North Korea's Hidden Faith: A Fight for Belief

North Korea's government claims victory over religion, but a recent report reveals a stark reality.

A Nation Officially Atheist, Secretly Religious

• Survey of defectors: Almost everyone agrees that practicing religion openly is impossible.
• Constitutional clause: People can believe what they want, as long as it doesn't challenge the state.
• Reality: Religious activity is banned, and those who practice in secret risk severe punishment.

Intensified Crackdown

• 2021 Youth Education Guarantee Act: Bans religious activity for young people.
• Security agencies: Empowered to treat worship as an anti-state crime.
• Punishment: Imprisonment, execution, or punishment for entire families.

Targeting Christians

• Government's view: Religion is a threat to its power.
• Crimes: Praying, possessing a Bible, or meeting for worship.
• Punishment: Imprisonment, torture, or execution.
• Families: Punished for three generations under the "total control zone" system.

Secret Faith

• Small pockets of believers: Continue to pray alone or in tiny groups.
• Showcase churches: Exist solely for propaganda to claim religious tolerance.

Young North Koreans

• Pressures:
  1. State indoctrination
  2. Forbidden foreign culture
  3. Search for meaning through superstition or hidden faith
• Smuggled media: South Korean dramas and music give glimpses of freedom.
• Regime's response: Strict punishment and tighter ideological control.
• Children: Forced to memorize slogans and report on one another.

Turning to Superstition

• Economic hardship: Leads to illegal superstitious practices like shamanism and fortune-telling.
• Christian parents: Face an impossible dilemma.
• Underground believers: Warn that the future of the secret church depends on raising the next generation in faith.