Christianity Rigorously Repressed in North Korea, Says Federal Agency

''Any reappearance of Christianity, possibly permeating from northern China to where many thousands of North Koreans fled from famine in the 1990s, is rigorously repressed''

By Kenneth Chan, Friday, March 25, 2005

North Korea represses religion and has an official ideology that is a form of secular humanism, a bipartisan federal agency said on Thursday.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor religious freedom in other countries, said interviews with North Korean refugees showed a pattern of arrest, imprisonment, torture and execution for public expressions of religion.

"Any reappearance of Christianity, possibly permeating from northern China to where many thousands of North Koreans fled from famine in the 1990s, is rigorously repressed," USCIRF North Korean researcher David Hawk said at a news conference, as reported by Reuters.

According to a report published last year by Italy-based AsiaNews, there are only two Protestant churches in addition to one priestless Catholic church and one Orthodox center of worship in North Korea--all of which can be found in the capital city of Pyongyang.

AsiaNews reported that many foreigners who have attended religious services do not believe that the celebrations and faithful are “fake” or dramatized by the government, but all noted that sermons were filled with many political references. Others have said that government propaganda is found to exist within these churches and are not in constant use.

There are no exact figures on the number of faithful and places of worship existing in North Korea, AsiaNews further stated in its report. According to certain estimates there are about 12,000 Protestant Christians and 4,000 Catholic Christians out of a total population of 24 million in North Korea. It is said that since communists took over the government in 1953, some 300,000 Christians have disappeared and there are no longer priests or nuns in the country, all likely killed during times of persecution.

In recent years Pyongyang has reportedly grown worried about “spiritual pollution” of North Koreans and has attempted to persecute such “corrupt” citizens living abroad. In China, for example, where there are 100,000-300,000 North Korean refugees, Pyongyang has obtained support from Beijing to hunt the “fugitives” down.

A Japanese human rights activist reported that the North Korean government built a fake church in China (in Yanji, Jilin province), just 20 km from the border. There, Chinese police arrested many North Korean refugees and had them sent back to North Korea, the activist claimed. During long interrogations, North Korean government authorities reportedly ask the repatriated refugees what kind of contact they've had with South Korean missionaries working in China, if they read the Bible or attend church services. Those who admit to having contact with missionaries or any other religious affiliations and activities are reportedly imprisoned and condemned to death.

At a public hearing held in January 2004 at the UCLA School of Law, former USCIRF Chair Michael K. Young said, "The human rights crisis in North Korea should be at the forefront of U.S. foreign policy and underscores the moral obligation of all nations and free people everywhere to help and give hope to those who are oppressed."

At the recent news conference, USIRF vice-chair Felice D. Gaer said a full report on the findings from interviews with some 30 ordinary North Koreans among some 6,000 who have escaped to South Korea since 2000 would be published later this year.