(North) Korean News: "'Annual Report on International Religious Freedom' of U.S. State Department Upbraided"

Religion is the opiate of the masses, except for Islam?

Rodong Sinmun Wednesday lashes out at the "annual report on international religious freedom" issued by the U.S. State Department recently. It is the height of folly and effrontery to take issue with other countries over the "religious issue", itself having serious religious problems, declares the analyst.

Recalling that the U.S., after the "Sept. 11 incident", has murdered many Muslims in cold blood in its mainland, Afghanistan and Iraq and made no bones about insulting and overriding Islam and Islamic culture, the analyst goes on:

The United States is not a "religious judge" but a chief culprit in the repression and extermination of religion which should be put in the dock of a religious trial.

Truth to tell, it is not in a position to admonish other countries over the issue of religion. In the U.S. Constitution the nation is separated from the church and "religious freedom" is guaranteed. In reality, however, there is only "religious freedom" serving the reactionary ruling quarters. They hold heretical a religious view and religion which criticize or disapprove the American way of life. They even persecute, arrest and kill religionists harboring political discontent.

The world does not recognize the U.S. as a "religious judge" and it has never given it such authority. Nevertheless, the U.S. is intensifying interference in the internal affairs of other countries and pressure upon them, stringing out a high-flown jargon over the "religious problems" in the countries. Especially, it is engaged in a massive campaign against Muslims. The international community demands that the U.S., the real chief culprit in suppressing and exterminating religion, should stop behaving as a "religious judge" and stand in the dock of the religious court by its own motion. The U.S. had better clear itself of the prodigious religious flaws before discussing the "religious problems" of other countries.

Tags: North Korea, Islam, religious freedom, Juche-coupes