N. Korea among 13 worst countries in religious freedom: commission

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, May 1 (Yonhap) -- An independent U.S. commission Friday listed North
Korea and 12 other countries as the worst in terms of religious freedom.
In an annual report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said
North Korea "continues to be one of the world's most repressive regimes, where
dissent is not tolerated and few protections exist for fundamental freedoms,
including the freedom of thought, conscience and religion."
The other countries are Burma, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, China,
Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
North Korea has been on the State Department's list of "countries of specific
concern" (CFC)since 2001. The bipartisan commission was appointed by the U.S.
president and the Senate and House of Representatives under the 1998
International Religious Freedom Act.
The report said that North Korea's religious institutions are "tightly controlled
and employed primarily to gain the government foreign assistance from overseas
religious groups and NGOs."
The North's National Security Agency directly controls churches, temples and
other religious facilities, the report said, adding, "Other public and private
religious activity is prohibited and anyone discovered engaging in clandestine
religious practice faces official discrimination, arrest, imprisonment and
possibly execution."
The report also expressed concern over "forced repatriation of North Koreans from
China."
"Refugees attest that those viewed to have religious beliefs or to have extensive
contact with South Korean religious groups are treated more harshly than other
inmates," the report said.
It urged the U.S. government to persuade China to "ensure that the return of any
migrants pursuant to any bilateral agreement does not violate China's
obligations" under various human rights conventions to which China is a
signatory.
The committee also called on China to allow access to North Korean refugees
seeking asylum abroad by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and
international humanitarian organizations to secure their safety.
China, North Korea's staunchest communist ally, sees North Korean defectors as
economic migrants rather than refugees.
Most North Korean defectors cross the border with China to seek shelter, mostly
in South Korea, which has received more than 15,000 North Korean defectors since
the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
The U.S. has taken about 70 North Korean refugees since the North Korean Human
Rights Act was enacted years ago to help promote democracy in North Korea.
In an annual human rights report issued in February, the U.S. State Department
expressed concerns about the human trafficking and repatriation of North Korean
refugees.
In a statement released Thursday to mark North Korea Freedom Week, sponsored by
the Defense Forum Foundation and several other human rights groups based in
Washington, the U.S. State Department pledged to make efforts to improve human
rights conditions in North Korea and help North Korean defectors settle in the
U.S.
The statement denounced the North for continuing to "restrict religious and
political freedom, control information and its citizens' freedom of movement,
exert widespread social controls, and allow trafficking in women and girls."
However, it stopped short of raising the issue of China's repatriation of North
Korean refugees under a secret agreement with North Korea.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in February that human rights
violations should not serve as a hurdle to improvements in relations with China,
triggering concerns that the Obama may follow his predecessor, George W. Bush, in
circumventing the sensitive rights issue in order not to provoke China and North
Korea, key players in the six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear
ambitions.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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