Korea, usually a few at a time," Vernon Brewer, founder and president of Christian humanitarian organization World Help, told Fox News. "The people who smuggle bibles have to be extremely careful, changing their route and taking other precautions to avoid getting caught."

According to Brewer, once those bibles are inside, they are passed along through trusted believers, and he and his organization send a couple of different sizes - but the most popular versions are the small New Testaments.

"This is because they fit in the palm of your hand and can easily be exchanged during a handshake or left in strategic locations for people to find," he continued.
AS NORTH KOREA THREATENS ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE ATTACK, QUESTIONS OVER LAPSES IN US GRID SECURITY RISE HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY SUE ISIS, HEZBOLLAH OR THE REGIMES OF IRAN, SYRIA AND NORTH KOREA NORTH KOREA: HOW CHRISTIANS SURVIVE IN THE WORLD'S MOST ANTI-CHRISTIAN NATION
Another smuggling method in is via the occasional - and lawbreaking - tourist. Although any visitors to the hermit kingdom are rigorously warned by external tour companies to take in absolutely no religious texts or symbols and refrain from any type of discussion on it that could be interpreted as proselytizing, some still take the risk. And pay the price.

Just ask Ohio native, Jeffrey Fowle. A devout Christian and father of three, the perpetually curious 58-year-old journeyed to North Korea on an organized tour in 2014, and was detained after deliberately concealing a Bible under a trash can in the men's room of a Pyongyang nightclub. He had hoped the bootlegged bible - which contained his name and family photographs - would make its way to someone in the underground Christian community.

Three years later, in May of this year, his release was finally secured by U.S officials.

Fowle is one of the lucky ones. Religious freedom is written into the country's constitution, but the reality on the ground paints a much different picture. For the vast majority of trapped Christians inside the brutal dictatorship, the consequence is life in a labor camp or a public execution by firing squad. Their relatives too are often subject to callous retribution.

"The North Korean regime's legitimacy and claim to power flow out of the idea that Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il and now Kim Jong Un are divine beings. North Korean children are taught to pray before a meal, 'Thank you Father Kim Il Sung for our food,'" Todd Nettleton of Voice of Martyrs Radio pointed out. "They sing praise choruses to the Kims. It is very much a religion. So what makes the regime and the government so upset about a North Korean being a Christian is not just that they are following a different religion, or even that they are following a 'Western' religion. What those Christians are doing literally undermines the very veracity of the North Korean regime. If Jesus is Lord, then Kim Jong Un can't be."

Furthermore, Christian North Korean defectors in the border areas of South Korea broadcast gospels on an almost daily basis. Roughly 20 percent of the 25 million North Korean population own a radio - an illicit item - and many will risk their own lives to tune in.

"Radio, just as in the days of the Cold War, remains an incredibly useful tool to inject truth and the Gospel into North Korea," said Jeff King, president of advocacy group International Christian Concern. "And we remain an ardent supporter of pushing Christian content into North Korea through radio and other means."

But despite the harsh penalties that come with praising anyone of any belief system outside the Kims, there is a sense that an ascending number of North Koreans are turning to Christianity.

"The church is growing at a faster rate in North Korea than in South Korea, where the church has declined in membership every year since 1991," Foley observed.

According to the prominent pastor, the uptick in the North is mainly due to the covert network of North Korean Christians, rather than religious advocates from the outside.

"The reason why is that the work of missionaries on the North Korea/China border is easily infiltrated and neutralized by North Korean state security agents, but the work of underground North Korean Christians has continued faithfully for more than three generations," he explained. "They don't smuggle large numbers of bibles into North Korea, but instead, certain members of the underground church carry Bibles across the border one at a time, often in the form of MP3 players."

These Christians are native North Koreans who are given permission to travel to China on relative visas or work visas. Some have established relationships with border guards who accept bribe money - and are under close and careful surveillance themselves - who turn a blind-eye to the illegal material being brought back in, while others have it carefully concealed from all.

Ben Gabriel, Initiative Director for the missionary Alpha Relief, noted that the regime likely knows exactly when and how the bible smuggling is happening, but also knows there is only so much that can be done to stop it.

"North Korea no longer has an iron grip on the spread of information in the country," he added. "The Christian message has a strong appeal to people trapped in that kind of system. If you've given your life over to Christ, no one can take it from you. That is true freedom. It is freedom from fear."

Hollie McKay has been a FoxNews.com staff reporter since 2007. She has reported extensively from the Middle East on the rise and fall of terrorist groups such as ISIS in Iraq. Follow her on twitter at @holliesmckay

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Operation Bible Smuggling: How Christian texts infiltrate North Korea

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On the nights when the winds are light and the skies are dark, hundreds of helium-filled balloons are sent up and away from multiple points in South Korea, destined a few miles away and into North Korea.

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Texas Tech student accused of killing officer is caught.

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Texas Tech student accused of killing officer is caught, police say

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A Texas Tech student brought to the university's police station after a welfare check shot and killed an officer Monday night before bolting, officials said, locking down the campus and urging students and staff to "take shelter."

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California Wildfire kills at least 11 people and injured over 100. Most deadly wildfire in state history.

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Dry conditions and gusting winds fueled a deadly outbreak of wildfires in California on Sunday that quickly exploded through thousands of acres of forest and residential neighborhoods, killing at least 11, injuring over 100 and destroying some 1,500 structures while scorching nearly 100,000 acres of land.

It is already among the deadliest wildfire outbreaks in the state's history, and officials have said the death toll may go up as responders reach more areas that have been struck by the out-of-control blazes.

The so-called Tubbs fire claimed seven lives in Sonoma County, officials said, making it one of the most devastating natural disasters in the county's history.

Here are some of the deadliest wildfires in California state history:

Griffith Park, Los Angeles County (October 1933): 29 dead

Tunnel - Oakland Hills, Alameda County (October 1991): 25 dead

Cedar, San Diego County (October 2003): 15 dead

Rattlesnake, Glenn County (July 1953): 15 dead

Loop, Los Angeles County (November 1966): 12 dead

The Associated Press

Inaja, San Diego County (November 1956): 11 dead

Hauser Creek, San Diego County (October 1943): 11 dead

Iron Alps Complex, Trinity County (August 2008): 10 dead

Harris, San Diego County (October 2007): 8 dead

Canyon, Los Angeles County (August 1968): 8 dead

Source: California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

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California wildfire outbreak kills at least 11, among most deadly in state history

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Dry conditions and gusting winds fueled a deadly outbreak of wildfires in California on Sunday that quickly exploded through thousands of acres of forest and residential neighborhoods, killing at least 11, injuring over 100 and destroying some 1,500 structures while scorching nearly 100,000 acres of...

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A Texas Tech student is under arrest for a shooting in a police station.

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Texas Tech student accused of killing officer is caught, police say

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A Texas Tech student brought to the university's police station after a welfare check shot and killed an officer Monday night before bolting, officials said, locking down the campus and urging students and staff to "take shelter."