Diplomat Cites North Korea As Among Worst Religious Freedom Violators
by Chad Groening and Jenni Parker
September 28, 2004
(AgapePress) - The Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom says this year's annual State Department report to Congress on religious liberty around the globe shows that North Korea is one of the worst offenders, with more political and religious prisoners than any other country on Earth.John Hanford, head of the U.S. Department of State's Office of International Religious Freedom, says it is very difficult to confirm all the information coming out of North Korea. However, he says credible reports indicate that religious believers, particularly Christians, often face terrible persecution, or even death, because of their faith.
"We hear of horrible cases of Christians starved to death, basically, in prison camps," Hanford says. "It is our belief that there probably are more political prisoners and more religious prisoners in North Korea than in any other nation."
And things are apparently so bad in North Korea that refugees are fleeing to nearby China and even Vietnam, Hanford says. The situation in North Korea would have to be dire indeed if regimes such as these are to be considered an improvement, since the 2004 Religious Freedom Report states concerning China, "The Government's respect for freedom of religion and freedom of conscience remained poor, especially for many unregistered religious groups and spiritual movements...."
Meanwhile, the report says the Vietnamese government's respect for religious freedom not only remained poor but "deteriorated for some groups, notably ethnic minority Protestants and some independent Buddhists," and the state "continued to restrict significantly those publicly organized activities of religious groups that were not recognized by the Government."
Nevertheless, it would seem that the oppressive regime was still preferable to many North Korea refugees, despite the fact that the State Department has recently added Vietnam to its list of severe violator countries. And Hanford points out, "We have to thank the Vietnamese that recently they were willing to allow a large group of North Koreans who had fled there for mercy to go to South Korea, which was a very compassionate thing."
Overall, the U.S. diplomat says this year's report paints a bleak picture of conditions for North Korean religious followers. "We say in our annual report that religious freedom simply does not exist in North Korea," he says. "In fact the leadership there considers religious freedom to be subversive to the goal of the state and of the Communist Party."
Hanford adds that his office is continuing to receive reports of the killing of members of underground Christian churches in North Korea, and of the torture and imprisonment of believers. The regime has severely repressed unauthorized religious groups in recent years; and according to unconfirmed reports, has slaughtered the members of many underground Christian churches.
The State Department's 2004 Religious Freedom Report documents interviews in which defectors said some North Korean Christians were imprisoned and tortured for reading the Bible and talking about God, while others were subjected to biological warfare experiments. However, the report notes that the Communist government effectively prevents outside confirmation of these facts.
