Over the weekend, the United States removed North Korea – the No. 1 persecutor of Christians - from the list of states that sponsor terrorism. (To read the BBC story click: HERE.)
The 2008 Open Doors World Watch List ranked North Korea as the top violator of religious rights for the sixth year in a row. More Christians were arrested in North Korea in 2007 than in 2006. Many have been beaten, tortured or killed because of their religious beliefs. Open Doors’ sources estimates the number of underground Christians to be at least 200,000, and it’s likely that there are as many as 400,000 believers. At least a quarter of the Christians are imprisoned for their faith in political prison camps, from which people rarely get out alive.
Carl Moeller, President/CEO of Open Doors USA, says: “There is no other country in the world where Christians are being persecuted in such a horrible and systematic manner. Often three generations of Christians are hunted down and killed or placed in prisons.
“Taking North Korea off the terror list won’t affect the believers in this hermit country. We need to keep the pressure on the United States government not to forget the terrible status of Christians. The dialogue should include freedom of religion and other basic human rights. Let’s not be fooled – for years North Korea was called one of the ‘axis of evil.’ North Korea has not softened its targeting of thousands of Christians one bit.
“We must not forget the Christians in North Korea and how the regime of Kim Jong Il keeps them in chains. Please pray with me to have those chains broken.”
Please continue to pray for North Koreans…thousands are still suffering under the dictatorship of Kim Jung Il. To sign up for the Open Doors North Korea Prayer Campaign, and to receive weekly prayer points click HERE!
That’s really to bad! We need to keep praying not only for North Korea, but for the USA.
TO ALLOW A LEADER WHO IS A BULLY AND PERSECUTOR OF HIS OWN PEOPLE, TO BE TREATED AS A LEADER AND COUNTRY WHICH SEEKS JUSTICE ITS PEOPLE IS INSANE. BULLIES AND PERSECUTORS DO NOT SEEK JUSTICE, JUST DOMINANCE.