International Religious Freedom Report, 2012: Democratic People's Republic of Korea

摘要

Although the constitution and other laws and policies provide for religious freedom, in practice the government severely restricted religious activity, except for some officially recognized groups it tightly supervised. The trend in the governments respect for religious freedom did not change significantly during the year. Genuine religious freedom did not exist. Government practices continued to interfere with individuals ability to choose and to manifest their religious beliefs. The government continued to repress the religious activities of unauthorized religious groups. Reports by refugees, defectors, missionaries, and nongovernmental organizations (NGO) indicated that the authorities arrested and subjected to harsh penalties persons engaged in religious proselytizing and those in unauthorized contact with foreigners or missionaries. Defectors stated that they witnessed or heard of arrests and possible executions of underground Christian church members in prior years. Due to the countrys inaccessibility and the inability of foreigners to gain timely information, the continuation of arrests and punishments during the year remained difficult to verify. The government allowed foreigners to attend government-sponsored religious services. There were no reports available on societal abuses or discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice.