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.
S. Korean missionary gets life sentence
North Korea on Friday sentenced South Korean missionary Kim Jong-Wook to life in a labor camp. Kim was arrested in October, charged with establishing underground churches, though other sources had said North Korean secret agents had brought him into the country from the Chinese border city Dandong. Kim “admitted” during […]
North Korea’s torture, starvation and killings
The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva has debated a report which accuses North Korea of systematic torture, starvation and killings comparable with Nazi-era atrocities. Their findings were based on testimony from hundreds of victims, defectors and witnesses. The report called for the closure of political prison camps and for […]
N. Korea to execute 33 for missionary work
North Korea has ordered the death of as many as 33 people because of their alleged contact with a missionary, South Korea’s largest news organization has reported. The 33 North Koreans are charged with attempting to overthrow the regime by setting up 500 underground churches, according to the South Korean […]
Christian detained in North Korea
North Korea has detained a 75-year-old Australian visitor for passing out Christian pamphlets, according to his wife as reported by Agence France-Presse. John Short was arrested at his Pyongyang hotel on Feb. 17, the second day of his visit with a tour group, and was informed by police he would […]
Eighty executed in North Korea
Around 80 people were killed in public executions across a number of cities in North Korea earlier this month, a South Korean newspaper reports. In one city, eight victims were mostly charged with watching or illegally trafficking South Korean videos, being involved in prostitution or being in possession of a Bible. […]
Bae ‘in better health’
The mother of imprisoned Korean-American Christian Kenneth Bae has told the BBC his health has improved after two months of medical treatment. However, she said she fears his health will suffer if he is returned to a labour camp. Last November, Bae was sentenced to 15 years’ hard labour, convicted […]
North Korea shocks UN Commission
The UN Commission of Inquiry set up to investigate human rights violations in North Korea has presented its interim report. “What we have seen and heard so far – the specificity, detail and shocking character of the personal testimony – appears without doubt to demand follow-up action by the world […]
New concern for North Korea
A new report from The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea states that an “extremely high” number of prisoners are detained on political grounds, while countless others are unaccounted for or have died in detention. “Through this vast system of unlawful imprisonment, the North Korean regime isolates, banishes, punishes […]
North Korea rescinds invitation to U.S. envoy
North Korea has rescinded its invitation to a special U.S. envoy who had planned to visit Pyongyang with hopes of bringing jailed American Kenneth Bae home. “We are surprised and disappointed” at the decision, according to a statement released Friday by U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf. “We have sought […]
Korean ‘orphans’ could face execution
Nine young North Korean defectors arrested in Laos last month and sent home could face severe punishment or even execution, Reuters reports. Two South Korean missionaries were also arrested for attempting allegedly to help them find refuge in South Korea, according to the LA Times. UN spokesman Rupert Colville said […]