North Korea’s tubby tyrant wants the few Christians in the hermit state to spread cheer only to celebrate his grandma, Kim Jong-suk — not the birth of Jesus.
Jong-suk — who was born on Christmas Eve in 1919 — was an anti-Japanese guerrilla and Communist activist, wife of North Korea’s first dictator, Kim Il Sung, and former leader Kim Jong Il’s mother.
Many pay homage to the “Sacred Mother of the Revolution,” who died under mysterious circumstances in 1949, by visiting her tomb.
The daffy dictator is so obsessed with banning Christmas that he even flipped out in 2014 when he found out that South Korea planned to erect a huge Christmas tree along the border. Amid threats of all-out war, the tree was never put up.
Despite his hatred for Christmas trees, they can be found in the capital of Pyongyang — especially in upscale shops and restaurants — but are largely stripped of religious symbols.
Pyongyang used to have more Christians than any other city in Korea — and even had a seated Catholic bishop. All that changed by the early 1950s, when authorities clamped down on all Christian activities in the country.
Human rights groups estimate that between 50,000 and 70,000 Christians are locked up in prisons that have been compared to concentration camps simply for their faith.
(source: New York Post)