South Korean Gov't Should Pressure North, Freedom Advocates Say
The South Korean government was criticized for its lack of pressure on the North in releasing abductees and respecting human rights.
WASHINGTON – The opening of the North Korea Genocide Exhibit not only condemned the Kim Jong Il regime for the tens of thousands of lives lost due to torture and executions, but also criticized the South Korean government for its lack of pressure on the North in releasing abductees and respecting human rights.
“The South Korean government about ten years ago – I call them traitors – the leftist came in and propped up the dictator in North Korea through the ‘Sunshine Policy,’” said the Vice Chairman of the North Korea Freedom Coalition, Sin U Nam. “It is not really sunshine – it is sunshine on the dictator, not on the people.”
The “Sunshine Policy” is the Republic of Korea’s policies on North Korea using appeasements such as food aid to the North in hopes of achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula. The policy is criticized by some as supporting Kim Jong Il’s regime by providing food for the high officials whereas the starving North Korean citizens, whom the food is intended to reach, never receive any of it.
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“So we have to look at the Americans, especially Bush, because he said many times North Korea is a dictatorship…. We are asking him to do something because it doesn’t look like the South Korean government can solve this problem,” continued Nam. “Actually they are making it worst by helping the dictator – much worst.”
Soon Ok Lee, a North Korean defector, agrees that South Korea is not helping to solve the urgent situation in the communist state.
“This is a Korean problem – Koreans are killing Koreans. But Koreans are not participating - this is not forgivable,” translated Nam for Lee. “Korean-Americans must rise up and be at the front of this issue.”
It was noted unofficially by some that although four Japanese high government officials came to support the North Korean freedom efforts and both the U.S. Senate and House will hold hearings on the issue, no officials came from South Korea.
The Free North Korea Broadcast representative, Seong-Min Kim, during his address told attendees that the South Korean media does not inform the people about the true situation in its sister country.
“In South Korea, the broadcasting system does not talk about the human rights issue. They don’t talk about genocide in North Korea,” said Kim through a translator. “The South Korean government harasses this kind of effort.”
Suzanne Scholte, the chairman of North Korea Freedom Coalition, in her welcoming speech recognized the difficulties South Koreans confront when raising awareness about the North Korean genocide.
“I was in Seoul a couple of months ago and I got to see Pastor Lim [Chang Ho] from Houston. Pastor Lim hosted the exhibit last year and was pushed out of his church and is now working in South Korea,” explained Scholte. “Because he had gotten his church involved in raising the profile of this issue the elders of his church pushed him out.”
“I know what bravery it is for pastors to step forward and say I am going to do what I think is right for North Korean people. They are truly serving God in that manner,” Scholte said as she praised the Rev. Park Eun-Woo of the First Korean Presbyterian Church of Maryland for hosting the exhibit this year.
North Korea Freedom Week’s all night prayer vigil organizer, the Rev. Heemoon Lee of Hana Church, gave the last call to action that echoed the tone of his predecessors but with God’s mercy as the motivation for action.
“I believe God is delivering a strong message today through the Genocide exhibit and through the many witnesses,” said Lee. “God wants us to hear their cries. God wants us to act for them.”
“We have saw and heard all these terrible things through many witnesses. We can no longer be silent nor be ignorant for if we keep silent then God will use the stones to cry out,” the NKFC representative continued. “Who else can help these people? Let us open our hearts and let us suffer with them. Let us pray to God earnestly and walk together until we see the day we share all our blessings and benefits.”
Lee concluded, “If we keep silent the stones will cry out.”
