North Korea Top of the Heap -- in Persecuting Christians
by Allie Martin and Jody Brown
February 27, 2004
(AgapePress) - The Communist nation of North Korea remains at the top of a list of countries where Christians are persecuted.According to several independent human-right groups, 63-year-old Kim Jong Il is the world's worst dictator. Groups such as Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders, Amnesty International, and Human Rights watch say the government of the North Korean president, who has been in power since 1994, is the worst of the worst when it comes to civil liberties and political rights.
Open Doors USA, a ministry to the persecuted Church, would agree. The group has compiled its annual "World Watch List," and North Korea is at the top of the pile. The list is based on reports from people in the affected nations, including field workers and victims of persecution.
According to Jerry Dykstra, a spokesman for Open Doors, the nation that is under Kim's thumb routinely kills, tortures, and imprisons Christians in horrendous conditions.
"North Korea has been number one on [the World Watch List] for three straight years," Dykstra says. "We believe there are a hundred-thousand Christians in labor camps who are killed, tortured, and separated from their families."
Dr. Carl Moeller, president of Open Doors USA, echoes that sentiment. "North Korea is the most repressed and isolated nation in the world," he says. "It certainly deserves its hall of shame ranking on the World Watch List."
David Wallenchinsky, contributing editor to Parade magazine, says international concern over North Korea's weapons buildup has distracted the world from Kim's treatment of his own people. "All the discussion about Kim's development of nuclear weapons has deflected attention from the fact that his government represses its own people more completely than any other in the world," he writes in a recent issue of Parade.
Wallenchinsky adds that for 31 years straight, North Korea has earned the worst possible score on political rights and civil liberties, as compiled by the group Freedom House. He estimates that as many as 150,000 Koreans are currently incarcerated in forced labor camps created to punish alleged political dissidents and their family members.
Closely following North Korea on Open Doors' World Watch List, in order, are Saudi Arabia, Laos, Vietnam, and Iran. Dykstra explains that religious persecution in these countries -- and the other 45 on the list -- must be exposed.
"The reason we put out our list is to draw attention to Christians who are suffering for the faith," he explains. "We want to draw attention to some of these countries so people can pray for these Christians there [and] can write to governments."
An estimated 200 million Christians worldwide suffer interrogation, arrest, and even death for their faith in Christ.
