USCIRF ON N. KOREA’S RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

[Anchor Lead]

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recommends that North Korea be re-designated as a country of particular concern. The North has been on the list for 20 years now. The commission called its religious freedom conditions "the worst in the world."

[Pkg]

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom says the U.S. State Department should re-designate North Korea as "a country of particular concern." The recommendation comes in the 2022 annual report that designates 15 countries, including North Korea, China and Russia, as countries of particular concern. The commission pointed out that the North's religious freedom conditions remain the worst in the world, and its ideology Juche, or the Ten Principles for Establishing a Monolithic Leadership System, overrides religious freedom guaranteed by the country's constitution. The commission also recommended imposing broad sanctions on the North for violating religious freedom and considering lifting certain sanctions in return for concrete progress in religious freedom and related human rights issues. However, it added the sanctions are not "a magic weapon" and the issue of religious freedom should be coordinated with other issues such as national security.

[Soundbite] Nadine Maenza(USCIRF Chair)

The report says South Korea did not join a U.N. resolution on North Korea's human rights abuses for the third consecutive year since it was passed at the 2021 general assembly and supported by more than 60 other nations. The U.S. State Department has accepted the USCIRF's recommendations to designate the North as a country of particular concern for 20 years as of last year. The list of countries of particular concern in terms of religious freedom has grown from ten to 15 countries, with India, Syria and three other countries having been added to the list on this year's annual report.