Thu, Nov 10, 2005 - Page 5 News List

Asian nations restricting religion: US

ANNUAL REPORT China, North Korea, Vietnam and Myanmar were singled out by the US for perpetrating or tolerating severe violations of religious freedoms

AGENCIES , WASHINGTON AND BEIJING

In North Korea, "religious freedom does not exist," the report said.

It cited refugee accounts of executions of underground Christians and unconfirmed claims that Christians were tortured for reading the Bible.

`Chilling'

"Some of these reports are chilling in terms of arrests and torture and imprisonment, large numbers of people of faith in prison camps in North Korea," Hanford said.

Traditionally Buddhist Myanmar, run by various forms of military junta since 1962, "continued to engage in particularly severe violations of religious freedom," the report said.

The Myanmar government curbed efforts by Buddhist clergy to promote human rights while actively restricting non-Buddhist faiths and promoting Buddhism over other religions, particularly among ethnic minorities, the report said.

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