North Korea (MNN) — A new U.S. government report hits North
Korea on its denial of religious freedoms.
The report highlighted the vicious reprisal against
Christians, as well as China's cooperation with the persecution of North Korean
refugees. The report is titled A Prison Without Bars. It gives firsthand accounts
of the religious freedom conditions inside the rogue state.
Christians who are caught face arrest, hard
labor sentences, death and harsh reprisal against their immediate families.
Further, North Korean Christians who have fled across the
border to China are still not safe. Refugees suspected of meeting with
religious groups are often marked for harsh interrogation, torture and long
detentions without trial after they are forced by China to return to North
Korea.
Both governments are under pressure to change. But will a report like this be enough to
change? Have six years of protests put enough
pressure on either government to force them to respond?
Open Doors USA president, Carl Moeller says it's been a slow
buildup. Now, "with the Olympics coming, and the
world's focus being on China, all of this information is reaching a tipping
point, perhaps. Our prayer is that world opinion will become
awakened and people will rise up in prayer, but also be voices for those who
have no voice in North Korea and the refugees from North Korea in
China."
Open Doors USA, along with other members of the North Korea
Freedom Coalition, are partnering during North Korea Freedom Week (NKFW) April
26-May 3. During that week the United States and other countries around the
world will focus on the massive human rights abuses by the North Korean
communist government headed by President Kim Jong Il. The North Korea Freedom
Coalition is also urging China to stop the repatriation of North Korean
refugees.
Pray fervently for the church in North Korea. "The
reality is that the Gospel is being shared in North Korea. There's no question
about that. It is the prayer of the North Koreans themselves that the Western
church and the Western powers would be awakened to the reality of their
suffering and would pray for them and would do whatever we can to speak out for
them."
MNN will cover some of the highlights of the NKFW. Click here for other details.
