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| ▲ U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (at podium) is seen delivering remarks in a press conference at the state department in Washington on June 2, 2022 on the release of the 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom in this image captured from the department's website. (Yonhap) |
US-NK-religious freedom
N. Korea continues to seriously restrict religious freedom in 2021: State Dept.
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, June 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea continued to seriously limit the religious freedom and other basic human rights of its people in 2021, the U.S. Department of State said Thursday.
In its 2021 country report on international religious freedom, the state department said up to 70,000 North Koreans may be held prisoners for their religious beliefs.
"Since 2001, the DPRK has been designated as a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 for having engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom," the report said, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The state department had designated North Korea as a state violators of religious freedom in November for the 20th consecutive year. The country was one of only 10 nations to be designated a "country of particular concern" in 2020.
The department noted the annual report partly relies on information provided by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that may not be independently verified due to extremely limited access to countries, such as North Korea.
It added that access to North Korea has further narrowed since Pyongyang began enforcing an unprecedented border closure in 2020 as a precaution against the COVID-19 pandemic.
"COVID-19 restrictions in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea further limited people's rights to freedom of expression, including access to information, to freedom of association and of peaceful assembly, and to freedom of thought, conscience and religion," said the report, citing an earlier report from the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The high commissioner's report also notes Pyongyang was systematically attacking persons it considered a threat, including persons who practice religion, imprisoning individuals without due process and subjecting them to "physical and mental suffering amounting to torture," according to the state department.
Citing a report from Open Doors USA, a U.S.-based NGO, the department said the North is estimated to be holding "50,000 to 70,000 citizens in prison for being Christian."
The department noted the North has five state-controlled Christian churches in Pyongyang, but that access to those facilities for the sake of genuine religious activity, especially by regular people, is "heavily restricted."
The report said North Korean authorities even arrested those "whom they believed lingered too long outside those churches to listen to the music or consistently drove past them each week when services were held, on suspicion of being secret Christians," citing a 2019 report from South Korea's state-run Korea Institute for National Unification.
The department said the U.S. has raised and will continue to raise concerns over human rights conditions, including religious freedom in North Korea, despite having no diplomatic relations with the country.
"The U.S. government raised concerns about religious freedom in the country in other multilateral forums and in bilateral discussions with other governments, particularly those with diplomatic relations with the country," it said, noting the country also co-sponsored a resolution passed by the U.N. General Assembly in December condemning North Korea's "long-standing and ongoing systematic, widespread and gross violations of human rights."
"The United States made clear that addressing human rights, including religious freedom, would significantly improve prospects for closer ties between the two countries," it added.
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