The American Spectator : Confronting Religious Persecution in North Korea

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Confronting Religious Persecution in North Korea

By Doug Bandow on 12.23.11 @ 6:08AM

The opportunity to do so come again soon in a prison country that regards religious belief as “bad habit” punishable by imprisonment or worse.

North Korea’s “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il is dead. No one knows what is likely to follow. But one important measure of reform by the new leadership will be ending the regime’s brutal religious persecution.

The so-called Democratic People’s Republic of Korea pioneered the fusion of Communism and monarchy when in 1994 Kim succeeded his father, Kim Il-sung, as supreme leader. Before his death, Kim Jong-il sought to ensure the same transition to his youngest son, Kim Jong-un.

But the latter Kim, tagged “Great Successor” by North Korea’s official media, may not live up to his new title. Kim Jong-il spent a couple decades ascending the party hierarchy under his father’s protection; he anointed his own son less than three years ago. There are plenty of claimants to the throne who have been waiting a long time for the Kims to step, or be pushed, aside.

Whoever wins the inevitable power struggle will face a nation in crisis: isolated and impoverished, the North wins attention only by highlighting its missile and nuclear programs. The country desperately needs economic reform if it is ever going to become “a powerful and prosperous country,” the theme for next year’s planned celebration of the 100th anniversary of Kim Il-sung’s birth.

Even more pressing is political reform. The DPRK suffers under the most murderously repressive government on earth. The stultifying personality cult, extensive system of prison camps, and ruthless suppression of dissent look a lot like Stalin’s Soviet Union, Hoxha’s Albania, and Mao’s China. The North also is among the world’s most vicious religious persecutors. For the Kim cult is akin to a religion, as evidenced by the exaggerated grief expressed over Kim Jong-il’s death.

The regime claims the whole person, just like Christianity and other religions. And in North Korea any competition with the state must be destroyed. That’s why believers are treated as “hostile elements,” according to Human Rights Watch. The architect of the North Korean state, Kim Il-sung, reportedly explained: “we came to understand that religious persons can only be broken of a bad habit if they are killed.”

We know very little about life in the North other than that the regime is brutally repressive. Open Doors routinely rates North Korea number one on its World Watch List. International Christian Concern always places the DPRK in its “Hall of Shame.”

Some 150,000 to 200,000 people are believed to be imprisoned in abysmal conditions. Of those, between 40,000 and 70,000 are said to be held for religious reasons — principally for Christian worship and evangelism. ICC figures that number may be even higher, perhaps 100,000, though no one really knows. Reports circulate of the execution of believers, especially leaders like pastors and Bible smugglers.

According to the State Department’s latest report on international religious liberty, “the government severely restricted religious activity, except that which was supervised tightly by officially recognized groups linked to the government. Genuine religious freedom does not exist.” Unfortunately, repression only seems to have worsened in recent years.

While it is impossible to verify any reports that come out of North Korea, State observed: “Recent refugee, defector, missionary, and nongovernmental organizations (NGO) reports indicated religious persons engaging in proselytizing in the country and those who have been in contact with foreigners or missionaries have been arrested and subjected to harsh penalties. Refugees and defectors continued to say they witnessed the arrest and possible execution of underground Christian church members by the government in prior years.”

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom regularly designates the DPRK as a “Country of Particular Concern.” The Commission reported that “Severe religious freedom abuses occur regularly, including: discrimination and harassment of both authorized and unauthorized religious activity; the arrest, torture, and possible execution of those conducting clandestine religious activity.”

Nevertheless, the regime is nervous. The flood of refugees into China and the regular flow back into the North has increased opportunities for evangelism. The Commission explained: “The North Korean government interrogates asylum-seekers repatriated from China about their religious belief and affiliations, and mistreats and imprisons as security threats those suspected of distributing religious literature or having ongoing connections with South Korean religious groups.”

Even worse in Pyongyang’s eyes is the rise of Christianity within the North’s boundaries. Although no accurate count of Christians is possible, the Pew Forum estimates 480,000, most of them Protestants. The regime targets the faithful: “In recent years, police and security agency offices have infiltrated Protestant churches in China, begun training police and soldiers about the dangers of religion, and set up fake prayer meetings to catch worshippers.” The penalty for law-breakers is high. Stated the Commission: “Anyone caught distributing religious materials, holding unapproved religious gatherings, or having ongoing contact with overseas religious groups is subject to severe punishment ranging from labor camp imprisonment to execution.” One North Korean believer told Open Doors: “Since Kim Jong-un came closer to the helm, North Korea has stepped up its attempts to uncover any religious activities.”

One of the most detailed accounts of persecution in the DPRK comes from Yoon Yeo-sang and Han Sun-young of the North Korean Human Rights Archives and Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, respectively. They interviewed North Korean defectors and refugees and published their report two years ago.

The authors stated: “only 2.9 percent of those arrested are sent to labor training camps. By contrast, 14.9 percent are sent to prisons and an astonishing 81.4 percent to political prisons camps, the harshest level of punishment in North Korean society. This testifies how severely the regime punishes those involved in religious activities.”

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About the Author

Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. A former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is the author and editor of several books, including The Politics of Plunder: Misgovernment in Washington (Transaction).

Letter to the Editor View all comments (18) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Timothy L. Pennell| 12.23.11 @ 7:18AM

So. What do we do, now?

I know. Let's give them food and Fuel. Let's help them out, every winter. Let's bail them out.

If we keep doing this, these people will NEVER be free. As Dylan said: "If you got Nothin, you got Nothin To Lose." That's a Helluva Motivator.

The people need to rise up. Maybe, some of these Military Officers, in High Positions, seeing their people Dying in the streets, as the Leadership continues to Lavish Itself with Luxurious Food, and the Finest Wines, will take notice. Maybe the sight of their LEADER, taking Repeated Vacations, costing MILLIONS of Dollars, of THE People's Money, as his people suffer from a Shared Sacrifice, brought about by His Rule. will MOVE THEM, to do what they know is right, and take matters in to their own hands, for the sake of their people.

The LEADER seeks to placate the masses with just enough to get bye. "I will take care of you", he says. "I will feed, and clothe, and Educate you. "You needn't worry about your Medical", he says. "I will take care of you."

Sound familiar? It should. It's being said, every day, by the Madman in our Country. It's been said a Thousand times, by a thousand different Madmen. And, it always ends in BLOOD.
BUT IT ENDS!

Give them NOTHING.
China wants them, so bad?
Let China feed them.

We've got our own "Leader" to deal with.

Alan Brooks| 12.25.11 @ 2:36AM

N. Korea isn't much worse than Mexico- all third world cesspools are the same.

POST American| 12.23.11 @ 7:53AM

----ALAS.

North Korea remains the proxy and buffer
of the Globalist's 'fave' creation --the US
taxpayer underwritten 'RED China miracle'.

Dean Rusk, acting, no doubt, on behalf
of 'hidden masters' a la the ever sinister Averell Harrimann,
BALKED American victory in '52 just as forces
were decisively seizing the initiative.

This created yet another 'sealed off' zone
of EUGENICS experimantation and warm
'social engineering' ---BOTH in Korea and
RED China. The magnitude truly eclipses
even the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany
---and, again, like the Soviet Union,
all in 'peacetime'.

RED China, even now, has NO borders
accessible to free and open, modern nations.

Little Korea, having been under the Japanese
heel, and, again, 'warm EUGENICS experimentation'
thanks to Teddy Roosevelt's
and Bernard Baruch's handovers, later
left, after the Korean War horrifically riven.

A free, unified and open Korea on RED
China's border ---even now we believe,
is unacceptable both to the RED Chinese
regime ---and to the Global elites.

Remember, they love staggered conflict,
and tinder boxes of the unresolvable.
(think South Africa,Ulster, East Germany,Israel,
Cuba, Korea ---seems each region needs at least one)

It would, as it would have in 1952, spell
the end of the boys in Beijing.

NO, Korea was to be used to 'seal off'
China from comparison and interference
---a la the Soviet Union.

---The EUGENICS agenda was, and still is,
on the move!

"Understand, 'Free trade' (is monopoly trade),
Globalism, TREASON, USURY and EUGENICS
are ALWAYS intertwined. ---ALWAYS."

----AGAIN, we finally must take note of the
cross the boards, bottomless cowardice of
our soldout media ---and, most stomach wretching,
our 'men of conscience' in Hollywood and academia.

They continue to avoid the Korea-China
zone ---even while delivering one mawkish
moral alibi after another ---for themselves.

Self-sensitive, self-basting rectum worshippers --one and all.

-----------------HUAC/ Nuremberg 2012--------------

WL| 12.23.11 @ 12:56PM

You have lost your mind.

Dick Nome.| 12.23.11 @ 1:21PM

This is sad. He got loose abviously and his keepers can't find him..probably hasn't had any meds since the full moon a couple weeks ago. For PA's sake and ours I hope the guys in white coats find him soon.

Petronius| 12.23.11 @ 10:17AM

When the GOP blows the next election by shafting the Teaparty every church that doesn't deify Obama can expect similar treatment come 2013.

Bob Grant| 12.23.11 @ 10:32AM

I have supreme confidence the NBA-obsessed, twenty-something progeny of that freak family will turn things around.

He's perfectly suited to run that country.

cicero| 12.23.11 @ 12:15PM

Christ taught that his kingdom was not of this earth, and the man could worship only one God. The secularist/communist movement realized that he was absolutely right. Accordingly, they had to teach and impose a doctrine that made the State the object of worship for humanity. You can't have it both ways.
Man strives, by nature, to the divine. It takes real brainwashing to turn him away from that. Once he wakes up to the fraud, he always returns to the divine. To keep him in the fold, you need constance force and violence. The 20th Century should have taught us that, if nothing else.
So why are we tolerating the drive to secularize our culture?

Ryan| 12.28.11 @ 8:34AM

Wish I would have seen this earlier.

I would suggest the opposite - man is depraved - we cannot, do not, seek after God on our own. We are incapable. Scripture is full of the message that we cannot reach for God on our own strength.

Kingofthenet| 12.23.11 @ 1:48PM

OK, just because the NK leadership banned religious worship, doesn't mean they are decent folks, even Hitler liked children. Just Kidding
Happy Holidays!

Kingofthenetsucksballs| 12.26.11 @ 10:06AM

Disgusting stuff, "King". Using your freedom of expression to make jokes about people who are denied the same is vile beyond my capacity to describe it. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

POST American| 12.23.11 @ 9:59PM

--------------------FINAL WORD------------------------

--INTER-nationalists, having just betrayed
poor Chinag Kai Shek and delivered
even poorer China to the be 'stablilized'
and standardized via MASS extermination
-----moved on to 'seal the deal' via the
Korea buffer.

And take heed! ---Hollywood has 'O--bee-dee-
ANT--ly' buried all 5 of the past 10 year
anniversaries of this staggeringly relevant
conflict.

As far as all our 'fave' eye-cons
and eye-con purveyors
----THINK --capstone punks.

"The Korean War, and NOT the long gone
world wars, is FAST emerging as the
pivotal, defining conflict of the 20th
century viz a viz the 21st."

-----------------Emphasis on FAST----------------------

Whitey O'Carr| 12.24.11 @ 1:55PM

One point no one has mentioned is the people who where kidnapped from Japan. There are Japanese Citizens who where taken against their will to North Korea to serve as instructors on language and culture for North Korean agents. Someone should start to pressure Kim Jong-Un and demand, not suggest, request or ask, but demand that those people be released.

As for the North Korean problem, the American Spectator should publically identify the collaborators and publish their addresses. Amspec should also publish all public information about them as well. Dry up their support in the west and then launch a anti-apartheid like campaign against them!

Vasu Murti | 12.24.11 @ 3:29PM

(The folk song below receives airplay on KFOG 104.5 here in the SF Bay Area during the holiday season.)

"Well, Jesus was a homeless lad
"With an unwed mother and an absent dad
"And I really don't think he would have gotten that far
"If Newt, Pat and Jesse had followed that star