Reuters/Kim Hong-
By Leah Marie Ann Klett
Christian Post
A new report has exposed the atrocities done to North Korean Christians arrested for their faith, including forced abortions, the murder of newborn babies, and death by execution for possessing a Bible.
The London-based Korea Future Initiative published its latest report, “Persecuting Faith: Documenting religious freedom violations in North Korea,” which includes information from 117 interviews with those exiled from the isolated country.
The investigation documents 273 victims of religious freedom violations, ranging in age from just 3 years old to over 80 years old.
Though adherents of various religions are held in North Korea’s “reeducation” camps, the harshest punishments are reserved for Christians, the report found.
More than 200 Christians were identified as victims punished for crimes, including religious practice, religious activities in China, possessing religious items, contact with religious persons, attending a place of worship, and sharing religious beliefs.
The report documented the various methods of torture victims endured in North Korea’s prison camps, including strangulation, starvation, being forced to ingest polluted food, sleep deprivation, and excessive beating.
One former female prisoner recalled, "Men were beaten like dogs. Even in the cell. They screamed like crazy because they hurt so much.
"Even though women were beaten less, I was hit in the face and my skin ruptured and I bled a lot. [Officers] told me to wipe the blood, so I cleaned it. I wept a lot when they hit me again. Blood and discharge ruptured during my next pre-trial examination. They hit me again because I wept."
In several cases, prisoners found with a Bible or religious pamphlets were executed by a firing squad, while others were locked in electrified cages and fed watery soup. Others were executed for smuggling Bible pages into the country from China for North Koreans to make prayer books.
In one instance, a victim found in possession of a Bible was publicly executed in front of over 1,000 people. The victim was tied to a wooden stake and executed by an MPS firing squad.
One witness told KFI, “I saw the flesh fall off. That is how close I was."
Another man, who had converted to Christianity, was allegedly forced into a metal cage that was just 3 feet high and 4 feet wide.
"There were steel bars on all four-sides that were heated with electricity,” he told KFI. "Usually prisoners lasted only three or four hours in the cage, but I sat there for 12 hours and prayed. I kept praying to God to save me."
The man eventually soiled himself and passed out before being beaten by guards, leaving him with severe injuries.
Investigators documented 32 incidents of sexual violence against women — who made up 60% of victims identified in the report — and forced abortions.
At North Hamgyong Provincial MSS pre-trial detention center, for example, pregnant women were forced to get an injection to trigger labor. After giving birth to live babies, the newborns would be taken from them, smothered by guards using plastic sheets or cloth sacks, and then discarded in a cleaning cupboard.
“Mothers of the aborted infants were forced to resume manual labor the day after the abortion and without medicine or rest,” the report noted.
Girls as young as 3 were forced to undergo “degrading internal and invasive nude” body cavity searches, according to the report.
In some cases, entire families were arrested and sentenced to separate political prison camps for adhering to Christianity.
One individual interviewed shared how 10 attendees of Bible study groups were arrested and sentenced to political prison camps. Later, the parent of one of the victims was informed that their child had died at a political prison camp.
Christian Post article continues
Please remember to keep our persecuted brothers and sisters in North Korea in your prayers.
Persecution Unveiled has been called to prick the consciences of our nation and all free people to pray for, speak up and act on behalf of those who are persecuted for their faith. Follow us on Pinterest. 
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