Don't carry a Bible in North Korea, you will be jailed
As many as 70,000 people have been prosecuted over religion. 'The right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion continues to be denied in North Korea, with the authorities showing no tolerance for alternative belief systems'
Representational Image. Reuters
A recent report titled ‘International Religious Freedom Report 2022’ by the US state department revealed that North Korea has jailed over 70,000 Christians and people of other religions, including a two-year-old child and his entire family as part of a nationwide campaign of religious persecution.
As per the report, the infant’s family received a sentence of political life imprisonment after authorities discovered a Bible in their possession.
Highlighting the dire situation, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres stated in the report, “The right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion [in the DPRK] continues to be denied, with the authorities showing no tolerance for alternative belief systems.”
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The report outlined various religious atrocities that have taken place in North Korea in recent years.
The COVID-19 pandemic and associated travel restrictions have limited access to information about religious persecution conditions, making it challenging to verify specific cases of abuse, according to the UN.
The State Department confirmed the report’s details through non-governmental organizations (NGOs), human rights groups, and the UN.
While a few registered institutions, including churches, exist in North Korea, particularly in the capital city of Pyongyang, visitors have reported that these churches operate under strict state control and primarily serve as showcases for foreigners.
The Department of State acknowledged that the extent and number of underground or secret churches are difficult to quantify due to the government’s prohibition of private religious activities.
Defectors have revealed that the North Korean government actively encourages citizens to report any unauthorized religious activities or possession of religious materials, such as Bibles.
Defectors have revealed that due to fear of being labeled disloyal to the North Korean government and reported to authorities, Christians in the country often conceal their religious activities from family members, neighbors, coworkers, and others.
In October 2021, Korea Future published a report based on interviews with 244 victims who experienced religious freedom abuses.
Among them, 150 adhered to Shamanism, 91 to Christianity, one to Cheondoism, and one followed other beliefs. The victims’ ages ranged from two to over 80 years old, with women and girls constituting over 70 percent of the documented cases.
According to the report, the government pressed charges against individuals for engaging in religious practices, participating in religious activities in China, possessing religious items, having contact with religious individuals, and sharing religious beliefs.
The consequences for these actions included arrest, detention, forced labor, torture, denial of a fair trial, public execution, and sexual violence.
The report highlighted several incidents, including the imprisonment of a family in 2009 due to their religious practices and possession of a Bible.
The entire family, including a two-year-old child, received life sentences in prison camps. Another shocking incident involved a man who was caught praying and subjected to severe beatings by guards.
Additionally, a member of the Korean Worker’s Party was found with a Bible, subsequently taken by authorities to an airfield, and executed in front of thousands of people.
Christians who managed to escape from North Korean prison camps described the horrific conditions they endured, including extreme malnutrition, forced consumption of contaminated food, verbal and physical abuse, and even execution.
According to Open Doors USA (ODUSA), an NGO dedicated to supporting persecuted Christians worldwide, life for Christians in North Korea is characterized as a continuous state of pressure, where the risk of capture or death is always looming.
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