Religion in North Korea

Religion in North Korea (2005)^[1]

No religion (64.3%)

There are no known official statistics of religions in North Korea. Officially, North Korea is an atheist state, although its constitution guarantees free exercise of religion, provided that religious practice does not introduce foreign forces, harm the state, or harm the existing social order. Based on estimates from the late 1990s^[2] and the 2000s,^[1]^[3] North Korea is mostly irreligious, with the main religions being Shamanism and Chondoism. There are small communities of Buddhists and Christians. Chondoism is represented in politics by the Party of the Young Friends of the Heavenly Way,^[4] and is regarded by the government as Korea's "national religion"^[5] because of its identity as a minjung (popular)^[6] and "revolutionary anti-imperialist" movement.^[4]

^ ^a ^b Alton, 2013. p. 79. As of 2005 the agency "Religious Intelligence UK" estimated 3,846,000 believers of Korean shamanism, 3,245,000 Chondoists, 1,082,888 Buddhists, 406,000 Christians, and the rest non-believers.
^ Chryssides, Geaves. 2007. p. 110
^ Association of Religion Data Archives: North Korea: Religious Adherents, 2010 Archived 2018-11-16 at the Wayback Machine. Data from the World Christian Database.
^ ^a ^b Baker 2008, p. 146.
^ Cite error: The named reference Chondoism, National Religion was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Lee 1996, p. 110.