{"id":2422,"date":"2011-12-19T22:06:31","date_gmt":"2011-12-19T22:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/?p=2422"},"modified":"2012-02-28T00:10:08","modified_gmt":"2012-02-28T00:10:08","slug":"kim-jong-ils-death-highlights-concerns-for-christians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/kim-jong-ils-death-highlights-concerns-for-christians\/","title":{"rendered":"Kim Jong Il’s Death Highlights Concerns for Christians"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The death of North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Il<\/a>, was reported today. The future of the nation remains in doubt, as does the fate of the thousands of Christians who are still imprisoned in North Korea’s horrendous concentration camps.<\/p>\n

Will Kim Jong-un<\/a>, the heir presumptive to the leadership of the nation, relax his father’s policies of intolerance against believers and let the Christians go? Or will the policies of hardline atheism continue to be enforced?<\/p>\n

Questions such as these are especially tense this Christmas since North Korea has threatened South Korea<\/a> if the latter puts up Christmas lights. (Within the atheistic dictatorship of North Korea, any reminder about Jesus’ birth is strictly taboo and they would prefer not to have to see Christmas lights<\/a> across the border in Seoul.)<\/p>\n

South Korea has gone into a state of alert<\/a> in case the North (with whom they are still officially at war since no peace treaty has ever been signed) chooses to attack.<\/p>\n

The CNN video below explains the brief history of the late Kim Jong Il, although strangely they have left out all mention of his horrendous crimes against the Christian community. To address the balance, below the video we have copied the report we ran in March 2009.<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

Persecution of Christians in North Korea<\/h3>\n

North Korea is universally recognized as leading the world in the persecution of Christians. While opposed to all religions, Kim Jong-il believes that Christianity was a particularly harmful threat to his power. Under his direction, Christians are routinely, beaten, tortured, arrested for life, mutilated and murdered.<\/p>\n

Given the obvious secrecy of Christianity in North Korea, it is difficult to calculate the size of the church. However, it is estimated that less than 2% of the population are Christian. These Christians hold secret meetings in houses and caves.<\/p>\n

If a North Korean is caught carrying a Bible, it is impossible to save your life short of divine intervention. Those who get executed are the lucky ones as punishment often also includes the imprisonment of a Christian\u2019s mother, father, sisters, brothers, children and grandchildren.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no preliminary hearings when religious people get caught,\u201d one former agent said. \u201c[We] regard them as anti-revolutionary elements. When such an offender is caught in North Korea, the NSA officers surround the person and kick and beat the person severely before interrogating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Communist Police stop at no limit to hunt out and punish Christians, including pretending to be Christians in order to infiltrate their underground prayer meetings. The information they obtain is then used to identify and arrest Christians, who are then either executed or taken to prison camps.<\/p>\n

At least a quarter of all North Korean Christians have been incarcerated in prison camps, where inmates face everything from starvation to beatings to Nazi-style gas chambers to experimental torture techniques that defy comprehension. Inhuman experiments are also performed on babies that come to the camps.<\/p>\n

Many North Korean Christians have found refuge by fleeing to neighboring China. Between 30,000 and 300,000 North Koreans now reside in China. However, if any of these Christians are caught, they are immediately sent home where they face certain death. Notwithstanding, many North Koreans, including former prison guards who have defected, have successfully remained hidden in China where they have given secret interviews to the Committee For Human Rights in North Korea. From these interviews it has emerged that the following procedures permeate the detention systems:<\/p>\n