The Grinch may have stolen Christmas, but Kim Jong Un has banned it entirely.
However, the North Korean dictator’s brutal religious restrictions have not stopped some activists from trying to spread the Christmas spirit, throwing gifts into the Yellow Sea in the hope that they will reach the shores of the hermit kingdom.
Activists from the human rights group North Korea Freedom Coalition recently released bottles filled with rice, a US$1 bill and a USB flash drive each containing Bible verses, hoping to bring Christmas cheer to impoverished citizens. from Pyongyang.
“We should do everything we can to get information to North Korea by land, sea and air,” Suzanne Scholte, who heads the organization, told Fox News.
“We must communicate to the people in power in Pyongyang that they have friends and allies in Korea and the United States, that they have only one wish for them: to share with them the benefits of a free people, to give them a life of home instead of despair. ” she added.
The flash drives in the bottles featured recorded messages from several members of Congress, including Reps. Michael McCaul (R-Tx.) and Gregory Meeks (D-NY), as well as Sens. Jim Risch (R-Id.) and Tim Kaine . (D-Va.), describing the holiday and North Korea’s connection to it, Fox reported.
North Koreans are prohibited from celebrating Christmas. fake images
“Christmas, celebrated around the world on December 25, marks the day Jesus was born,” the message read, according to Fox.
“Many of your ancestors also believed in Jesus. In fact, in 1907, in Pyongyang, there were so many Christians who believed in Jesus that Pyongyang became known as a Holy City.”
“But when Kim II Sung came to power, he wanted North Koreans to worship him as a god, and not the one true God. So he killed many Christian leaders, he sent others to political prison camps or banished them,” he adds.
“He did everything he could to kill the followers of Jesus Christ.”
Activists try to breach Kim Jong Un’s closed borders. AP
North Korea is generally considered one of the most dangerous places on the planet to celebrate Christmas and other religious holidays.
“There is no Christmas in North Korea,” North Korean defector Kang Jimin told the Independent in 2017.
“I did not know what it was. Christmas is the birthday of Jesus Christ, but North Korea is obviously a communist country, so people don’t know who Jesus Christ is. They don’t know who God is. The Kim family is their god,” Jimin said.
Christians in North Korea are forced to practice their faith in secret.
Flash drives inside the bottles featured recorded messages from various members of Congress. fake images
There are an estimated 400,000 Christians in North Korea, of whom around 17% are believed to be imprisoned, according to the charity Open Doors.
North Korea has an estimated population of around 26 million people.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn