Worthy Christian News > Christian Persecution > Christian Persecution - Asia > North Korea > North Korea Has Imprisoned Tens Of Thousands Of Christians In Extreme Labor Camps, Global Ministries Say

North Korea Has Imprisoned Tens Of Thousands Of Christians In Extreme Labor Camps, Global Ministries Say

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Two US Christian aid and advocacy organizations have reported that North Korea’s government is so hostile to Christians that it has imprisoned tens of thousands of believers in labor camps described as “comparable to Nazi death camps.”

The Global Christian Relief Organization reports that the government of North Korea is “the primary persecutor” of Christians, classifying them as “hostile” to the regime, which demands a monopoly over worship. “The ‘hostile’ class are significantly disadvantaged in access to food, education and employment,” GCR said.

Moreover, GCR reports: “Some NGOs estimate that 50-70,000 Christians languish in North Korean labor camps in conditions comparable to Nazi death camps.” Indeed, a Christian who managed to escape North Korea told GCR: “If it is known you are a Christian, you are jailed. And you will never get out of jail unless you escape.”

Confirming these dire reports, the Open Doors international Christian advocacy organization bluntly states in a website report: “Being discovered to be a Christian in North Korea is effectively a death sentence. Either believers will be deported to labor camps as political criminals, where they face a life of hard labor which few survive, or they are killed on the spot. The same fate awaits family members.”
“There are believed to be tens of thousands of Christians held in labor camps across the country,” Open Doors said.

Ruled by paranoid communist dictator President Kim Jong Un, North Korea ranks number 1 on the Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.