Experts Give Mixed Reactions on N. Korea's Future
WASHINGTON – Experts are not in agreement when it comes to the future of human rights in North Korea if rumors of dictator Kim Jong-Il's illness are real.
Some think that even with a new North Korean leader in power, there won't be much or any change to the cruel policies that have imprisoned hundreds of thousands of political and religious prisoners and put millions of civilians on the brink of starvation.
"In the event that the dear leader is partially disabled, there would be some sort of arrangement made," said David Hawk, one of the foremost experts on human rights in North Korea, on Friday. "But the immediate likelihood is the domestic policies will continue as they are for some time in the future … unfortunately."
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Hawk, who was among the panelists at the launch for a new report on human rights in North Korea, said that from his perspective it doesn't matter who is in power in the troubled state because the human rights situation depends on the policies and not the people.
"We don't see any indication that there will be any change in the policies in a positive direction," he offered.
Since last month, rampant rumors have circulated that communist leader Kim Jong-Il, 66, had suffered a stroke and remains in serious condition. Speculation was further fueled by Kim's absence at the country's 60th anniversary celebrations on Sept. 9.
However, North Korea's foreign ministry official Hyun Hak Bong denied on Friday reports of Kim being sick. He called it "nonsense" made up by those who "wish the worst for our republic," according to Bloomberg news.
But intelligence reports from other countries continue to claim that Kim's health is indeed abnormal and being carefully monitored by doctors.
With the shroud of secrecy carefully being kept around Kim's health condition, some can only hope the rumors are true.
Chuck Downs, executive director of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, believes the human rights situation in North Korea - particularly that of Christians - will improve if someone replaces Kim Jong-Il as leader, even if that person is one of Kim's own sons.
Under Kim's direction, all North Korean citizens are forced to adhere to a personality cult that revolves around worshipping current dictator Kim Jong-Il and his deceased father, Kim Il-Sung, in a way that mimics Christianity's Trinity.
"He has created a philosophy where his father is almost the equivalent of god himself, and he is almost the equivalent of Jesus," explained Downs to The Christian Post. "This is something that is directly connected to Kim Jong-Il's own personality and his own distorted view."
"When he passes from the scene, I think there will be an improvement in the human rights of people in North Korea," Downs contends, "and in particularly an increase in their religious freedom."
The religious system now in place, he pointed out, was created by Kim Jong-Il and is not Korean tradition or part of the country's history.
"It is actually something of that man's creation," Downs emphasized. "So I think the Christians everywhere should be very happy and be hopeful. And I think we should look forward to a future where Kim Jong-Il is no longer imposing his peculiar distortion of religion on the people of North Korea."
Christians have arguably been the most persecuted group in North Korea. Anyone found to be a Christian or possessing a Bible is highly at risk of being imprisoned, tortured, or even publicly executed.
About 200,000 Christians are believed to currently be in prison labor camps for their faith.
The U.S. Department of State said North Korea remains among the world's most egregious violators of religious freedom, as it released its International Religious Freedom report on Friday. According to the report, some foreigners who have visited the country observed that services at state-authorized churches appeared staged with sermons containing political content supportive of the regime, and congregations arriving and leaving together on tour buses.
Open Doors, a Christian persecution monitoring group, listed North Korea earlier this year for the sixth straight year as the No. 1 worst Christian persecutor.
Downs noted that he thinks it would be "impossible" for Kim Jong-Il's sons, if one was to be his successor, to insist on continuing the personality cult because no one would believe him, including those in the inner political circle, if he claimed to be god like his father.
Both Chuck Downs and David Hawk were attending the launch event for the new report, "Failure to Protect: The Ongoing Challenge of North Korea."
The report offers new details of North Korea's violation of international standards of human rights, including corrupt distribution of food assistance. It calls for greater international engagement on human rights and humanitarian concerns, especially during six-party talks concentrated on denuclearizing the Korean peninsula.
North Korea last month stopped disabling its nuclear plants and said it is taking steps to rebuild the reactors in retaliation of the United States' refusal to drop it from a state-sponsored terrorism blacklist.
