SOUTH KOREA (ANS) -- Human rights groups in South Korea say North Korea has stepped up executions of Christians, some of them in public, according to a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

The communist country, the world's most closed society, views religion as a major threat, the BBC says in an online report.

Only the founder of the country, Kim Il-sung, and his son, Kim Jong-il, may be worshipped, in mass public displays of fervor, the BBC says.

In its article, the BBC says that despite the persecutions, it is thought up to 30,000 North Koreans may practice Christianity secretly in their homes.

A report by a number of South Korean groups highlights one particular case of a woman allegedly executed in public last month, in a northern town close to the Chinese border.

She was accused of distributing Bibles, spying for South Korea and the United States and helping to organize dissidents. Her parents, husband, and children were sent to a prison camp.

The BBC says such reports are hard to verify, but North Korea is known to be intolerant of religion -- it views any form of alternative social organization as a competitor for its own, religion-like ideology.

The US government says just owning a Bible in North Korea may be a cause for torture and disappearance, the BBC stated.

"Pyongyang's position appears to have hardened on everything from human rights to defense policy and international relations in the last year or so," the BBC explained.

The BBC says it is thought this may be a way to shore up the government through Mr Kim's illness and the process of anointing his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, as North Korea's next leader.

** Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent of ANS, is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. Michael has traveled to Albania and the former Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany and the former Czechoslovakia, Israel, and Canada. He has reported for ANS from Jordan, China, Russia, Jamaica, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- Michael Ireland Media Missionary (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649,at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can donate online to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.'