UNITED STATES. US PANEL RELEASES CHILLING REPORT OF NORTH KOREAN RELIGIOUS PERSECUTIONS

the United States government released chilling interviews with North Korean refugees who witnessed bloody executions of religious believers, to highlight suppression of religious freedom in the hardline communist state. Young children were assembled to witness the punishment, according to the interviews contained in a report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. Another refugee related an incident in which two people were shot dead by the North Korean authorities because they were caught with Bibles, said the commission, an independent government agency that monitors freedom of religion abroad and gives recommendations to the US president.
One of the 40 North Korean refugees interviewed -- none of whom were identified to protect their safety -- said "I saw an old man and his daughter executed because the daughter had dropped a Bible while washing clothes."
"Seven police (personnel) fired three shots each into the two victims, who had been tied to stakes a few meters from the 'trial' area," the report quoted a refugee as saying.
"The force of the rifle shots, fired from 15 meters (50 feet) away, caused blood and brain matter to be blown out of their heads," according to the account.
Another refugee said, "I witnessed the execution of a (Christian) pastor, two chon-do-sa (assistant pastors) and two elders (lay church officials who help lead the congregation)." The five, accused of being "Protestant spies" and who refused to abandon their religious beliefs, were bound hand and foot and made to lie down before being crushed by a huge steam roller, the report said.
Some of their fellow parishioners assembled to watch the execution "cried, screamed out or fainted when the skulls made a popping sound as they were crushed beneath the steam roller."