North Koreans ‘celebrating Christmas risk being executed on spot & instead they are forced to toast Kim’s dead grandma’
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ANYONE caught celebrating Christmas in North Korea could be executed on the spot, a defector has revealed. Western-hating Kim Jong-un has long tried to stamp out religion and instead wants his people to look at him as a God-like figure. His crack team has been known to prosecute people for practicing religion - and Christians in particular have been persecuted.
![[Kim Jong-un with the participants in the Fourth Conference of Battalion Commanders and Political Instructors of the Korean People’s Army in Pyongyang on November 21]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/south-korea-editors-note-restricted-951091818.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Timothy Cho, who escaped North Korea twice and was imprisoned four times, said Christians risk celebrating Christmas at their own peril. He said Christians are regarded as "political prisoners" - and practising the religion is viewed as "high treason".
![[Kim, centre, rides a white horse up snow-covered Mount Paektu]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/rides-white-horse-snow-covered-820678905.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Cho - who works with 0pen Doors UK & Ireland, a charity advocating on behalf of persecuted Christians worldwide - likened North Korea to the "cursed" fictitious land of Narnia. He told The Sun: "Underground Christians might celebrate in total secret singing some hymns very quietly and reading scripture but that's it.
![[Kim Jong-un's grandmother, Kim Jong-suk]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/kim-jong-uns-grandma-kim-290474886.jpg?strip=all&w=591)
"The cost they would pay if they were discovered is dear. "The minimum punishment would be being sent to a gulag prison camp and made to work hard labour or they could even be executed on the spot. "According to Open Doors' World Watch List, North Korea has been the most dangerous country for Christians for the past decade.".
![[Kim Il-sung, wife Kim Jong-suk with son Kim Jong-il in artwork from a collection in Pyongyang]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/photo-fine-art-images-heritage-290474887.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
North Korea has a reputation for being a hermit kingdom, and Kim has ruled with an iron fist as Supreme Leader since 2011. His hate of any sort of Western influence means there are only four TV channels, all state-owned, and any sort of foreign hairstyle or clothing is forbidden.
![[Kim pictured sparking at a conference in Pyongyang on December 24, 2017]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2017-north-korean-government-north-374732557.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
