Christian Daily International, October 9th, 2024
China has subjected hundreds of North Koreans to atrocities since last year by forcibly returning them to a country whose leaders hold that religion, especially Christianity, is the greatest threat to its power.
Torture, sexual violence, enslavement and murder await those repatriated from China to detention centres in the North Korea of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.
“Any religious belief, and Christianity in particular, constitutes a major challenge to the Kim regime’s absolute monopoly on power,” the executive director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, told the U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom on Sept. 26. “Christianity offers an alternative way of life that delegitimizes tyranny and transcends oppression.”
“Upon returning into North Korea, one of the first questions they will be asked is whether they have met with a missionary during their time in China. The answer determines the severity of punishment they will endure. If an individual admits to or is found to have had contact with a missionary, particularly one affiliated with Christianity, they’re often subject to the harshest forms of torture and imprisonment.”
When North Koreans are forcibly returned, encounters they had with religious figures in China can mark them for life.
The deputy director general of the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights told the hearing that detainees suspected of religious affiliations while in China are separated from other returnees.