This image of the Aid to the Church in Need’s report on North Korea is captured from the website of the organization. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — Some North Korean defectors who were repatriated from China last year were sent to prison camps in North Korea for being exposed to Christianity, which the regime regards as a threat to its leadership, a report showed Thursday.
Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), an international Catholic pastoral aid organization under the Holy See, disclosed the findings in its recent 2024 “Persecuted and Forgotten” report.
“Among the more than 200 North Korean defectors repatriated from China in 2023, those found to have interacted with Christians while in China were sent to prison camps,” the report said.
Any defectors found to have read the Bible or to have been exposed to Christian doctrine were also sentenced to hard labor, it said.
Last year, China deported hundreds of North Korean escapees to their home country following the conclusion of the Asian Games in Hangzhou in October last year as part of its internationally criticized mass repatriation of North Korean refugees.
The report claimed that the North’s ministry of state security interrogates returnees based on reports provided by Chinese police, and those with any religious reference in their reports are sent to prison camps without exception, regardless of the explanations they give.
In North Korea, Christianity is regarded as “a significant threat” to the state’s supremacy and the dominance of leader Kim Jong-un’s family, forcing it to operate covertly, it noted.
According to the report, North Korea is estimated to have slightly over 98,000 Christians, or 0.38 percent of the population, although gauging the true number is extremely difficult.
(Yonhap)
