Kim Jong-un BANS Christmas: Why doesn’t North Korea celebrate Christmas?

Christmas has not been celebrated openly in North Korea since the Kim dynasty began cracking down on religious freedoms in 1948.

The North Korean constitution technically does allow freedom of religion to all its citizens, but anyone found taking part in festive ceremonies risks being thrown in jail, or worse. 

Last year, banned Christmas altogether, instead demanding that all citizens should pay tribute to his grandmother on December 24 – her date of birth. 

This year he has upped the ante by also prohibiting any “gatherings that involve alcohol and singing.”

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said: “North Korea has devised a system whereby party organs report people’s economic hardships on a daily basis, and it has banned any gatherings related to drinking, singing and other entertainment, and is strengthening control of outside information.”

It is thought that religion is punished in because it is seen by officials as a threat to their authority. 

According to the CIA autonomous religious activities are now “almost nonexistent” in North Korea, with government-sponsored religious groups existing only to “provide illusion of religious freedom”.

Despite the threat of imprisonment, each year Christians in North Korea rebel by holding their own secret celebrations.  

Open Doors, a persecution watchdog, said defiant groups do gather to celebrate Christmas, but only in “remote areas”. 

A spokesperson : “Christmas is mainly celebrated in the heart of the Christian. Only if the whole family has turned to Christ is it possible to have something like a real gathering. 

“For fear of retribution it is necessary to keep your faith hidden from the neighbours. It is sometimes possible to hold a meeting in remote areas with a group of 10 to 20 people. 

“Very occasionally, it is possible for Christians to go unobtrusively into the mountains and to hold a ‘service’ at a secret location. Then there might be as many as 60 or 70 North Koreans gathered together.

“Only they can’t just go along to church to sing or listen to a sermon. They can’t even visit one another to read the Bible together. Being a Christian in North Korea is very lonely.”

South Korea has also taken steps to empower those wishing to celebrate Christmas in North Korea.

In the past it has decorated a huge 60ft tower with lights in an attempt to enrage their hermit neighbours. 

After seeing the tower, North Korea accused the South of carrying out a “provocative display of psychological warfare”.