April 30, 2008 — In honor of North Korea Freedom Week, Congressman Trent Franks (AZ-02), co-founder of the Congressional Task Force for International Religious Freedom (TIRF), co-chaired a briefing yesterday on the state enforced worship of Kim Jong-il and its impact on the human rights and freedoms of North Koreans - both inside the country and those who have fled to China.  He made the following remarks regarding the briefing.

“The complete lack of human and religious freedom in North Korea is extremely disheartening.” Franks stated.  “In the Task Force on Religious Freedom, it is very common to see countries where the government places restrictions on the practice of a person's religious beliefs, but it is much less common for governments to actually work to suppress and wipe out the freedom to believe.  This reaches a level of oppression that crushes the human spirit and the cornerstone of all human freedoms.  Yet, the North Korean government has been doing this for decades, using re-education camps, torture, and even execution on individuals who worship anyone other than Kim Jong Il and his father.

“It has been reported that the government is increasingly suspicious of Christianity and sees it as a growing threat to their power, reserving the harshest treatment in the gulags for those who have attempted to defect or had contact with Christian missionaries in China, and China is knowingly sending these people back to North Korea where they are tortured.

“It is critical, as new information emerges about North Korea’s nuclear activities and as Six-Party Talks continue, that the grave human rights abuses being committed in North Korea be addressed and rectified.”