North Korea is a notorious example of persecution against Christians.
Believers are imprisoned, beaten and even executed.
It’s been No. 1 on the World Watch List for 20 years.
And a new report makes it clear just how bad the situation is.
The report, released by the non-profit Korea Future Initiative, is based on 117 interviews they conducted in 2019 and 2020. The witnesses report 273 victims. Respondents also say there were:
- 244 incidents of arbitrary arrest (which means there was no likelihood or evidence of a crime or no due process of law—depriving people of liberty and their rights)
- 79 incidents of forced return to North Korea by refugees;
- 36 incidents of torture or sustained physical assault;
- 32 incidents of sexual violence;
- 20 incidents of execution
These findings echo the stories Open Doors has heard for years. There are so many stories of North Korean Christians who are put in labor camps for their faith and who experience horrific conditions. Hea Woo, an ex-prisoner whose husband died for his faith in prison, remembers:
“There were different parts within the prison. Some [sectors] did agriculture, some did construction work, some did mining. Men and women were separated; all the inmates seemed like they were about to faint,” she told Open Doors. “They were all hopeless and in despair. And plus, they were starving. Each person received one handful of rotten corn, [and] there was nothing else to eat. We got something watery—it wasn’t even a soup. We got those [rotten kernels] as food for the whole year. Nothing else. And people are obliged to work more than cows or animals. Because everyone is forced to do labor, people die from malnutrition. People died in accidents while working, too.”