[News Today] NK RELIGIOUS SUPPRESSION HEIGHTENS

[LEAD]
North Korea explicitly states "freedom of religion" in its constitution, yet it's notorious for persecuting religious individuals. KBS has obtained internal footage proving such oppression. The regime accuses them as 'spies', attempting to undermine the worship of the Kim family.

[REPORT]
A man and a woman are pulled out of a small ship.

They are seen captured by North Korean coast guards for secretly conducting missionary work.

The video insists that they were educated in the enemy's den and infiltrated into North Korea.

Ideological education video /
They confessed that their mission was to entice individual soldiers and make them believe in God, not our leader.

They are even labeled as spies who were sent by South Korea, which, according to the video, would be inclined to do so to use religion to weaken North Koreans' loyalty for its leadership.

Ideological education video /
Recognize the enemy's ideological infiltration scheme, which would have us believe in non-existent God rather than our party and leader.

This is an educational video produced by a military movie studio in 2010.
It shows North Korean authorities openly suppressing and persecuting religion, although its Constitution stipulates religious freedom.

This stance is growing more explicit.

According to the Aid to the Church in Need, a Catholic charity organisation under the Vatican, some of the North Korean escapees forcefully repatriated from China last October have been punished more harshly for having come into contact with Christians.

They are sent to political prison camps and given life sentences without parole.

Hyun Seung-soo/ Korea Institute for Nat’l Unification
North Korea is quite sensitive to religion, which it views as a decisive threat to its fundamental ruling ideology.

Religious persecution in North Korea is nothing new. But struggling to maintain the tight ideological grip on its people amid the rapid spread of South Korean culture, North Korean authorities are intensifying religious suppression in unprecedented levels.