ICC Note: There are seemingly no limits to North Korea’s repression of Christianity. While the recently sanctioned rogue nation is now in especially severe need of imports from China to feed (some) of its people, its government refuses to let down its extraordinary paranoia of any and all things religious. The”X” found often on the exterior of some incoming products is apparently too much like the cross of Jesus Christ to be accepted into the country. And as it is stated later in the article, the same repression extends to young students in math class who must ensure that their “plus signs” have equal lines and in no way resemble the cross. North Korean Christians deserve admiration for their endurance under a regime that forbids any trace of Christianity whatsoever. 

7/26/2016 North Korea (Radio Free Asia) – Already on the look-out for goods showing manufacture in rival South Korea, North Korean border guards are now watching too for products coming in from China that bear markings resembling the Christian cross, North Korean sources say.

Customs officers in the isolated, sanctions-hit state have recently been confiscating all products they see that show the mark, a Chinese-Korean peddler based in Pyongyang who frequently travels back and forth across the border told RFA’s Korean Service.

“We’ve always had to make sure there were no Korean characters on the labels of products that we brought in from China,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Now we have to check again to see that there isn’t anything that looks like a cross,” he said.

“Some designs on women’s clothing can look a lot like a cross, depending on who is looking at it. Cross designs also appear on women’s hairpins and hair bands and on men’s neckties.”

“These products are more likely to be confiscated during customs checks,” he said.

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