Two-year-old jailed for life after North Korean officials catch parents with Bible

A two-year-old was sentenced to life imprisonment after North Korean officials found a Bible from his parents.

This incident was revealed by the US State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report 2022, documenting the regime’s crackdown on people having religious beliefs.

North Korea considers itself an atheist state despite officially granting freedom to practice religion. However, the Kim Jon-un regime continues to muzzle religious activities in the state.

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The report mentioned that the family has been jailed, and even the child wasn’t spared.

The publication has based its findings on various non-governmental organisations (NGOs), human rights groups, and the United Nations to reveal how Christians—estimated by the UN between 200,000 and 400,000—are being persecuted for their faith under the Kim Jong-un regime. It said that so far, 70 Christians have been jailed.

The US report also exposed multiple cases of North Koreans being killed for having Christian beliefs. In one incident, the report notes, a woman and her grandchild were executed by firing squad in 2011.

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It also quoted some believers who reportedly faced“pigeon torture”, in which their hands were tied behind their backs, rendering them unable to sit or stand for days on.

One victim was quoted as saying. “It was the most painful of all tortures…It was so painful I felt it was better to die.”

In other instances, some of the victims were deprived of sleep, with one woman put in solitary confinement. She later killed herself in 2020 after prison guards refused to let her sleep.

Christians receive harshest punishments

Others also faced starvation, dehydration, tainted food, beatings, and being made to adopt agonising positions for prolonged periods.

Though the report, citing Korea Future NGO, points out that the state has punished those practising shamanism, it was Christians who have received the harshest punishments.

The publication said several North Korean Christians hid their faith from their children out of fear of punishment.

It cited the finding of one NGO, Open Doors USA (ODUSA), which said: “A Christian is never safe.”

“Children are encouraged to tell their teachers about any sign of faith in their parents’ home.”

Korea Future said children were taught in school about the “evil deeds” of Christian missionaries, including “rape, blood sucking, organ harvesting, murder, and espionage”.

“One defector told Korea Future, the government published graphic novels in which Christians coaxed children into churches and took them to the basement to draw their blood,” the report said.

(With inputs from agencies)

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