Tag: North Korea

More than 80 countries ‘favour’ one religion over others – Pew Research Center

October 5, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Apostasy, Armenians, Assyrians, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Cambodia, Central Asia, China, Comoros, Converts, Cuba, India, Iran, Islamic extremism, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Maldives, Mauritania, Middle East, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Africa, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Soviet Union, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

Over 80 countries favour a specific religion, either officially as a state religion or tacitly through special treatment, according to a new report by the US-based Pew Research Center. Islam is the most common state religion – 27 countries have it as their official religion, including 16 of the 20 . . . Read More

Number of North Koreans fleeing to South Korea drops by 13%

September 19, 2017 North Korea China, North Korea, Refugees, South Korea, Thailand

Barbed wire along the Yalu river which marks the border between China and North Korea. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The number of North Koreans who escaped to South Korea in the first half of this year dropped by 13 per cent compared to the same period last year, a government report shows. The report from South Korea’s Ministry of Unification said 780 North Koreans escaped between January and July . . . Read More

Escaping North Korea

September 13, 2017 North Korea China, North Korea, South Korea, Thailand

A vast network of brokers help North Koreans escape Kim Jong-un’s regime through a well-oiled system. Some of their remarkable stories were revealed to The Washington Post during its recent visit to a Thai detention centre. The 11 interviewed were recovering from the last leg of their journey, which started . . . Read More

Family imprisoned, tortured for fleeing North Korea – and for their Christian faith

August 30, 2017 North Korea China, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, South Korea

As North Korea’s missile testing focuses the world’s attention on Kim Jong-un’s regime, one woman’s story shows how harshly families are treated when they refuse to follow his authoritarian rules. Hannah Cho* was born just before the Korean War broke out in 1950. She remembered the air-raid sirens and holding . . . Read More

North Korea: freed pastor Hyeon Soo Lim welcomed home with ‘joyful crying’

August 16, 2017 North Korea Hyeon Soo Lim, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea

Hyeon Soo Lim addressing his congregation at the on

The large congregation of Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto, Canada was ecstatic on Sunday (13 August) in welcoming home their Senior Pastor, Hyeon Soo Lim, held for more than two years of a life sentence in a North Korean labour camp. The church was also crowded with media personnel . . . Read More

Released Canadian Christian describes ‘harsh’ conditions inside N Korean labour camp

August 15, 2017 North Korea Hyeon Soo Lim, North Korea, Otto Warmbier

Korean-Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim has spoken about his time in a North Korean labour camp, where he was detained for the last two and half years after being given a life sentence for charges including trying to overthrow the government. Lim, 62, appeared “slightly frail but in good spirits” when . . . Read More

Korean Peninsula a ‘powder keg that needs true peace’

August 9, 2017 South Korea North Korea, Seongju, South Korea, USA

A plaque showing the countries who were involved in the Korean War 1950 - 1953 can be seen at the North-South Korean border. (Photo: Open Doors International)

As the tension between the US and North Korea increases, the Korean Peninsula itself “is a powder keg ready to explode and cause another war”, warned Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-jong, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea, at an interfaith meeting in Seongju, South Korea, to commemorate the end . . . Read More

North Korea frees Canadian church leader ‘on sick bail’

August 9, 2017 North Korea Hyeon Soo Lim, Kenneth Bae, Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song, Kim Jong Wook, Kim Seung-mo, North Korea, Otto Warmbier, Pyongyang, Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, Tony Kim

Hyeun-soo Lim, the Korean Canadian church leader sentenced to life in prison with hard labour, has been freed today (9 August) “on sick bail”, says a North Korean state news agency. Convicted in December 2015 by the country’s Supreme Court of numerous charges, including an attempt to overthrow the government, he had been detained . . . Read More

Sudan sanctions extended for three months

July 13, 2017 Sudan Human rights, North Korea, Religious freedom, Sanctions, Sudan, USA

A Sudanese woman carries a bag of food-aid on her head at the El-Riyadh camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) in Geneina, the capital of Sudan’s West Darfur state, on 8 February 2017. Rights groups are calling for “a new set of “smart and modernised” sanctions that would “spare” the Sudanese people. (Photo: Getty Images)

The US has extended its sanctions against Sudan for another three months, saying “more time is needed” to review whether Sudan has done enough to merit their removal. Sudan’s President, Omar Bashir, responded by suspending his negotiating committee until the end of the three months. The committee has been in . . . Read More

US Commission urges Trump administration to prioritise international religious freedom

May 18, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Abune Antonios, Andrew Brunson, Central African Republic, China, Donald Trump, Eritrea, Eritrean Orthodox Church, Iran, Mike Pence, Myanmar, Nguyen Cong Chinh, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Religious freedom, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, USA, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

An influential US government commission that monitors religious freedom around the world is urging President Donald Trump and his new administration to take concrete steps to make advocacy of universal religious rights a priority in American foreign policy. “Our foreign policy should not simply be about US self-interest – you know, . . . Read More

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