According to the US State Department, in 2009 the North Korean government sentenced a two-year-old boy and his family to life imprisonment after his parents were caught owning a Bible, The Christian Post reports.

The family undoubtedly ended up in one of North Korea’s political gulags where prisoners are routinely beaten, raped, forced to eat contaminated food and tortured.

The US State Department added that approximately 70,000 Christians are imprisoned in the regime because of their faith.

Though Korea’s constitution officially guarantees religious freedom, people in that regime can actually face the death penalty for having a Bible.

This is because these freedoms are overruled by a document called the Ten Principles for Establishing a Monolithic Leadership System. It is made up of the teachings of North Korea’s past despots, Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and its current supreme leader, Kim Jong Un, that North Koreans are forced to believe and adhere to.

READ: North Korea sentences 2-year-old to life in prison camp after parents caught with Bible: US State Dept.