Christians may be subject to increasing nationalist pressure, hatred and persecution in the United States, but the situation is even more dire in faraway lands.
announced by the US State Department. Annual International Religious Freedom Reportwhich details the persecution of believers abroad.
Among the atrocities and barbarism inflicted on Christians around the world, some of the worst humiliations are perpetuated by the communist regime of North Korea.
of State Department 2022 IRF Report corroborate Claim The statement was produced by the non-denominational charity Open Doors, which ranked North Korea number one in the world for its persecution of Christians and said that the communist state was “one of the most violent nations ever seen.” It stresses that it is committed to “the highest level of persecution in
“North Korea remains a harsh and hostile place for Christians. If found by the authorities, they are sent as political prisoners to forced labor camps with harsh conditions, killed on the spot, or their families are killed. will share the same fate.” said Please open the door. “Christians have no freedom at all. It is almost impossible for believers to meet and congregate for worship.”
The State Department said North Korean authorities currently imprison about 70,000 people as Christians, out of a Christian population of 200,000 to 400,000, according to United Nations estimates.
Victims are arrested for possessing religious items, sharing religious beliefs, or participating in religious practices.
open door 2023 report He pointed out that North Korea’s new “counter-reactionary thought law” makes it clear that “being a Christian and/or possessing a Bible is a serious crime and will be severely punished.” .
The regime punishes not only the lone individual found in possession of the Bible, but also the person’s three generations of close relatives.
In 2009, the State Department detailed a case in which an entire family, including a two-year-old child, was sentenced to life in a political prison camp “for religious practices and possession of a Bible.”
Given how Bible owners have been punished in the past, life imprisonment is a relatively light sentence.
Reports show that in one incident, communists captured a member of the Workers’ Party of Korea who had a Bible and executed him at Hyesan Airfield in front of an audience of 3,000 people.
The North Korean Religious Freedom Database, which tracks the various victims of the communist regime’s crackdown on Christians, Note His mother, who is in her 30s, is said to have been shot at Hyesan Airport because she had a Bible in her possession. Her husband was similarly detained, leaving her two children homeless and dead.
North Koreans are slaughtered just by looking at the Bible.
The victim, a man in his 40s, executed In 2008, after it was revealed that he had been reading the Bible at the Chongori concentration camp,
There were 1,411 similar cases where victims were punished for their faith, and 126 people were massacred. 94 people disappeared. 79 people were injured. 53 people were forcibly relocated. 826 people were detained. 147 people were immobilized. and 86 were persecuted through other methods of punishment.
Despite the unimaginable atrocities inflicted upon them, the report cites striking examples of Christian fortitude.
One eyewitness said, “The guards beat a Christian man who was praying to the brink of death, bleeding to the ground. I kept praying,” he said. put your boots on. ”
While the FBI now appears to consider only certain Christian denominations to be ideologically dangerous, the State Department has suggested that the North Korean regime considers Christians as a whole “the most dangerous political class.”
North Korean Christians seeking refuge from communist persecution have little hope of seeking refuge in neighboring China, so defection to South Korea is the best option.
China, North Korea’s powerful neighbor and close ally, is similarly persecuting Christians, even going so far as to hunt Chinese Christians internationally.
In addition to routine harassment, torture, detention, church destructionenforced disappearance, and execution Christians exposed within China’s borders, State Department IFR report I got it The CCP regime has taken additional steps in recent years to censor Christian messages. Treating religious content on the Internet “as equivalent to citing pornography, drug dealing and rebellion”. raids, closes, and fines religious schools; and restrict the circulation of the Bible.
open door price Persecution of Christians in China is “very severe.”
pew research report In 2020, Christians were the most harassed group in the world, with harassment defined as attacks “ranging from verbal abuse to physical violence to murder” motivated by the victim’s religious affiliation. . This was found to be true in 145 out of 198 countries.
Persecution of Christians has increased steadily for more than a decade.
360 million Christians by January 2023 reportedly lived in a country with high levels of persecution and discrimination;
Christianity today report Last year, more than 5,600 Christians were said to have been killed for their faith. Over 2,100 churches were attacked or closed, 71 people set on fire in Canada alone. More than 124,000 Christians were reportedly forced from their homes because of their faith, and another 15,000 became refugees.
According to Open Doors, the 10 worst countries with the highest levels of persecution of Christians are: 1) North Korea. 2) Somalia. 3) Yemen. 4) Eritrea. 5) Libya. 6) Nigeria. 7) Pakistan. 8) Iran. 9) Afghanistan. 10) Sudan.
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