A nuclear nation that has outlawed God and ‘all freedoms’

As North Korea continues defying the concerns of the world by going ahead with its third nuclear test, refugees from the troubled country have spoken out to reveal the extreme religious persecution believers are suffering in the isolated Pacific nation.

North (right) and South Korean soldiers at the DMZ in Panmunjom. Kim Kyung-Hoon / Reuters
North (right) and South Korean soldiers at the DMZ in Panmunjom. Kim Kyung-Hoon / Reuters

“They ignore all freedoms. The human rights level is zero percent. Religions are not allowed. The leader of North Korea (Kim Jong-Un) has to be worshipped as god and this will not change unless the regime collapses,” said a man identified as “Timothy,” a 24-year old North Korean refugee. …

Just last month, two North Korean Christians were confirmed to have been killed simply for their faith, according to [Open Doors USA, a persecution watchdog group]. One believer was shot while leaving for Bible training in China, and the other died at a labor camp in North Korea.

Jerry Dykstra, a spokesman for Open Doors USA, has said: “We believe that is only the tip of the iceberg. Research estimates there are as many as 70,000 Christians in the gulags out of an estimated 200,000 prisoners.”

“I remember they showed us cartoons and animated movies about bad Christians,” Timothy shared of the 15 years he spent in North Korea. “The Christian God was a monster for me. However, when I was 11, I witnessed the public execution of a Christian. His crime was that he had hidden tiny Bibles in the roof of his house.”

“The same year a lady was shot,” the refugee continued. “She had escaped to China and went to church there, but a North Korean spy discovered her activities. He had her arrested and sent back to North Korea, where she was also killed in public.”

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