As the first sentence is finally handed out to a former member of the Khmer Rouge regime, it reminds us of a human rights catastrophe still in progress.
Admittedly, I don’t know much about the history of Cambodia, including the nightmare under the Khmer Rouge, but this is a reminder that someday (may it be very soon), decisions made today will determine the fate of many now running the regime in North Korea.
The details and issues addressed in South Korea’s pending North Korean Human Rights Act* will help shape how the process attempting to achieve some sort of justice plays out and which SK government agencies will be responsible for what between now and then (eg, properly interviewing, recording, and storing witness testimony for later prosecution). For a discussion of some of the “details and issues”, see this post from last year.
Obviously, other factors (how the regime falls and neighboring countries’ roles in that and the aftermath) will be involved in what happens to the perpetrators of mass human rights violations in the North, but to the extent it has a say, South Korea, needs to awaken from its apathy now to be ready later.
Let us hope the North Korean people won’t have to wait 30 years after liberation for their shot in court!
*For those of you in Seoul, there will be a seminar Wednesday on the pending NKHR bill:
A Second Discussion on North Korean Issues and Policy
Subject: How Shall We Proceed with the NK Human Rights Bill?
When: Wed., July 28th, 2-4pm
Where: National Assembly — Constitutional Memorial Hall, 2nd Floor, Large Lecture Hall (헌정기념관 2층대강당)
Sponsored by: National Assemly Human Rights Forum and the Association of NK Human Rights Organizations (ANKHRO) 북한인권문제정책협의회 제2차 북한인권토론회
주제: 북한인권법 어떻게 할 것인가?
주최: 국회인권포럼 ,북한인권단체연합회
일시: 7월 28일(수) 오후2시~4시
장소: 국회의사당 헌정기념관 2층대강당
☞ 오시는 길
[9호선 국회의사당역 하차] 1번, 5번 출구로 나와 도보 이용
[5호선 여의도역 하차] 5번 출구, 버스 162, 261, 262, 461번
[1호선 대방역] 360, 363번 버스 이용
[1호선 영등포역] 5615, 5618번 버스 이용
Suzanne Scholte, the president of the conservative Defense Forum Foundation of the U.S., has been named the winner of the Walter Judd Freedom Award. The prize will be presented by The Fund for American Studies, a U.S. non-governmental organization, on July 20.
Named in honor of the late U.S. congressman Walter Henry Judd, the annual award is given to individuals who advance the cause of freedom in the U.S. and around the globe. [….]
In an interview with Radio Free Asia, Scholte said that she is honored to receive the award and hopes that her winning will raise awareness of North Korea’s human rights problems as well as its nuclear programs and political situation.
The Korean Church Coalition forwards this press release:
KOREAN CHURCH COALITION for North Korean Freedom will be hosting a series of events in Washington D.C. on July 13, 2010 to July 14, 2010, to Speak on Behalf of the Voiceless.
Irvine, CA –Member pastors of the Korean Church Coalition (KCC) for North Korea Freedom will hold a series of events in Washington D.C. and its surrounding areas. The events are intended to bring awareness to the current plight of the persecuted North Korean refugees and orphans and expose the weaknesses and strengths of the former and current US policy as it relates to the Korean Peninsula and neighboring countries.
Pastors from every state and major city in the United States will be joined by a delegation from South Korea, including Chairman Kwang Sun Rhee of the Christian Council of Korea (CCK-Han Ki Chong) and actor Cha In Pyo (”The Crossing”), and will march onto our Nation’s Capital to “Speak on Behalf of the Voiceless”, at the National Press Club, Lafayette Park adjacent to the White House, White House sidewalk on Pennsylvania Ave., the West Lawn of the US Capital AND the Congressional and Senate offices of this great nation ….
North Korean gulag survivors are knocking on Ban Ki-Moon’s door, asking for a meeting to tell him what he’s known for a decade — that the North Korean prison camps they lived to tell about, no thanks to Ban, are the Mauthausens and Buchenwalds of our time. Odd thing is, it would be a lot easier for Ban to simply not answer if former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik weren’t knocking with them:
“The profound suffering of the North Korean people, whose lives continue to be miserable, has not really been up on the agenda as it should ― not in the U.N. or the international community,” Bondevik said.
“And as the nuclear issue overshadowed the human rights situation earlier, now there’s the danger that the Cheonan incident will overshadow human rights.”
Bondevik, now president of the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights, urged the U.N. to establish a commission to investigate whether its “responsibility to protect” (R2P) doctrine is being violated by the North. [….]
The former Prime Minister added the international community should demand unhindered access to the entire country for purposes of food distribution and for the U.N. special rapporteur on North Korean human rights.
“It is imperative for the world to seize the opportunity offered by the sinking of the Cheonan to adjust its approach to engaging Pyongyang on the whole range of concerns it poses to the world,” he said at the forum. “Protecting the people of North Korea requires nothing less.” [Korea Times]
I’m not sure I completely agree with the R2P concept, but Mr. Bondevik may redeem a copy of this post for a beer at my expense anytime. Let nothing I’m about to say diminish my great respect for him in any way, but this is all a bit like those Chinese businessmen who rent white guys to make a good impression on other Chinese — here, Korean victims of atrocities by other Koreans need the help of a European politician to have any chance of getting a meeting with a Korean U.N. General Secretary. And that’s sad.
Not that the meeting would likely amount to much anyway. Stuart Levey has more potential to do humanitarian good for the North Korean people — completely unintentionally — than Ban Ki Moon does. If he had the will, Ban might be able to shame China into letting the UNCHR visit beautiful Dalian, but he probably lacks the means to materially change conditions inside North Korea, and nothing but the end of this regime will really do that.
I’ve never been completely comfortable with extending the RTP doctrine to this degree — I think it could easily be extended into something pernicious — although I do think it applies well to North Korea for two important reasons. First, I see the primary responsibility to provide food, clothing, and shelter as primarily the individual’s responsibility, but of course, when a government usurps the individual’s means to provide for himself and his family, the state assumes the responsibility to provide. Second, I’m one of those archaic sorts who sees sovereignty as invested in the people of a nation, not just the ones with the keys to the helicopter gunships. I see no better way to measure the will of the people than elections, and until North Korea holds a free election, it’s difficult for me to see its ruling regime as having the requisite legitimacy to express the sovereign right to starve its citizens to death.
The deadline to apply is July 23rd. There are limited spots available and applications are being taken on a rolling basis, so the sooner you apply, the sooner you’ll hear a response.
As Joshua mentioned previously, UN Special Rapporteur on North Korean Human Rights, Vitit Muntarbhorn, spoke in Seoul to a PSCORE seminar April 30th during North Korea Freedom Week. His talk was entitled, “Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea: Retrospect, Aspects and Prospects.”
I used my camera to record the audio, but I didn’t get the first few minutes because I was busy taking photos. Listening to him talk, you very quickly get a sense of his passion and energy, which explain how it is he’s been able to produce — on a pro bono basis — two reports a year for the last six years.
Rapporteur Muntarbhorn also was quite accessible. In fact, unlike many of the afternoon’s speakers (who understandably no doubt had busy schedules), he planted himself in the front row after his talk and stayed for the whole seminar. During breaks many of us had the chance to chat with him. Definitely not a UN bureaucrat!
The title of the seminar was, “The North Korean Human Rights Bill: A Discussion of Future Government and NGO Use.” (Note, this is a bill that has not passed yet.) In the program you will find English versions of a couple of other speaker’s remarks on that topic as well: Kim Tae-hoon, a commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, and Jang Bok-hee, a professor at Sunmoon University.
I’ve been working on posting audio of Vitit Muntarbhorn’s address last Friday at PSCORE but have gotten bogged down in researching and learning some of the technology involved (long story - eg, Korea’s “real ID” online requirements are a hassle in addition to being just plain wrong).
In the meantime, I want to pass along a link to a friend’s blog, which I’ve enjoyed reading since she started it last month. Lauren is a friend and fellow JFNK campaigner (she usually plays the role of the caught NK refugee in our weekly street theater) who seemingly appeared out of nowhere one night at a Catacombs meeting (scroll down) a little over a year ago. Since then she’s revitalized JFNK and also given generously of her time to several other groups as well.
Lauren is chock full of energy, ideas, and love for the NK people — and now is packing 1000 shoelaces to boot!
Just got back from the demonstration across from the Chinese Embassy in Seoul. For those who have been wondering, they said the balloon launch will be at 11 a.m. tomorrow (Saturday) at Freedom Bridge. Full schedule available here.
I’m off to the PSCORE event from 1 to 5:30 p.m. (Friday) at the Press Center in Gwanghwamun.
But first, here’s a flier for the screening of Crossing in the basement of the chapel building at Yonsei Unversity at 4 p.m. I hope to get there in time to hear some of the Yonsei students who are originally from North Korea tell their stories.
This weekend I’ll try to get some photos up from the rest of the week. In the meantime, here are a few from this morning.
Dear People of both South and North Korea, Members of the North Korea Freedom Coalition, Ms. Scholte of the Defense Forum Foundation, Members of the NGO Human Rights Community, Pastors, North Korean Defectors, Abductee Families, Members of the Korean-American Community and Friends of Korea:
It is particularly fitting and proper that this year’s annual North Korea Freedom Week will be held for the first time on the Korean peninsula. This week of events also comes at a particularly critical time as we seek answers to the tragic sinking last month of the South Korean naval vessel, Cheonan, and look forward to honoring veterans during the upcoming sixtieth anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War in June.
I have joined with Representative Sam Johnson as a co-sponsor of legislation commemorating the anniversary of the commencement of that tragic war, due to North Korean treachery, which nonetheless formed an unbreakable bond between two allies, the United States and the Republic of Korea. As a friend and ally, I also wish to state that I fully agree with President Lee Myung-bak’s recent statement of the need for a resolute response once the cause of the South Korean ship’s sinking is determined. The families of the forty-six dead South Korean sailors deserve no less than a full accounting.
North Korea’s refusal to allow a transparent and thorough verification regime for inspection of its nuclear program led to a complete breakdown of the Six-Party Talks last year. This followed the premature and unwise decision by the United States in 2008 to remove North Korea from the State Department list of state sponsors of terrorism. Read the rest of this entry »
North Korea Freedom Week 2010 is underway! At 3 p.m. Sunday the ribbon-cutting ceremony was held for an exhibit on North Korean Human Rights Exhibit that will run all week in two large rooms on the first floor of the Seoul Press Center.
The first room primarily focuses on Gang Gil-su and his extended family, who lived in hiding in China for about three years from 1999-2001 after escaping North Korea. On display are dozens of crayon drawings depicting their recollections of life in North Korea, as well as their diaries, letters, and thousands upon thousands of origami cranes they folded to pass the time.
The following drawing by Jang Han-gil was entitled 먹을게 없어 나무껍질 벗기는 어머니” (There was nothing to eat so (a) mother is peeling bark off a tree.).
The pile on the ground and the display case behind it contain thousands of origami cranes. The sign said 500,000! While i wonder if that could possibly be accurate, there sure was a great number of them. Also, they wrote a brief note on the back of each sheet of paper before folding it.
The second room had artwork by another artist, some multimedia, and on one wall hung airline tickets, calling cards, train tickets, etc., used by — if I understand correctly — activists and refugees they were helping.
I was very excited when I learned a few months ago that the NK Freedom Coalition’s annual North Korea Freedom Week would be held in Seoul this year. The event was first held as North Korean Freedom Day in 2004.
I’ve offered to volunteer during the week, so I’m not sure how busy I’ll be or if I’ll be able to post much. But I hope at least to periodically upload photos from the various events. And there are many!! The schedule at first glance looks very, very good, but it seems that if you dig deeper, it gets even better.
You see, NK Freedom Week appears to be a somewhat decentralized series of events: coordinated centrally but ultimately put on and run by many different groups. So for the details of a given event, it looks like you have to find its schedule from the hosting organization.
For example, personal favorite PSCORE is on the schedule:
Friday, April 30th
1PM– North Korea Human Rights Act-related International Conference
Host: PSCORE People for Successful COrean REunification, Kim Young Il (youngilkim78 ‘at’ naver ‘dot’ com)
Location: Seoul Press Center, 19th Floor
Transportation: Subway - Line 1 or 2, City Hall Station Exit 4; Line 5, Gwanghwamun Station
Sounds interesting, but when I received an email from PSCORE, it contained a delightful surprise: there will be a special address by Vitit Muntarbhorn, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea. Full program here.
Also, were I not a member of Justice for North Korea, I wouldn’t know that Executive Director Peter Chung is speaking at this event:
Thursday, April 29th
1PM – Debate for Human Rights of North Korean Defectors: How Much Has Improved?
Host: Democracy Strategy Center, Kang Cheol Hwan
Location: Community Chest of Korea, Jung-Gu
Transportation: Subway - Line 1 or 2, City Hall Station Exit 3, 12; Line 5, Gwanghwamun Station Exit 6
Now the hard-core blogger would do the research and bring together in one handy place links to all the events during NK Freedom Week. Alas, I don’t foresee being able to find the time to do that, but if you happen to come across any of them, by all means leave a comment below.
Please notify anyone you know living in Seoul — NKFW’s schedule is diverse enough that most people should be able to make at least one event during the week or on the weekend.
Open News reports that North Korea is increasing its use of public executions for relatively minor crimes as an instrument of domestic state terrorism, adopting the old Khmer Rouge method of using schoolyards as killing fields, and forcing kids to stand in the front row of the audience:
Children suffer from psychological trauma and experience intense fear, because they see and realize what happened to those who resist the government and the Leader.
Notwithstanding Open News’s optimistic belief that the “international community” is concerned about this, I question both the oxymoron and the conclusion, and I’ll believe that Ban Ki Moon gives a damn when he proves otherwise at some point before this regime finally collapses. This link has more information that you may want to know about how North Korea carries out its public executions.
Yonsei University Professor Hong Seong-Phil, quoted in The Korea Times, alleges that “dams are under construction near six gulags in North Korea to destroy evidence of possible genocide there.” I’ve heard this theory repeated for a number of years, but I don’t happen to believe it. Maybe there’s new imagery that Google Earth does has not yet published to support this theory, but I sure don’t see the evidence for it yet.
Furthermore, the theory doesn’t sound plausible to me. First, most of the camps, to specifically include Camp 15, lie along fairly small rivers that couldn’t build large reservoirs, and in any event, the camps are too large and spread-out to be washed away in one fell swoop. Most of Camp 15’s facilities are flood-prone, however, and do lie along a narrow mountain valley. There is a small reservoir upstream from them, although again, this couldn’t possibly wash the entire camp away.
Camps 16 and 22 do not lie along rivers of significant size. The place I believe to be Camp 25 lies along a small river, but it’s directly upstream from Chongjin. It’s unlikely that the camp — which appears to have concrete walls and guard towers — would be destroyed by a flood, and a flood in that location would also destroy downtown Chongjin.
Camps 14 and 18 are the only two of the five largest camps that lie along a large river, the Taedonggang, but the only large dam upstream from those camps, if breached, would also wash away several sizable towns and one of North Korea’s largest functioning thermal power plants. There is one water project directly upstream from the camps, but it appears to be a big dig to cut off an oxbow bend, and it was completed three years ago. And of course, if Camps 14 and 18 were flooded, that same surge of water would hit Pyongyang within hours.
Again, maybe there’s more recent evidence for this theory that supports it. I’m just not convinced.
Dear People of both South and North Korea, Members of the North Korea Freedom Coalition, Ms. Scholte of the Defense Forum Foundation, Members of the NGO Human Rights Community, Pastors, North Korean Defectors, Abductee Families, Members of the Korean-American Community and Friends of Korea:
