North Korea Persecution
For the 13th consecutive year, North Korea is ranked No. 1 on the World Watch List of the 50 countries where persecution is most extreme. The god-like worship of the leader, Kim Jong-Un, and his predecessors leaves little room for any other religions and Christians face unimaginable pressure in every sphere of life. Meeting with other Christians is virtually impossible. Anyone discovered engaging in unauthorized religious activity is subject to arrest, arbitrary detention, disappearance, torture and/or execution. Those Christians who attempt to return to North Korea from China are sentenced to life in prison or executed.
It is estimated that approximately 10% of prisoners in North Korean penal camps are religious prisoners, and stories about about the ill-treatment and torture of these prisoners abound. In a United Nations commissioned report into human rights abuses in North Korea, it found “an almost complete denial of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, as well as the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, information and association.”
- Pray for the many thousands of Christians imprisoned in labour camps, that God will sustain them and they may be a witness to others in the camps.
- For many Christians who are starving and forced to flee to China as refugees.
- For the North Korean Church to grow in both numbers and depth of faith, despite the oppressive restrictions.
- that North Korean Christians will not lose heart, but continue firm in their faith, knowing the great treasure they have found in Christ. (Hebrews 10 vs 35)
Source: Open Doors and www.persecution.org
