North Korea is widely considered the most dangerous place to be a Christian, with reportedly the world’s worst record regarding religious freedom.(1) Citizens must show devotion to the ruling Kim family and the regime. Suspected disloyalty – including profession of Christianity, which is seen as “Western” – is severely punished. Defectors have described how, if caught, Christians face torture. Many are sent to Kwalliso camps for political prisoners. Between 50-70,000 Christians could be present in these camps, comprising up to half of those held there. One estimate suggests that 75 percent of Christians die from the camps’ harsh treatment.(2) There they have suffered extra-judicial killings, forced labour, torture, persecution, starvation, rape, forced abortion and sexual violence.(3) Believers have been “hung on a cross over fire, crushed under a steamroller, hurled off bridges, trampled underfoot.”(4) After Kim Jong-un took power as Supreme Leader, up to 80 Christians were reportedly executed in a stadium, some of them for owning Bibles.(5) North Korea’s ‘Songbun’ system – which categorises people according to their loyalty to the regime, and determines access to necessities such as health care – classifies Christians as ‘hostile’. The four official churches in Pyongyang are regarded as show churches for the benefit of foreign visitors.(6)
PHILIPPINES
The killing of 22 Sunday Massgoers and the maiming
