A U.S. government agency says the international community should focus on North Korea’s religious persecution as well as its nuclear program and missile tests. Officials with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom were in Rome to show Italian and Vatican officials a report based on interviews with 40 North Koreans who fled the country. All those interviewed said that no public worship is allowed in North Korea aside from the cult of Kim Il Sung, the national founder who was succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Il. Some had also witnessed executions of people who had organized underground churches or were found in possession of Bibles.

- AP