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Thursday, 6 August 2009: As the nation rejoices
over the release of two U.S. journalists, a ministry
working with persecuted Christians reminds the world
that tens of thousands – if not hundreds of thousands –
of innocent people remain trapped in North Korean
prisons without hope of a special pardon.
“North Korea is suspected of detaining more political
and religious prisoners than any other country in the
world,” wrote Jerry Dykstra, media relations director
for Open Doors USA, in a column Wednesday.
His organization estimates at least 200,000 people are
detained in North Korea, including 40,000 to 60,000
Christians.
In North Korea, it is illegal to criticize the
government, leave the country, fail to have a picture of
Kim Il-Sung in one’s house, own a Bible, or practice
Christianity. Leaving the country to search for food in
China will result in imprisonment if the person is
caught, and owning a Bible or being found to be a
practicing Christian will result in imprisonment or
public execution.
Just last month, Ri Hyon-Ok, 33, was accused of
distributing Bibles and “spying” for South Korea and the
Untied States. She was executed by the North Korean
government. Her husband, children and parents were sent
to a political prison camp the day after her execution,
The Associated Press reported.
The North Korean regime is known for imprisoning not
only the suspected “criminal,” but also three
generations of his or her family to “root out” the bad
influence.
Open Doors this year ranked North Korea as the worst
persecutor of Christians in the world for the seventh
straight year. Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department
re-designated the rogue country as one of eight
“Countries of Particular Concern” for systematic and
egregious religious freedom violations.
For months, U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee had
lived amid this lack of respect for human rights.
The two women were arrested in March while reporting on
the border of China and North Korea. The North Korean
government accused the women of illegally entering the
country and carrying out a smear campaign.
In June, they were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor
for the above charges.
“We feared at any moment that we could be sent to a hard
labor camp and then suddenly we were told we were going
to a meeting,” recalled Ling at a news conference
Wednesday morning shortly after their plane arrived at a
Burbank, Calif., airport.
“We were taken to a location, and when we walked through
the doors, we saw standing before us President Bill
Clinton,” she continued. “We were shocked, but we knew
instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives
was finally coming to an end.”
Former President Bill Clinton made an unannounced visit
to Pyongyang on Tuesday to discuss the journalists’
release. After several hours of discussion, North Korean
leader Kim Jong-Il issued a special pardon to the two
Americans.
President Obama, former President Bill Clinton, and
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have all released
statements expressing joy over the release of the
American journalists.
“I think that not only is this White
House…extraordinarily happy, but all Americans should be
grateful to both former President Clinton and Vice
President Gore for their extraordinary work,” Obama
said.
Dykstra of Open Doors agrees that Americans should
rejoice over the release of Ling and Lee who now have
complete freedom in the United States. But he also urges
people to pray and advocate “for those who have not
received pardons; for those languishing in the ‘hell’
that is North Korea.”
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