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PERSECUTION.ORG - Country Info: "KOREA, NORTH"
http://www.persecution.org/newsite/countryinfodetail.php?countrycode=29&PHPSESSID=e584c10665d3a00eadf0fa22114d3c42

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http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s06040054.htm

ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com

Monday, April 17, 2006

NORTH KOREAN CHRISTIANS NEED OUR SUPPORT
Open Doors USA Urges Participation In NK Freedom Week April 22-30

OPEN DOORS USA
Jerry Dykstra, Media Relations Coordinator
Phone: 616-915-4117
E-Mail: JerryD@odusa.org
Web Site: www.opendoorsusa.org

For Immediate Release

SANTA ANA, CA (ANS) -- Is North Korea the No. 1 “Evil Empire?”
For Soon Ok Lee, a Christian survivor of North Korea’s political prison camps and author of “Eyes of the Tailless Animals,” it certainly is. She still has the physical scars from her brutal treatment.

She writes: “The prison camp that I was sent to is in Kae-Chon, which is in the southern province of Pyung-Yang. There are 6000 plus prisoners in there: 4000 plus males and 2000 plus females. Most of the prisoners are there for ridiculous reasons. Some are caught while traveling in places they didn’t have the permits to go to in search of food. Some are mothers, who had complained that their children were starving to death…they wondered ‘why do I have to die like this? Why can’t I eat till I’m full, like people in other countries…’ and people with these kinds of thoughts were considered to have bad ideology.

“If the mother is pregnant, according to the North Korean law that says that a criminal’s seed must be scorched up to its third generation, they abort the baby. If somehow the baby survives and is born, they strangle the baby by stepping on them in front of its own mother. I also witnessed many human experiments. They said it was pointless to test weapons and chemicals on animals because they were created to target their enemies – other human beings.

“I also saw many Christians in the camp. Because of their belief in God, and because they sang hymns in the camps, they were stepped on until death. If they didn’t deny God, they were often times burned to death from boiling hot liquid metal. I saw many unspeakable things. And these weren’t rare sights for me. Because I went through many physical tortures; I still have many after-affects left on my body. The right side of my face is still a little distorted, the left half of my mouth is crooked and the whole left half of my teeth were crushed. I live with a lot of physical pain on my body and it’s difficult to get through each day. But there are still many people going through tortures and human experiments even at this very moment.”

Soon Ok Lee says we as Christians need to speak out about these abuses. “Many need to join in and stop the Christian persecution and the human rights violations. Please join me in this effort.”

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) adds: “In North Korea, we hear reports of religious believers being tortured, imprisoned and even executed for their beliefs. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recently documented some of these terrible incidents that fall on believers who refuse to renounce their faith. We must all confront this intolerable evil. Please join me in commemorating North Korea Freedom Week.”

During North Korea Freedom Week April 22-30, Open Doors USA is partnering with North Korea Freedom Coalition (NKFC) members to focus on atrocities in North Korea, increase awareness of the conditions in that communist country and raise up prayers on behalf of those being abused and disenfranchised.

Among activities centered in Washington, D.C., are:

North Korea Genocide Exhibit on Capitol Hill – April 25-30.
Wreath laying ceremony at the Korean War Memorial at 4 p.m. – April 27.
North Korea Freedom Day Capitol Hill rally 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. – April 28.
Prayer Vigil at the Chinese Embassy from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. – April 28-29.

There are also prayer vigils planned April 28 from 7-9 p.m. in front of the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles (443 Shatto Place) and April 29 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Chinese consulate in Houston (3417 Montrose Blvd). For more information email Lindsay Vessey, Open Doors USA Advocacy Coordinator, at lindsayv@odusa.org.

To get your church or group involved in North Korea Freedom Week, go to the Open Doors USA Web site at www.opendoorsusa.org or the NKFC Web site at www.nkfreedom.org. For a week – April 24-30 – Open Doors USA will provide a specific prayer focus. The focus includes: April 24 – North Korean government and leader Kim Jong Il; April 25 – Prisoners; April 26 – Famine; April 27 – Religious persecution; April 28 – Refugees/Repatriation; April 29 – Underground railroad/activists; April 30 – Asylum. The prayer guide along with other materials, such as bulletin inserts, are available on-line.

“North Korea could be compared to one large concentration camp – with the entire population trapped in a nightmare that doesn’t end,” says Open Doors USA President Dr. Carl Moeller. “Like Soon Ok Lee and Sen. Brownback urge, get involved. Get your church involved. These are our brothers and sisters in Christ who are being persecuted, tortured and imprisoned.”

For the fourth year in a row, Open Doors’ 2006 World Watch List ranked North Korea as the worst violator of religious rights in the world. Christianity is observed as one of the greatest threats to the regime’s power.

NKFC is a bipartisan coalition of religious, human rights and non-governmental Korean and American organizations whose primary purpose is to bring freedom to the North Korean people and to ensure that the human rights component of United States and world policy towards North Korea receives priority attention.

An estimated 200 million Christians worldwide suffer interrogation, arrest and even death for their faith in Christ, with another 200 to 400 million facing discrimination and alienation. Open Doors, celebrating 50 years of service to persecuted Christians, serves and strengthens the Persecuted Church in the world's most difficult areas through Bible and Christian literature distribution, leadership training and assistance, Christian community development, prayer and presence ministry and advocacy on behalf of suffering believers. To partner with Open Doors, call toll free at 888-5-BIBLE-5 (524-2535) or go to our USA Web site at www.opendoorsusa.org. To request a complimentary six-month subscription to our monthly newsletter Frontline Faith, call 888-5-BIBLE-5 or register on-line.

(For more information or to set up an interview, contact Jerry Dykstra at 616-915-4117).

** You may republish this story with proper attribution.