By Kim Se-jeong
Some 99.5 percent of defectors living in Seoul said that they had not had religious freedom in North Korea.
According to the Database Center for N. Korean Human Rights, a private institute dedicated to researching human rights violation in North Korea, 3,479 respondents out of 3,495 answered practicing religions was prohibited in the regime.
The results come as little surprise, as much anecdotal evidence has indicated that, yet they were released at an interesting time.
On Tuesday, South Korea lit Christmas lights at Aegibong near the border on a tree-shaped 30-meter tower with a cross on top, which the South used as part of psychological warfare strategy.
In 2004 when the Sunshine Policy was operating, Seoul stopped lighting it in response to Pyongyang’s opposition. It relit the lights this week to protest the North’s attack on Yeonpyeong Island last month.
The results were included in the “2010 White Paper on Religious Freedom in North Korea,” the institute’s annual publication.
To the question whether they had ever openly visited churches, cathedrals or temples, only 0.7 percent answered yes.
Although North Korea’s Constitution grants religious freedom, it exists only on paper.
People with a religious affiliation are considered as “traitors” to the nation, which idolizes Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, the founder of the regime and his son.
Those who are caught and their families are sent to prison camps.
“Religion in North Korea is only a political tool to take advantage of,” the white paper stated.