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N.Korea executes woman for distributing Bibles

Goshin

Goshin

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Report: North Korea Publicly Executes Christian Woman for Distributing Bible
Friday, July 24, 2009


Print ShareThisSEOUL, South Korea — North Korea publicly executed a Christian woman last month for distributing the Bible, which is banned in the communist nation, South Korean activists said Friday.

Ri Hyon Ok, 33, was also accused of spying for South Korea and the United States and organizing dissidents. She was executed in the northwestern city of Ryongchon near the border with China on June 16, according to a report from an alliance of several dozen anti-North Korea groups.

Ri's parents, husband and three children were sent to a political prison camp in the northeastern city of Hoeryong the following day, the report said, citing unidentified documents it says were obtained from North Korea. It showed a copy of Ri's North Korean government-issued photo ID. It is virtually impossible to verify such reports about secretive North Korea, where the government tightly controls the lives of its citizens and does not allow dissent.

On Thursday, an annual report from a state-run South Korean think tank on human rights in the North said that public executions, though dropping in number in recent years, were still carried out for crimes ranging from murder to circulating foreign movies.

North Korea claims to guarantee freedom of religion for its 24 million people but in reality severely restricts religious observances. The cult of personality surrounding national founder Kim Il Sung and his son, current leader Kim Jong Il, is a virtual state religion.

The government has authorized four state churches, one Catholic, two Protestant and one Russian Orthodox, but they cater to foreigners and ordinary North Koreans cannot attend. However, defectors and activists say more than 30,000 North Koreans are believed to practice Christianity secretly.

The U.S. State Department reported last year that "genuine religious freedom does not exist" in North Korea.

"North Korea appears to have judged that Christian forces could pose a threat to its regime," Do Hee-youn, a leading activist, told reporters, claiming public executions, arrest and detention of North Koreans are prevalent.
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North Korea needs to be universally condemned for their oppression of Christianity.

Prayers for her bereaved and imprisoned family.
 
Oftencold said:
Ther'd be a lot more outrage if she'd been handing out Korans and Burkas.
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Nah, I'm pretty sure there'd be more lulz. I'd certainly find North Korean persecution of Muslims a hell of a lot funnier than North Korean persecution of Christians. North Korean persecution of Christians is just sort of... meh.

Their country, their culture. Let them protect it as they see fit.
 
Korimyr the Rat said:
Nah, I'm pretty sure there'd be more lulz. I'd certainly find North Korean persecution of Muslims a hell of a lot funnier than North Korean persecution of Christians. North Korean persecution of Christians is just sort of... meh.

Their country, their culture. Let them protect it as they see fit.
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I know that you have little regard for what happens in other countries if it doesn't directly affect your own; I'm somewhat inclined that way myself. Since this is a co-religionist of mine who was executed I find that I have a intrest in the matter. If it had been someone of your own pagan tradition would you have felt differently?

What would your position be if something of the sort were happening in the USA?
 
Goshin said:
Since this is a co-religionist of mine who was executed I find that I have a interest in the matter. If it had been someone of your own pagan tradition would you have felt differently?
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I would probably be a little saddened, but still not terribly concerned. We don't have a tradition of evangelism, and there's a pretty strong thread of belief that says we shouldn't bother unless people come to us on their own. Actually quite a bit of argument as to whether or not non-Germanic people are even meant to be Asatruar, though I fall firmly on the side of the argument that says that the spirit in someone's heart matters more than the blood that pumps through it.

If anything, I might be inclined to think it was a little awesome, especially if he put up a fight.

Goshin said:
What would your position be if something of the sort were happening in the USA?
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In this country? That's a threat to me and mine. Isn't likely that it'd be Christians they were executing-- no offense, but it'd be more like the Bush and Buchanan crowd gunning for people like me-- but if it were a pogrom against Christians, that's most of my family right there.

You can bet that my response would be considerably more vigorous, in either circumstance.

On the other hand, you pick a religious group I've got less reason to care about... and then it really depends on who the group is, why the government's persecuting them, and whether or not I think people I do give a damn about are going to end up collateral damage. I'm generally of the school of thought that I don't much care what people believe as long as they behave acceptable, but some beliefs promote behaviors I consider harmful or offensive and I have no problem with dropping the hammer on them. Only reason I hesitate is I know how close I am to getting the hammer dropped on me for some of the things I believe in and some of the causes I support.
 
Well, at least you're consistent.
 
If she engaged in legitimately treasonous activities, that's obviously somewhat different than an execution for Bible distribution, though I'd personally still regard it as immoral. However, I suspect that socially and politically rightist Christians who seize upon this incident as a means of illustrating their belief that widespread persecution of Christianity exists everywhere (despite Christians constituting almost a third of the world's population) would readily favor the execution of someone spying for an enemy country, and would view their distribution of propaganda related to a widespread belief in that country as evidence of their treason.
 
Although I am against execution and I hate the NK government in particular, this proselytizer had it coming. She knew the risks, and the laws. She went anyway. I don't consider her a hero, simply someone whose religious ego went beyond common sense. A fool and her life are soon parted.

It's like people who smuggle drugs into or out of countries where the penalty is death, and when they get caught and sent to jail for life, they write to their governments begging for help. Most of the English speaking nations have this mentality... that they can just go wherever they please and their governments will bail them out if they get caught crossing the line.
 
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North Korea publicly executed a Christian woman last month for distributing the Bible, which is banned in the communist nation
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So she knew it was banned yet continued to distribute Bibles? Sounds to me like she should not have broken the law.
 
Laila said:
So she knew it was banned yet continued to distribute Bibles? Sounds to me like she should not have broken the law.
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Ya no one should ever break the law in pursuit of civil rights and freedom. Now excuse me I have to check that the slaves are still out in the field.
 
This is a communist country. Hardly about to change anytime soon.
 
I don't disagree, but this woman knew what she was getting herself into and redoubtably was ready to sacrifice her life for it. And given that North Korean citizens live and die for the state I think its admirable that this woman choose to live and die for something else and do something, anything, to fight against the North Korean gov't.
 
Admirable yes.
But she knew what would happen.
 
Wiseone said:
I don't disagree, but this woman knew what she was getting herself into and redoubtably was ready to sacrifice her life for it. And given that North Korean citizens live and die for the state I think its admirable that this woman choose to live and die for something else and do something, anything, to fight against the North Korean gov't.
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No. Let me tell you what this woman was thinking, and I can tell you because it is entirely predictable. She thought that she could bring her religion into a destitute, corrupt, impoverished nation in order to provide some kind of hope to a broken people... all the while, she showed complete disregard for the domestic law, got caught, and now she is dead. You get discovered, you die. It's that simple. It's not heroic, it's just foolish, and it doesn't change anything.

She was not only a fool for putting herself in danger, but she was a fool for putting everyone she came into contact with in danger. If she had managed to convert some people, what do you think would happen if those people were discovered praying or with copies of a Bible? They and their families would be sent to the shooting range, to serve as targets. These types of idealists don't seem to understand the reality of living under a crazy regime. It's about survival and doing whatever you can to not attract unwanted attention to yourself; but instead, they gallop in thinking they are rescuers, only to enable the regime to commit further violence.

It's these kinds of cowboy tourists that put everyone at risk. The same kind of morons come to China, entering areas that the government has banned foreigners from going (like Tibetan areas), communicate with the people, try to give them hope and maybe get a snapshot of themselves in a forbidden area, and then they get caught. You know what happens then? The foreigners get sent home (much softer punishment than in NK, but I digress), and then the people of that area get stricter local rules forced down their throats.

So no, it's not heroic. It's stupid and shortsighted.
 
Ya no one should ever break the law in pursuit of civil rights and freedom. Now excuse me I have to check that the slaves are still out in the field.
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But she wasn't; she broke the law in pursuit of the promotion of her religion.

This is a communist country. Hardly about to change anytime soon.
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:roll:

The DPRK broke with any semblance of Marxism when it adopted Juche.

Anyways, I think it's also important to highlight this:

Article said:
It is virtually impossible to verify such reports about secretive North Korea, where the government tightly controls the lives of its citizens and does not allow dissent.
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I'm not saying this didn't happen, but everyone needs to keep this in mind in situations like this, and I think it deserved to be highlighted given that so many take these stories at face value when it fits their own political interests.
 
Orius said:
No. Let me tell you what this woman was thinking, and I can tell you because it is entirely predictable. She thought that she could bring her religion into a destitute, corrupt, impoverished nation in order to provide some kind of hope to a broken people... all the while, she showed complete disregard for the domestic law, got caught, and now she is dead. You get discovered, you die. It's that simple. It's not heroic, it's just foolish, and it doesn't change anything.

She was not only a fool for putting herself in danger, but she was a fool for putting everyone she came into contact with in danger. If she had managed to convert some people, what do you think would happen if those people were discovered praying or with copies of a Bible? They and their families would be sent to the shooting range, to serve as targets. These types of idealists don't seem to understand the reality of living under a crazy regime. It's about survival and doing whatever you can to not attract unwanted attention to yourself; but instead, they gallop in thinking they are rescuers, only to enable the regime to commit further violence.

It's these kinds of cowboy tourists that put everyone at risk. The same kind of morons come to China, entering areas that the government has banned foreigners from going (like Tibetan areas), communicate with the people, try to give them hope and maybe get a snapshot of themselves in a forbidden area, and then they get caught. You know what happens then? The foreigners get sent home (much softer punishment than in NK, but I digress), and then the people of that area get stricter local rules forced down their throats.

So no, it's not heroic. It's stupid and shortsighted.
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Teach me how to read minds sometime, it must be useful.


Do you also tell rape victims they should have dressed frumpy and stayed out of the bad side of town? Your compassion is overwhelming.
 
NK bent as butchers hooks,bin job for them Admin,look i am going to be your pal

bless u Admin.

mikeey
 
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