North Korea Sentences 2-Year-Old To Life After Parents Caught With Bible

International

oi-Prakash KL

A two-year-old child was sentenced to life in a prison camp after the toddler’s parents were found with a Bible in North Korea.

The plight of the baby has come to light in the new International Religious Freedom Report from the US State Department. The authorities apprehended the entire family during a raid on their home in the capital city of Pyongyang.

The report claims that there were multiple cases where North Koreans were persecuted and killed for practising Christianity. It mentions an instance where a woman and her grandchild getting killed by the firing squad in 2011.

In another case, the execution of a member of the ruling party was carried out in front of 3,000 people after authorities discovered a Bible with the person.

The report claims that some people were subjected to the cruel practice of pigeon torture, where they were suspended with their hands securely bound behind their backs, rendering them incapable of sitting or standing for prolonged periods of time.

“It was the most painful of all tortures,” one victim said. “It was so painful that I felt it was better to die.” Some were tortured with sleep deprivation. One woman died by suicide in solitary confinement as prison guards did not allow her to sleep.

One Christian woman in solitary confinement was driven to suicide in 2020 after prison guards refused to let her sleep, according to the report.

As per the report, 70,000 Christians are imprisoned for their faith under Kim Jong-Un’s regime. There are about 4 lakh Christians in North Korea.

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

For following Christianity, people can be executed or sentenced to 15 years or life in a prison camp. Furthermore, these consequences can be extended to three generations of the convicted individual’s immediate family.