Testimonies Testifier ID The testifier did learn the Ten Principles at the Democratic
Women’s Union after the revision, but does not remember them. The testifier was not aware of the Ten Principles being applied in real life.
NKHR2017000060 2017-07-31 The testifier referred to the Ten Principles during Life Review
Sessions, and studied them with related materials. People tend to work hard to learn the principles in the military.
NKHR2017000087 2017-09-25
by religious faith.”186 These testimonies demonstrate that although North Korean authorities have taken positive legal and institutional steps, for example, through Constitutional guarantee of religious freedom, the establishment of religious facilities and religious ceremonies, the operation of religious educational facilities, and the establishment of religious organizations, actual freedom of religion has still not been granted in practical terms.
First, no religious facilities, including Protestant or Catholic churches, exist in North Korea except in Pyongyang. This reflects the reality of North Korea, where freedom of religion is de facto restricted. As for the family churches that North Korea says exist, it is questionable how freely they are allowed to be operated in the provincial towns. Not one North Korean defector among those testified was aware of a family church. While few testifiers said that they were taught about religion through their grandparents or parents,187 those cases do not indicate a change in policy, and it is difficult to regard them as a general phenomenon.
Such restrictions on religious activities comes from the State’s persistent persecution of religion, based on Kim Il Sung’s teaching that “religion is the opiate of the people.”188 North Korea views
186_NKHR2015000034 2015-02-10.
187_Above testimony.
188_“Religion is a reactionary and unscientific world view. Religion is like an opium.”
See, Korean Workers’ Party Publishers, Selections from Kim Il Sung’s Writings
religion as an “imperialistic tool for invasion,” which helps the ruling class to exploit the masses. The North Korean Dictionary on Philosophy states, “Religion was historically seized by the ruling class to deceive the masses and was used as a means to exploit and oppress, and it has recently been used by the imperialists as an ideological tool to invade underdeveloped countries.”189
Based on such perception, many religiously active people in North Korea are branded as disloyal, and are tortured or executed for their beliefs. Most religious people are categorized as anti-state and counter-revolutionary hostile elements and subjected to persecution, and Christians in particular are purged because the Christian religion is regarded as a tool for imperialist invasion.
Moreover, taking advantage of anti-American sentiment that developed during the Korean War, North Korea strengthened its religious persecution and conducted personal background checks to stigmatize and oppose all religious persons and their families as anti-revolutionary elements.
Second, while North Korea continues its de facto religious persecution, it uses Protestant churches, Catholic churches, and temples for political purposes and external propaganda for religious people from abroad and other occasional visitors to these religious facilities. According to testimonies, entry or access to the newly
189_The Academy of Social Science Philosophy Institute, The Dictionary of Philosophy (Pyongyang: The Academy of Social Science Press Philosophy Institute, 1985), p.
490. (In Korean)
established facilities by local citizens is strictly prohibited, and ordinary citizens generally perceive these religious places as
“sightseeing spots for foreigners.” In the case of Bongsu Protestant Church in Pyongyang, which was built in September 1988, it is said that only the building guard and his/her family lives there, but when foreign guests come to visit, several hundred citizens aged 40 to 50 years old are carefully selected and gathered to participate in fake church services. Foreign Christians who visited North Korea testified that they witnessed the door of the church being closed on Easter Sunday when they visited without prior consultation. Many foreign visitors said that church activities seemed to be staged.
Third, all defectors consistently testified that practicing religion on a personal level is harshly persecuted. The fundamental reason for North Korea’s difficulty in guaranteeing freedom of religion stems from the belief that religion is a means of foreign encroachment and inflicts harm on North Korea’s social disciplines as mentioned in its Constitution. In particular, during the famine of the 1990s, when an increasing number of people moved in search of food, North Korea strictly suppressed Christian missionary activities in the belief that the religion had detrimental impact on the maintenance of the North Korean regime.
The fact that freedom of religion is restricted is also shown by the cases of punishments for people involved in religion and defectors who are forcibly repatriated to North Korea. The reason behind the reinforced control over defection, since Kim Jong Un
came to power, is the concern that the regime will grow unstable due to the inflow of external influence. It is also said that the punishment for those who had been in contact with Christianity in China or South Koreans is heavier. In the 2017 survey, testifiers said that they did not get a chance to experience religion in North Korea, however, by the time they escaped North Korea, they came to realize that punishment is severe when caught getting involved in religious activities.190
TableⅡ-35 Cases of Infringement on Freedom of Religion
Testimonies Testifier ID
In 2013, the testifier’s colleague’s father, who learned about Buddhism from South Korea and believed in it for around ten years, introduced it to the people around him. Seventy percent of the 1,200 workers visited the colleague’s place to practice Buddhism, bowing and praying every night. Sometimes he read people’s fortunes by physiognomy. The testifier also saw him in possession of books on Buddhism. The colleague’s father was sentenced to one year of correctional labor punishment and sent to Wonsan Kyohwaso, but he continued to believe in Buddhism after returning from the prison camp.
NKHR2016000056 2016-05-03
In 2015, a computer file of the Bible was circulated in Kimhyeongjik County, Yanggang Province, and the testifier understood religion as “an organization that follows God.”
NKHR2015000091 2015-05-12 In December 2015, Samjiyeon County, Yanggang Province,
the testifier witnessed a neighbor getting arrested by Provincial MSS after a Bible was found during the house search. The testifier assumed the neighbor was sent to a political prison camp (kwanliso) as the testifier did not get any news about the neighbor.
NKHR2017000012 2017-04-10
Among the smuggled items, there were also Bibles. If Bibles are found, most people in possession of them were given correctional labor punishment.
NKHR2015000067 2015-04-07
190_NKHR2017000106 2017-11-11; NKHR2017000109 2017-11-20.
Testimonies Testifier ID The testifier first learned about religion through the MSS
interrogation process. When repatriated to North Korea and undergoing MSS interrogation, there were many cases of arrest related to “Christianity.”
NKHR2015000122 2015-09-08