The North Korean Council of Religionists, which includes all officially recognised religions, sent a video with a message of peace and prosperity to its South Korean brothers and sisters, walking “hand in hand towards peace and unification, filled with blessings by Christ the Lord.”

Seoul (AsiaNews) – Representatives of North Korea’s five authorised religions have sent a very rare video to wish Merry Christmas to South Korean Christians.

The North Korean Council of Religionists, which includes Buddhists, Muslims, Taoists, Catholics and Protestants, sent wishes of peace and prosperity to their "South Korean brothers and sisters" and urged them to walk together, “hand in hand towards peace and unification".

The video starts with a series of pictures of Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and photos of this year’s North-South Korean summits.

This is followed by a brief speech by the head of the Council. "I send congratulatory and peaceful greetings for Christmas to South Korean brothers and sisters," says Kang Ji-young.

The message goes on to say, “We hope North and South Korean religionists, who go hand in hand towards peace and unification, filled with blessings by Christ the Lord.”

Approved by the South Korea Unification Ministry, the video was delivered to the South Korean Commission on Faith and Order of Korean Churches.

In North Korea, the cult of the late Kim Jong-Il and his father Kim Il-Sung is the only form of worship allowed.

The regime has always tried to stop religious activities, especially Buddhism and Christianity, and requires religious believers to register with Party-controlled organisations. Anyone who is not registered or engages in missionary activities is liable for brutal repression.

Since the establishment of the Communist regime in 1953, about 300,000 Christians have gone missing. All priests and nuns have suffered the same fate, killed during the persecution.

Religious believers were forced into long death marches, resulting in the death of the last men and women religious.

In North Korea, the authorities have categorised society into 51 social groups. Those who engage in religious activities outside government control are at the bottom of the hierarchy with fewer educational and employment opportunities than others, denied food subsidies and constantly brutalised.

North Korea claims that its constitution guarantees freedom of religion. According to official government data, the country has some 10,000 Buddhists, 10,000 Protestants and 4,000 Catholics, i.e. only the people who are members of recognised associations.

There are three churches in Pyongyang, two Protestant and one Catholic, built in the 1980s. In 2006, thanks to the good offices of the Russian embassy in North Korea, the authorities allowed the construction of an Orthodox church.

According to people who have visited some of these churches, only regime propaganda is allowed in them. The so-called priests in charge compare the "Dear leader" Kim Jong-Il to a demigod.

The only Catholic church has no priest but a group prayer is held once a week.