The State Department’s Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom on Thursday called for the release of religious minorities from prisons worldwide in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among countries with an alleged multitude of religious prisoners, Ambassador Brownback said that “North Korea has a very high number, and we don’t know how many are in their gulag system that they have.”

Referencing the reportedly “horrifying” conditions inside DPRK prisons, “they would be under exceeding exposure to COVID,” he said.

The former Kansas Governor and current Ambassador briefed reporters via teleconference on the current condition of religious minorities in prisons, citing conditions in Iran, China, Russia, and other nations.

Citing North Korean “individual reporting, the eyewitnesses… that have gotten out and escaped,” he reiterated the susceptibility of COVID-19 spread in DPRK “prison situations [where] they allow their prisoners to be kept in very crowded, unsanitary conditions and they die there.”

“That’s just allowed by the [DPRK] government rather than being concerned at all for the health and safety of their citizens, even though they may not agree with their religious practices.”

Brownback highlighted Iran’s decision to “[furlough] some 100,000 prisoners of conscience to mitigate the spread of COVID-19” and requested more action from the regime while calling on other countries to do the same.

The Ambassador also called for healthcare distribution “to all communities regardless of religious affiliation or otherwise,” as even in general populations “oftentimes a religious minority is excluded from the public health [system].”

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom re-designated the DPRK as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) in 2019, citing “continued… systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief.”

The U.S. State Department has repeatedly designated North Korea as a CPC since 2001.

Edited by Oliver Hotham