China has subjected hundreds of North Koreans to atrocities since last year by forcibly returning them to a country whose leaders hold that religion, especially Christianity, is the greatest threat to its power, experts said at a recent U.S. hearing.Torture, sexual violence, enslavement and murder await those repatriated from China to detention centers in the North Korea of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, investigations have shown.
Any religious belief, and Christianity in particular, as well as South Korea, constitute the only challenges to the Kim regime’s absolute monopoly on power,” Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the non-governmental Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK), said at the hearing of the U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on Sept. 26. “Christianity offers an alternative way of life that delegitimizes tyranny and transcends oppression.”
Hundreds of North Koreans have been forcibly repatriated from China since last year despite the known risks they face upon their return, said Hanna Song, executive director of the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB), at the hearing.“Upon returning back into North Korea, one of the first questions they will be asked by authorities is whether they have met with a missionary during their time in China,” Song said. “This question is not merely a formality. The answer determines the severity of punishment they will endure. If an individual admits to or is found to have had contact with a missionary, particularly one affiliated with Christianity, they’re often subject to the harshest forms of torture and imprisonment.”
