North Korea is the world’s “most dangerous place to follow Jesus”, where Christians are thrown in prison camps and executed for their faith, according to a global report released yesterday. Source: ABC News.
Timothy Cho, who works as a spokesperson for Christian charity Open Doors UK, told the ABC he escaped North Korea at age 17.
Children in North Korea were subject to brainwashing in the state ideology to “believe, regard, speak and act as if Kim is god,” Mr Cho said, referring to the autocratic Kim dynasty who have ruled the country since the mid-20th century.
“North Korea often says Christianity is an American religion, and they try to use Christianity to destroy North Korean society,” he said.
One’s Christian faith is thus considered treasonous and a “crime of all crimes”, punishable by being sent to a gulag or execution, he said.
The World Watch List by Open Doors International – now in its 31st year – has again named the isolated North Asian dictatorship as the most oppressive country to be a Christian on earth.
Open Doors undertakes international Christian missionary work, including the distribution of bibles, as well as being a rights watchdog.
Its findings on the persecution of Christians in North Korea accord with the findings of other Christian and human rights organisations, Western governments and the United Nations.
North Korea has faced severe food shortages in recent decades often worsened by natural disasters and that were further intensified by isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We can just get a bit numb to the fact that people are dying,” Open Doors Australia CEO Adam Holland told the ABC.
He said Open Doors was calling upon the international community to review the civilian impact of economic sanctions on North Korea – and to use the UN Security Council’s exemption mechanism to provide humanitarian assistance to the country.
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North Korea the worst country to be a Christian, Open Doors report says (By Max Walden, ABC News)
