News

North Korea again identified as the worst country for Christians

January 22, 2019

“In North Korea, where there are about 300,000 Christians out of a total population of 25.6 million, Christians are seen as ‘hostiles to be eradicated,’ the report says.” There is at least one Orthodox parish in North Korea, the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Pyongyang, but its present situation is unclear. Please pray that North Korea would continue to open itself to the world, and that this would result in justice for the nation’s threatened Christians.

“Group identifies North Korea as worst country for Christians,” by John Burger, Aleteia, January 20, 2019:

North Korea tops the list of the 50 countries where it is most dangerous to be a Christian, according to a report from a watchdog group that monitors religious freedom.

Open Doors, which assists Christians in areas of the world where persecution is rampant, publishes the World Watch List, an annual report on the global persecution of Christians. The report, which comes out at the beginning of each year, ranks the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted for their faith. The list uses data from Open Doors field workers and external experts to quantify and analyze persecution worldwide.

Countries are ranked by the severity of persecution of Christians, calculated by analyzing the level of violent persecution plus the pressure experienced in five spheres of life.

This year, the group has found a sharp increase in persecution of Christians in the world’s two most populous countries. For the first time since the start of the World Watch List, India has entered the top 10. And China jumped 16 spots, from 43 to 27….

In North Korea, where there are about 300,000 Christians out of a total population of 25.6 million, Christians are seen as “hostiles to be eradicated,” the report says. “There was hope that new diplomatic efforts in 2018— including the 2018 Winter Olympics—would mean a lessening of pressure and violence against Christians, but so far that has not been the case. Kim Jong-un has maintained tight control over the populace, and dissent or worshiping anything else is not tolerated.”

After North Korea, the other nations on the top 10 list are Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Sudan, Eritrea, Yemen, Iran and India.

Photo by Alkhimov Maxim, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47592254