Tag: North Korea

2016 World Watch List drawn from world headlines

January 13, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Bibles, BJP, Boko Haram, Central Asia, Charlie Hebdo, Churches, Egypt, Hindu nationalism, India, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Kenya, Libya, Middle East, Mosul, Niger, Nigeria, Nineveh Plains, North Korea, Paris, Sub-Saharan Africa

Some of the most urgent headlines of the past 12 months, from the global spread of jihadist violence to North Korea’s test of a putative atomic weapon, intersect with an updated list of the most difficult places to live as a Christian. For the 14th straight year, North Korea is . . . Read More

Report: Christianity contracting in MidEast, Africa

October 16, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Belarus, Boko Haram, China, David Cameron, Egypt, Eritrea, Europe, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, London, Middle East, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Pope Francis, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Turkey, Turkmenistan, UK, Ukraine, Vietnam

Christianity is fast disappearing from entire regions, most notably a huge chunk of the Middle East, and could vanish from Iraq within five years, according to a new report by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. Released in the UK’s House of Lords on Tuesday, the report, “Persecuted and . . . Read More

Korea: Still divided 70 years on

August 14, 2015 South Korea Missionaries, North Korea, Pentecostals, Protestants, Pyongyang, Religious freedom, South Korea

On 15 August 1945 the Korean peninsula was divided along the 38th parallel: Russia and Japan to temporarily administer the North, the USA to administer the South. This arbitrary division of Korea exactly 70 years ago has resulted in the very different halves of the peninsula we see today – . . . Read More

‘Tolerated’ Christianity in N Korea?

August 4, 2015 North Korea Hyeon Soo Lim, North Korea, Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, South Korea, USA

In the first of a series about the worst places in the world for Christian persecution, BBC reporter Stephen Evans finds that Christians in North Korea are tolerated in some areas so long as they do not proselytise by, for example, handing out bibles. North Korea has topped the Open . . . Read More

N Korea parades missing pastor at press conference

August 3, 2015 North Korea Hyeon Soo Lim, North Korea, Pyongyang

Korean-Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim, who went missing during a visit to North Korea in January, took part in a press conference on 30 July in which he read a prepared statement admitting alleged crimes against the state, reports NK News. He later made his ‘confession’ before a Pyongyang church . . . Read More

N Korea says Canadian pastor ‘admits’ espionage

July 30, 2015 North Korea Hyeon Soo Lim, North Korea, South Korea

A Canadian pastor arrested in North Korea in March has made a statement in which he says he tried to undermine the government. Hyeon-soo Lim, a native of South Korea and Canadian citizen who serves in , told a news conference in Pyongyang his humanitarian work in North Korea has . . . Read More

EU ‘must do more’ to stop religious freedom abuses

June 4, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Brunei, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Europe, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Maldives, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen

Left to right: MEP Dennis de Jong, USCIRF’s Katrina Lantos Swett, EEAS’s Silvio Gonzato, and MEP Peter van Dalen at the report’s launch in Brussels on 3 June.Courtesy European Parliament Intergroup The new European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini, said in October 2014 that upholding the . . . Read More

2014: A year of particular concern

April 30, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Anti-balaka, Bashar al-Assad, BJP, Boko Haram, Central African Republic, Chibok girls, Chin, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, India, Iran, Iraq, Islamic State, Kachin, Kano, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Potiskum, Rohingya, Saudi Arabia, Seleka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, USA, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

If ever there were a year that made plain the importance of religious freedom, 2014 was it, according to the just-released annual report by an American government advisory group. “By any measure, the horrors of the past year speak volumes about how and why religious freedom and the protection of the . . . Read More

Canada confirms pastor detained in North Korea

March 6, 2015 North Korea China, Hyeon Soo Lim, Kenneth Bae, North Korea, South Korea, USA

The Canadian government has confirmed to the family of pastor Hyeon Soo Lim that he has been detained in North Korea. This follows earlier reports that nobody had heard from Lim, 60, since he crossed the Chinese border on 31 January. Lim, who is married with one son, grew up . . . Read More

Canadian pastor ‘not heard from’ in North Korea

March 3, 2015 North Korea Hyeon Soo Lim, North Korea, South Korea, USA

The head pastor of a large Canadian church has failed to return from a humanitarian visit to North Korea. Reverend Hyeon Soo Lim, 60, had made hundreds of trips to the secretive state where he helped oversee an orphanage, a nursery and a nursing home. Speaking on behalf of the . . . Read More

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