U.S. Report Hits North Korea on Religious Rights

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Chosun Ilbo/VOA

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200804/200804160026.html

A new U.S. government report says North Korea's denial of religious freedoms continues to be widespread and brutal. As VOA's Kent Klein reports from Washington, U.S. officials are calling for global pressure on Pyongyang to change its behavior.

The report is titled “A Prison Without Bars.” The chairman of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, Michael Cromartie, says researchers talked with 32 North Korean refugees and some former security agents. Those interviews paint a grave picture of how North Korean asylum seekers are treated when they are forcibly returned from China to North Korea.