For nine years and counting the “Hermit Kingdom” of North Korea has topped the Open Doors World Watch List – #1 in oppression. In this country, all religions face the worst persecution on earth. Open Doors estimates that there are approximately 50,000 Christian believers in labor camps and reports:

North Korea is a country in complete crisis, and where persecution of Christians is the most severe in the world. Famine holds vast swaths of the nation in its grip, and untold thousands live in poverty and misery. The populace are kept ignorant of the outside world and forcibly indoctrinated into “Juche” – a bizarre ideology focusing on the self-sufficiency of man, which teaches that the trinity consists of the father (deceased leader Kin Il-Sung), son (current leader Kim Jong-Il) and the “Juche spirit” of self-reliance. Christians in North Korea are forced to keep their faith secret – those who are discovered face torture, labor camps and even death.

BBC’s site has a story about increasing crackdowns. They spoke with a recent defector: “It was a life of hard labour,” he says. “Thirty per cent of new prisoners would die. And we were so malnourished, we would eat rats and earthworms to survive.” Horrific.

Last month that elderly buffoon Jimmy Carter paid a visit to North Korea, ostensibly to have a Kumbaya moment with Dear Leader. Predictably, peace and love did not break out: Ex-President Carter Bombs in Pyongyang. Although Jimma claims to be motivated by his Christian faith, I’m pretty sure he didn’t bring a bible with him on his mission; simply owning one can get you killed in “Juche” Land.

Satellite photos taken at night show North Korea to be a place of utter darkness. Indeed. “A country in complete crisis, and where persecution of Christians is the most severe in the world.” This is where going-Godless takes a country and a people. Please pray for the victims of this Evil Empire.