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North Korean children stand after snowfall along the banks of the Yalu River, near Sakchu, North Korea, December 17, 2014. Photo/REUTERS/Jacky Chen
PYONGYANG – A two-year-old baby in North Korea was sentenced to life in prison after officials found the toddler’s parents’ Bible.
This punishment was applied when the totalitarian regime of North Korea continued to “execute” and “torture” religious adherents.
As many as 70,000 Christians are imprisoned in North Korea, according to the latest International Religious Freedom Report by the United States Department of State (Deplu).
The findings underscore the brutal punitive measures routinely carried out by North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un.
People caught carrying copies of the Bible in North Korea face the death penalty, while their families, including children, are sentenced to life in prison.
The report highlighted one family’s imprisonment in 2009 based on their religious practices and their parents’ possession of a Bible.
The whole family, including a two-year-old baby, was sentenced to life in prison camps.
“The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (in the DPRK) also continues to be denied, with no alternative belief system tolerated by the authorities,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said last July.
Guerres wrote how the situation in North Korea had not changed since a 2014 human rights report, which found authorities “nearly completely deny the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion” and found the government frequently violates human rights which amount to crimes against humanity.
