A video showing anti-Christian propaganda broadcast on North Korean state TV has been shared online.
The Youtube video, originally posted on Reddit, contains over an hour of recorded footage of news reports, patriotic musical performances and obscure theatrics originally broadcast on the tightly controlled North Korean state TV.
One section, highlighted in a shortened video by the Scottish Catholic Observer, shows a menacing caricature of a typically western priest, adorned in black robes and a large crucifix, who terrorises a mother and child. The drama takes the form of a nine-minute theatrical ballet.
The villainous priest kills the child but his avenged by the mother. The text on the screen then reportedly reads: 'Do not forget the brutality of American things.'
The scenes, which some may find distressing, can be watched below.
The Reddit user 'braunheiser' recorded the original footage from a 'hacked feed' that was being streamed online.
Christians in North Korea suffer harsh persecution under the dictatorship of its leader Kim Jong Un. A September report revealed that Christians in North Korea face rape, torture, enslavement and being killed for their faith.
'Religious beliefs are seen as a threat to the loyalty demanded by the Supreme Leader, so anyone holding these beliefs is severely persecuted,' the report said. 'Christians suffer significantly because of the anti-revolutionary and imperialist labels attached to them by the country's leadership.'
The documented incidents against Christians include 'being hung on a cross over a fire, crushed under a steamroller, herded off bridges and trampled underfoot'.
Christian believers, who number approximately 200-300,000, practise their faith in secret, and if caught, are sent to North Korea's notorious hard labour camps.
Humanitarian charity Open Doors has put North Korea at #1 on its World Watch List - ranking the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian - for the past 15 years.
