This captured image shows a pastor delivering a sermon during a Christmas service at Bongsu Church, one of a handful churches in North Korea. / Yonhap

By Yi Whan-woo

North Korea has shown photos and footage of its people joining Christmas church services, in a rare move seen as an effort to speed up inter-Korean reconciliation.

The photos released on Dec. 27 by "Ryomyong," a website aimed at reconciliation, showed people praying and celebrating Christmas at Bongsu Church, one of the North's two Protestant churches, and at Changchung Cathedral, a nominal cathedral of the Roman Catholic bishop.

"We pray a star of peace guides every step so that the reconciliatory mood formed on the Korean Peninsula is not disrupted by followers of Satan," said a ranking official at the Korean Christian Federation, Pyongyang's Protestant body.

A pastor, also a federation member, mentioned the three 2018 summits — in April, May and September — between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in and underscored the "Korean people's task to secure such a precious outcome."

Another pastor called on all believers to "join hands with each other and take responsibility as the faithful" to implement declarations jointly announced by the two leaders April and September.

Sources familiar with the matter speculated that Pyongyang is trying to normalize its regime amid efforts to open doors to the outside world for economic development.

In its November 2018 report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom listed North Korea as a country of particular concern.

It assessed the regime's approach to religion and belief among "the most hostile and repressive in the world."

"Freedom of religion or belief does not exist in North Korea," it said. "The regime exerts absolute influence over the handful of state-controlled houses of worship permitted to exist, creating a facade of religious life in North Korea. In practice, the North Korean regime treats religion as a threat, particularly faiths associated with the West, such as Christianity, and is known to arrest, torture, imprison and even execute religious believers."

The commission referred to accounts of North Korean defectors and their advocate groups call for the North to "increasingly reveal the regime's abuses and reinforce the international community's entreaties for accountability."

The U.S. has designated North Korea a country of particular concern since 2001.

The North has denied international accusations of human rights abuses.

The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution condemning North Korea's human rights record on Dec. 17. It marks the 14th consecutive year it has passed the document.

The resolution expressed deep concern "at the grave human rights situation, the pervasive culture of impunity and the lack of accountability for human rights violations in North Korea."