The Kim dynasty, which has ruled North Korea for three generations, are worshipped like gods, and any suggestion that there is a higher authority than the nation’s leader, Kim Jong-Un, is immediately crushed. Tens of thousands of Christians are incarcerated in labour camps. Thousands more keep their Christian faith a complete secret, even from their families. Imprisonment, torture, and death are the potential risks – not only to oneself, but to one’s family – of deciding to be a Christian in North Korea.
Defector: ‘I’ll do all possible to end North Korea slavery’
The former North Korean Deputy Ambassador to the UK, described by the regime as “scum” after he defected in Aug. 2016, has told the BBC’s Seoul Correspondent that he is “very determined to do everything possible to pull down the regime, to save not only my family members, but also […]
Animation highlights N. Korea religious violations
Claims reported today in by South Korea that North Korea has executed a top official from its own cabinet highlight the risks of falling foul of the communist dictatorship – also faced by groups such as Christians. Their fate is usefully explained in a from the International Coalition to Stop […]
U.S. pins N Korea atrocities on Kim
The U.S. government has, for the first time, officially pinned North Korea’s “serious human-rights abuses” upon Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un personally, as well as upon 14 high-ranking officials in the country’s military, security and party agencies. In a in Washington, D.C., the State Department laid at Kim’s feet the responsibility […]
Pastor who helped N. Korea defectors found dead
A pastor who helped North Korean refugees escape their homeland has been found dead near the border with China. Rights activists suspect , quoting Yonhap, the official Korean news agency. Korean-Chinese pastor Han Choong Yeol, 49, well-known for helping North Korean defectors, left his home in Chiangbai, a Chinese town […]
Foreigners in North Korea – what to expect if arrested
Foreigners arrested and detained in North Korea can expect to spend hundreds of days in prison, . The 13 US citizens detained since 1995 – including the Christians Jeffrey Fowle, Aijalon Gomes and Korean-American Kenneth Bae – spent an average of 213 days imprisoned. to 15 years’ hard labour, has […]
North Korea sentences American to 15 years’ labour
North Korea has sentenced a 21-year-old US student to 15 years’ hard labour following his “confession” to stealing a piece of political propaganda during his trip at the request of his church in Wyoming, Ohio. Otto Warmbier, a third-year economics student at the University of Virginia, was arrested on 2 […]
N Korea detains US man ‘stealing’ for his church
A US student held in North Korea since early January was detained for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan from his Pyongyang hotel and has confessed to “severe crimes” against the state, . Otto Warmbier, 21, a student at the University of Virginia, was detained before boarding […]
North Korea-held US-Korean ‘spy’ said to be pastor
A Korean-American in detention in North Korea is in fact a Christian pastor, not a spy, according to a North Korean defector who met him in 2007, . On 11 Jan., the American broadcaster, CNN, was allowed to interview Kim Dong Chul in the presence of North Korean officials. He […]
‘Tolerated’ Christianity in N Korea?
In the first of a series about the worst places in the world for Christian persecution, BBC reporter Stephen Evans finds that Christians in North Korea are tolerated in some areas so long as they do not proselytise by, for example, handing out bibles. North Korea has topped the Open […]
N Korea parades missing pastor at press conference
Korean-Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim, who went missing during a visit to North Korea in January, took part in a press conference on 30 July in which he read a prepared statement admitting alleged crimes against the state, reports NK News. He later made his ‘confession’ before a Pyongyang church […]