Release, which supports persecuted Christians worldwide, is calling on churches across the UK to pray and sign a petition urging North Korea to permit freedom of worship. ‘In North Korea, if there is one Christian in a family, then that family is all dead’, said Sung, who could only watch from a distance as North Korean guards beat and killed his mother and brother at the border. ‘Life in North Korea is just about survival,’ he continued. ‘There is no freedom to speak and no religion to believe. When I started to see so many people dying [from starvation], that's when I began to question about our government.’ Sung later managed to escape to the South and became a pastor – obeying his mother’s last wish shortly before she was murdered. North Korea is one of the most hostile environments on earth for Christians. The Government ideology Juche, or Self-reliance, is effectively a state religion. It has its own hymnbook of 600 songs venerating Kim Jong-il, ‘the Dear Leader’ and his father Kim-Il-sung, ‘the Great Leader’. North Koreans are obliged to display their portraits in their homes. Having any other faith is seen to be subversive. (Source: Release.)
