State Department Report Alleges North Korea Infant Jailed ....

[IceWizard]

State Department Report Alleges North Korea Infant
Jailed for Life After Parents Found With Bible







A new report by the U.S. State Department accounts for large-scale alleged persecution of Christians
in the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea (DPRK).

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of State released its International Religious Freedom Report
for the year 2022.

It describes numerous sensational incidents in which Christian believers have been subjected to
imprisonment and violence for their beliefs.

In the report, the authors allege that the North Korean government has been hostile to and prejudiced
against most expressions of Christianity and other unapproved religions, fostering an atmosphere of fear
and paranoia for sincere religious believers.

“The right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion [in the DPRK] also continues to be denied,
with no alternative belief systems tolerated by the authorities,”
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in the report.

The most sensational story to come out of the new State Department document is the claim that an
entire family, including a two-year-old child, was imprisoned for life for the possession of a
copy of the Bible.

Notably, the alleged incident is said to have occurred in 2009 — several years before incumbent
Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un took power.

However, there are several reasons not to take the State Department at face value on such matters,
especially concerning older incidents such as that of the Bible-possessing toddler.

Ever since the conclusion of the Korean War in 1953, the DPRK has been the subject of misinformation
and sensationalized news stories which present the country in an unflattering light. The Asian nation
tightly controls information going in and out of the country, resulting in a fog of suspicion around all
matters pertaining to the so-called “hermit kingdom.”

In contrast to the account given by the Religious Freedom Report, the North Korean Constitution
officially guarantees the freedom of religion, and the DPRK is known to operate five Christian churches
in the capital of Pyongyang, though the aforementioned report claims that these religious institutions
“operated under tight state control and functioned largely as showpieces for foreigners.”

[Charon]

Horrible. Cuz somewhere over there, it is true. Time and time again.

Very sad.