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The North Korean government continues to make egregious human rights violations by persecuting Christians with no seditious intent, claiming that they are attempting to commit treason, when really their sole desire to practice their religion. This time 33 individuals were arrested in connection with the efforts of a South Korean baptist minister, Kim Jung-Wook. Kim who was being held by authorities was recently forced to make a false confession claiming that he was operating under the auspices of the South Korean intelligence agency.
In an address on broadcast television Kim claimed that he was “thinking of turning North Korea into a religious country, and destroying its present government and political system.” The confessions seemed to be scripted, and there is a lot of precedence for the North Korean government eliciting false statements from prisoners. There have been two recently detained Christians from other countries being held in North Korea. American Kenneth Bae has been imprisoned since 2012. Australian John Short was released, but before they did so North Korean authorities gave him a similar scripted confession.
Short release was contingent on his forced apology but Kim Jung-Wook is still being held. Still worse it seems that threats on the lives of the people that, through him, have undergone possible conversions, are still very much in effect. There may be as many as 33 executions by the state for North Korean natives that have allegedly attempted setting up underground churches. Experts believe that this is an attempt by Kim Jong-un’s administration to crack down on the great influx of western ideals and beliefs that threaten to undermine the status quo.
Eric Foley head of the U.S. based mission outreach Seoul USA has weighed in saying that the recent punishment for alleged state infractions does not represent “a new war on Christians. This is simply the West being able to see what North Korean underground Christians have always known, which is that the Christian faith is not welcome in any form in North Korea.”
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In an address on broadcast television Kim claimed that he was “thinking of turning North Korea into a religious country, and destroying its present government and political system.” The confessions seemed to be scripted, and there is a lot of precedence for the North Korean government eliciting false statements from prisoners. There have been two recently detained Christians from other countries being held in North Korea. American Kenneth Bae has been imprisoned since 2012. Australian John Short was released, but before they did so North Korean authorities gave him a similar scripted confession.
Short release was contingent on his forced apology but Kim Jung-Wook is still being held. Still worse it seems that threats on the lives of the people that, through him, have undergone possible conversions, are still very much in effect. There may be as many as 33 executions by the state for North Korean natives that have allegedly attempted setting up underground churches. Experts believe that this is an attempt by Kim Jong-un’s administration to crack down on the great influx of western ideals and beliefs that threaten to undermine the status quo.
Eric Foley head of the U.S. based mission outreach Seoul USA has weighed in saying that the recent punishment for alleged state infractions does not represent “a new war on Christians. This is simply the West being able to see what North Korean underground Christians have always known, which is that the Christian faith is not welcome in any form in North Korea.”
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via IFTTT
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