Korea

Yesterday North Korea, the world’s number one persecutor of Christians, conducted its third test of a nuclear explosive. Christians familiar with the regime believe there is now little or no hope that North Korea’s relatively new leader, Kim Jong-un, will be making any changes to the dictatorship that has imprisoned thousands of Christians for more than five decades.

Reports emerging from inside North Korea indicate that new leader Kim Jong-un is just as if not more oppressive than his father and grandfather. Initial hopes that Kim Jong-un may change policies which have imprisoned thousands of Christians have been dashed little more than a year after his rise to power.

Although this article does not mention the extent of Christian persecution in North Korea, which is sizeable, it does provide several interesting statistics on the almost unbelievable levels of starvation taking place across the country even as the regime spends billions developing nuclear weapons. Mr. Robert Park’s call for a change in policy by Western governments is an important one.

North Korea’s recent public threats to continue testing nuclear weapons and to eventually strike at the United States have overshadowed the deplorable human rights situation in the country. After more than a year in power Kim Jong-un has done nothing to reform civil or religious liberties and an estimated 70,000 Christians remain imprisoned within North Korea’s six major prison camps.

In a very rare release of new information about Christians in the totalitarian state of North Korea, Open Doors has confirmed that two Christians were recently killed by the regime. Both individuals were North Koreans who has escaped the country but decided to voluntarily return to spread the gospel. One was caught and imprisoned in one of the countries notorious prison camps before he died, the other was trying to leave the country to obtain Biblical training when he was shot by border guards.

For decades, the North Korean regime has ruled with complete control over its approximately 20 million citizens. They are deprived of virtually all types of even the most fundamental human rights, including the freedom to choose any religion whatsoever. The government maintains a policy of imprisoning up to three generations of one family for any number of crimes, including practicing Christianity.

North Korean refugees overwhelmingly believe North Korea should indeed be number one on Open Doors’ annual World Watch List. They state that the complete lack of human rights, including freedom of religion, makes the situation in their country incomparable to any other.

Koreans pastors protest development plan