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The Asahi Shimbun reported that the ROK Unification Ministry revealed on December 21 that DPRK defectors to the ROK exceeded 300 this year for the very first time in history. The ministry said that the last year marked 148, exceeding 100 for the first time, but this year the numbers have reached 303. The ministry stated, "More families (rather than individuals) defected, and information exchange among the defectors increased in third countries." The report said that at the end of November, the number was 273, but for the last week it rose to 303. As for the occupation of the 273 defectors, 136 of them are general workers and farmers, 100 are students, jobless, or others, 21 are overseas-stationed diplomats and businessmen, and 3 are military-related personnel, said the report. ("DPRK DEFECTORS EXCEED 300 FOR FIRST TIME," 12/22/2000)
The Asahi Shimbun reported that the Japanese Police Public Security Section on December 14 confiscated a DPRK agent guidebook from DPRK trading company president Kang Sung-hui, who had already been arrested for fraud in Japan. The report said that Kang received spy training in the DPRK for six days in July 1979 and that the guidebook contains the notes he took during the training.
The guidebook describes the methods of spy activities in Japan and the ROK, including how to contact influential people in the political, religious, academic and military circles, how to induce them into becoming information providers by offering money and women, and how to keep a low-key daily life so as not to attract unnecessary attention. Kang's fraud charges include deceiving ROK tourists and pro-ROK residents in Japan to convert them to pro-DPRK "believers." ("JAPANESE POLICE CONFISCATED DPRK AGENT GUIDEBOOK FROM SUSPECT AGENT," 12/15/2000)
Chosun Ilbo reported that Kim Sang-cheol, the head of the "UN Petition Campaign Center for the Protection of North Korean
Refugees," is known to have submitted refugee status application forms of
some 83 DPRK refugees who are in the PRC to the Tokyo office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on December 2.
This is the first time that DPRK refugees have submitted such forms to the UNHCR collectively. Personnel from the center said on Thursday that
they had been able to discuss granting refugee status to DPRK refugees with UNHCR Commissioner Sadako Ogata when she came to Seoul last October
to receive the Seoul Peace Prize. (Kim In-ku, "NORTH KOREANS SUBMIT REFUGEE STATUS APPLICATIONS
EN MASSE," Seoul, 12/21/00)
Chosun Ilbo reported that it has been confirmed by the Japanese press that Kang Sung-hui, a former executive member of Chosonren, a pro DPRK organization of Koreans in Japan, has been contacting a dozen ROK leaders from the political and business circles. Kang has been allegedly involved in building an underground communist body in the ROK.
The Yomiuri Shimbun announced on Wednesday that according to a memo confiscated by police, Kang has been keeping in touch with a dozen ROK citizens over the past two decades, trying to convert their ideology and get them to vow allegiance to the DPRK's intelligence agency. It reported that the investigation confirmed Kang's meetings with several ROK business leaders at hotels in Tokyo and Beijing. The Asahi Shimbun also reported that Kang maintained a close relationship with a CEO of a well-known ROK distribution company since 1991. Furthermore, The Mainichi Shimbun reported that Kang visited Pyongyang via Beijing, and that the ROK's National Intelligence Service has also been keeping an eye on Kang for some considerable time. (Kwon Dae-youl, "NK SPY LINKED TO SOUTH'S POLITICIANS," Seoul, 12/14/00)
The Associated Press Jae-Suk Yoo, reported that the wives and mothers of ROK fishermen believed to have been abducted by the DPRK decades ago held a protest Friday to demand their return in. About 20 elderly women scuffled with riot police who stopped them from marching through downtown Seoul to ROK President Kim Dae-jung's office, and shouted slogans such as "Die, Kim Jong Il!" During the recent family reunions, an ROK mother and met her son, Kang Hee-keun, whose fishing boat strayed into DPRK waters in 1987.
Although Kang said that he was voluntarily living in the DPRK, ROK critics said that the DPRK engineered his response for political propaganda. Lee Kan-shim, who said that her son, Chung An-sang, was abducted by the DPRK in 1972 at the age of 19, stated, "We sent North Koreans back. Why can't we get our people back. What is the government doing?" ("S.KOREANS SEEK RETURN OF FISHERMAN," Seoul, 12/08/00)
Executions, prison camps and network of informants said to keep the hungry nation together
Pekka Mykkänen, Helsingin Sanomat
YANJI, CHINA. Hungry and Stalinist North Korea keeps its' people under firm grip with public executions and a wide network of informants and prison camps, people who escaped from the country to China, human rights organizations and various news publications say. According to the interviews with nine North Korean escapees, the public executions have become routine in their country...
The Chinese Ambassador to Korea, Wu Dawei said in regards to the North Korean refugees matter on Thursday, "that at a stage where the inter-Korean relations are improving, it is better not to deal with such sensitive matters if possible." Ambassador Wu revealed such position during a question and answer session he had after giving a lecture on "Korea-China Relations Since the Inter-Korean Summit" at the invitation of the Korea Press Foundation...
The Chosun Ilbo. December 8th, 2000.
The 2nd International Conference on North Korean Human Rights & Refugees started Friday in Yonsei University's Allen Hall participated by 200, including 20 international human rights experts and representatives from 17 foreign missions in Seoul. The conference opened with a video of a program by the BBC's Channel 4 on North Korean refugees in China followed by speeches from South Korean civic groups that help them.
Participants agreed that they had to organize an influential international network to raise awareness on the human rights situation in North Korea. In addition, western countries negotiating with the North should be urged to link human rights issues. Karl Hafen, the executive director of the International Society for Human Rights' German Section, said that 2,000 intellectuals from Eastern European countries and Russia will sign a petition for the improvement of human rights in North Korea. In a keynote speech, Carl Gershman, the president of America's NED said that North Korea was in a similar state as the former Soviet Union described by George Orwell in 1940. He added that without addressing the human rights issue there could be no real rapprochement.
Lee Keun-hyuk who defected to the South when he was 17 in 1998, described the situation of North Korean children in China, while members of a group representing the family of abductees produced a statement saying that their kidnapped relatives should not be treated as displaced family members.
Harald Maass a correspondent with the Frankfurter Rundschau said that aid organizations estimated that there were more than 100,000 refugees in China and 300 churches in Yanbian gave them aid. Maass added that children were smuggled in groups of ten to secret apartments as they were under threat of arrest by the Chinese authorities.
Kim Young-ja the secretary-general of the Korean Citizens' Alliance noted that North Korean women were being sold in China for up to 5,000 yuan as marriage partners or prostitutes, in a modern slave system. RENK staff member in Japan, Koh Young-ki said that North Korean authorities were telling their people that the "sunshine policy" was a fraud and that goods in the market were presents to Kim Jong Il from foreigners. According to defectors the basic life of the people has not improved and the only way this will happen is to abolish the Kim Jong Il dictatorship.
Kim
Jeongnim a research director at Good Friends, Korea said from March 15 to
August 15 Chinese authorities conducted massive search and repatriation drives
in the three provinces of Northeastern China. In a border town more than 5,000
were arrested in one month. Those repatriated were sent to a concentration camp
where the smallest punishment was a week of indoctrination and the harshest 1
to 15 years of hard labor. In a later discussion eight experts from six
countries discussed future policy towards North Korea.
Kim
In-gu,
The Chosun Ilbo, December 7, 2000
Pierre Rigoulot, a member of the French Section of the International Society for Human Rights and editor in chief of Les Cahiers d'Histoire Sociale is in Seoul for "The 2nd International Conference on North Korean Human Rights and Refugees." Rigoulot, the foremost European advocate of freedom in North Korea, gave an interview to the Chosun Ilbo prior to his participation in the conference. The following is an excerpt.
-
What have you been doing since the first conference in December last year?
I
have tried to establish an organization to help North Korean refugees and make
their situation known to the world. We have talked to EU member states about
the human rights situation in North Korea and hopefully they will use their
influence when they meet with the North Korean leader. We have also been
informing journalists in Europe, but these activities are still in their
infancy. France is going to normalize relations with North Korea and I welcome
it, but the North should promise to guarantee human rights and remove its
security threats in return for this.
-
Have there been any signs of improvement in human rights in North Korea since
the Summit Talks?
None
at all. We don't know if the number of defectors/refugees has increased or
not. To criticize North Korea it is necessary to have accurate figures and
information. Exaggerated claims are likely to weaken criticism of the human
rights situation. I learned this when I wrote a book on Russian gulags, so we
should not exaggerate the problems in North Korea, despite its flagrant
violation of human rights.
-
What is the interest of Europeans on North Korean human rights?
The
level of interest has increased to that of anger, but the real situation in
North Korea is rarely known in the outside world and so it is difficult to get
the reaction that videos of famine in Africa produced. The reconciliation
between the two Koreas since the summit is welcome, but this should be widened
to include political, military, diplomatic and humanitarian aspects. China is
behind North Korea and this makes it difficult to expand opinions.
-
How can we raise the human rights issue in international society?
To
begin with, let the people know so that they will pressure politicians. Kang
Chul-hwan who defected in 1992 following time spent in a prison camp published
a book of his experiences this year which will shed light on the human rights
violations. Also a French journalist will publish a book on his visit to the
North. These will make the public aware and force politicians to pay attention
to the issue.
-
Why do you demand human rights improvements when you give assistance to the
North?
The
reason why Medecine Sans Frontieres withdrew from North Korea was because
officials there refused to guarantee transparency of aid distribution. Without
proper monitoring, the food can be transferred to the elite and the military
creating a vicious cycle of hunger for the general public there. That's why we
demand an improvement in human rights as do NGOs in France.
-
Some say that since the summit we should not provoke North Korea.
It's true that the reconciliation mood is easing the tension on the Korean peninsula, but we should look at North Korea's internal situation. We must not think that Kim Jong Il's smiles at the summit are everything. If there was an "anti-Nobel Peace Prize," Kim Jong Il would be guaranteed to receive it. The best way to change the situation would be to apply international pressure on him. In North Korea it is impossible to criticize the situation, so without external critiques there can be no improvement in the human rights situation.
NK Refugee & Human Rights Conference Opens
The
speakers at the conference will try and bring light to the human rights issues
of the North Korean people which had been relatively neglected as inter-Korean
relations started to show improvements after the June 12-15 Summit Meeting
between South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong
Il. That is why the subject for the second international conference is "Human
Rights Light to North Korea." About thirty human rights movement
activists, law professors, journalists and foreign affairs experts from the
United States, Germany, France, Canada, Japan and Sweden will seek ways to
solve the North Korean refugee problems by reporting the present circumstances
of human rights violations within the Stalinist country conveyed through
witness statements of people who fled from North Korea.
The keynote speaker will be NED chairman Carl Gershman who will deliver a speech on the importance of the activities of non-governmental organizations (NGO) to improve North Korean human rights and refugee issues in an effort to win the attention of international NGOs. Then a documentary recorded by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in October entitled "The Children of the Secret Kingdom" will be shown. The film will depict images of North Korean child refugees living in China, children living in Pyongyang, and refugee concentration camps
Following his participation at the first international conference last year, Pierre Rigoulot, the editor-in-chief of Social History Commentary will be one of the representative figures at this year's meeting. Other speakers include Tokyo University professor Haruhisa Ogawa, and Jack Rendler, Executive Director of the US Aurora Foundation, who will share his knowledge of building effective campaign strategies for promoting human rights with seven other panelists.
The Associated Press reported that Hwang Jang-yup, the highest-ranking DPRK official to defect to the ROK, accused the ROK government on Tuesday of limiting his criticism of the DPRK. In a statement published in newspapers, Hwang and another defector, Kim Duk-hong, said that the ROK government has placed restrictions on their lectures, publications, and contact with media and politicians, as well as their involvement in a campaign calling for the overthrow of the DPRK leadership. Hwang said that the restrictions came after the publication in Japan last week of an article in which he said it was "tantamount to suicide" for the ROK to give economic aid to a DPRK whose "communist dictatorial regime has not changed at all." The National Intelligence Service released a statement saying that it was concerned about the two defectors' safety because of their uncompromising stand against the DPRK, which it said hurts reconciliation efforts. The agency said, "So, in order to protect them from possible assassination attempts and because their activities are not helpful for the advancement of inter-Korea relations, we have exhorted them to restrain themselves." ("NKOREAN ACCUSES SKOREA ON CRITICISM," Seoul, 11/21/00)
The Korea Herald reported that a former ROK lawmaker said on Wednesday that at least 50 prisoners of war (POWs) and other ROK citizens abducted by DPRK agents are now living in the Russian Far East. Jeong Il-young, a former parliamentarian of the United Liberal Democrats (ULD), made the claim, citing an informant who recently visited the Kamchatka Peninsula, Chukotka Autonomous Region, and the Koryakia area. Jeong said that the ROK citizens were taken to the DPRK during the Korean War and placed in concentration camps before being sent to the Soviet Union as menial laborers, loggers and miners in the mid-1950s. The fate and whereabouts of most of the 8,000 ROK citizens sent to these areas remain unknown, he added. (Lee Joon-seung, "FORMER LAWMAKER SAYS 50 SOUTH KOREAN POWS, ABDUCTED PEOPLE LIVING IN RUSSIA," Seoul, 11/16/00)
Carla Garapadien, Guardian (Thursday October 19, 2000)
An estimated three million people have died in North Korea
since 1995, through a famine largely due to North Korea's obsolete Stalinist
policies. No one there can protest - one in a hundred North Koreans are
believed to be in a prison camp for offences as trivial as sitting on a
newspaper photo of their leader.
Few outsiders know about these horrors. Ruled with an iron fist by Kim Jong-il
- a dictator who makes Ceausescu look wet - North Korea has sealed itself off.
Foreign journalists are banned, access to the outside world forbidden. US
satellite images of North Korea's nuclear programme, snatched photos from aid
agencies and, of course, voluminous state propaganda - these are the only
pictures we've had of the world's most secret state....
Chosun Ilbo reported that according to high ranking DPRK defector Hwang Jang-yop, the DPRK was studying a plan to conduct an underground nuclear test in 1994. In a report in the Tuesday issue of the Japanese daily Sankei Shinbun, Hwang said that since the agreement with the US to freeze nuclear weapons development, the DPRK has continued to develop the means to enrich uranium 235 to weapons grade in conjunction with a Middle Eastern partner.
On ROK-DPRK reconciliation, he said that under the mask of nationalism, leaders in the DPRK were using the ROK's economy as the only way out of their own crisis. Hwang said that Kim Jong-il's definition of nationalism was a dictatorship for controlling the people. Hwang said that although the ROK has the better economy, it should not think it has won the ideological war as DPRK citizens believe in the superiority of their own system. (Kwon Dae-yol, "HWANG JANG-YOP REVEALS NK NUCLEAR PLAN: SANKEI," Tokyo, 11/07/00)
The Korea Herald reported that for the first time, siblings of ROK spies in the DPRK are confirmed to have applied for the inter-Korean family reunion, a ruling party policymaker revealed during ROK National Assembly inspections of the Unification Ministry on Monday.
"Lee chae-pil, and Choi Tae-uk, both applied for their reunion with their brothers Chae-sung and Chin-uk, who were dispatched to North Korea as spies in 1970s and 50s, respectively," said Kim Seong-ho of the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP), calling for the government's recognition of the spies sent to the DPRK. Choi Tae-uk, an Inchon resident, applied to the Unification Ministry for reunion with his brother.
The reason for separation he wrote, was that his brother was "dispatched to the North on a spy mission around 1959-1960." The paper was turned in as evidence. Out of 7,726 spies listed as missing or dead during spy missions to the DPRK, at least 77 dispatched in the 1950s were confirmed to be alive in the DPRK, he said. (Seo Soo-min, "SIBLINGS OF SOUTH KOREAN SPIES SENT TO NK APPLIED FOR REUNION," Seoul, 11/07/00)
Chosun Ilbo reported that the DPRK is systematically involving itself in manufacturing drugs, by growing a vast amount of poppies and selling them, according to recent testimonies of two DPRK refugees who fled last year. The refugees claimed that each household received orders from the government to grow a certain amount of poppies and that once they cultivated the flowers they handed everything over to the authorities. They said each farm were allocated to grow poppy plants which after drying were bought for 20 Jeon (100 jeon=1 won) per 400 grams. The two refugees explained that although the size of each farm differed, the poppy cultivation was widespread in the rural area of Yanggang-do and Hamkyong-do, the provinces at the northern tip of the peninsula. They added that the DPRK has been doing this for 13 to 14 years, and that the reason they produced the poppies only in rural areas was in order to avoid them being spotted by foreigners. (Jee Hae-bom, "NK REFUGEES TESTIFY TO POSSIBILITY OF DRUG MANUFACTURING," Beijing, 11/07/00)
Chosun Ilbo reported that human rights activists in France established an ad hoc committee to warn those in the West who might be too active in their attempts to become close with the DPRK, it was learned Thursday. About 50 French researchers, intellectuals and former politicians launched the CAPNC in Paris.
The group named DPRK leader Kim Jong-il as the worst tyrant alive and warned against any illusion that might have been created in the wake of US State Secretary Madeleine Albright's visit to the DPRK this week. In a statement, the CAPNC said that all diplomatic normalization with the DPRK must come with the promise of security and human rights. One member of the CAPNC argued that the DPRK is an exceptional totalitarian state in the world and that 150,000 residents detained in labor camps were in misery. ("FRENCH ACTIVISTS SET UP NK WARNING COMMITTEE," Seoul, 10/26/00)
Pyongyang, October 29 (KCNA) -- Sok Yong Hwa, an unconverted long-term prisoner, released a note titled "Pyongyang is my native home of ideology, faith and will."
Sok, 75, was born in Ryangsan, South Kyongsang Province of South Korea and has his wife and two daughters in South Korea. He embarked on the road of struggle early in the 1920s and took part in the October popular resistance and underground party activities just after the liberation of Korea from the Japanese imperialists' colonial rule on august 15, 1945.
During the Korean War, he conducted guerrilla activities in Kyongsang Province. He, who underwent imprison life twice before the war, was arrested again in 1952 to serve a term of 20 years in prison. And he had been subject to surveillance and persecution for nearly 30 years even after his release.
In the note Sok said: I hailed from Ryangsan, South Kyongsang Province, but came to the north of the country where I had never been to and there is no kinsman of mine. It is because I wanted to devote myself to the truly beloved motherland and honor the remainder of my life and Pyongyang is my native home in aspects of ideology, faith and will. I proudly declare that my native home of ideology, faith and will is Pyongyang where the great President Kim Il Sung lies in state for perpetuity and the great leader Kim Jong Il is administering politics of Juche, the politics based on the idea of believing in the people as in heaven, true to the intention of the President.
In South Korea I had always sung the "Song of General Kim Il Sung" in and out the prison. This song would give mental peace and strength to me in painful troubles. The greatness of Kim Jong Il was the most unshakable mainstay that encouraged us to keep our principles. I felt more deeply the conviction that guided by him, we have nothing to be afraid of in the world and the final victory of socialism is sure to be won as well as the belief that it was quite right that we had overcome sufferings and hardships.
In conclusion Sok said that under the care of the DPRK he would devote himself with sincerity to Kim Jong Il and contribute to accelerating national reunification, though he is too old and ailing.
Chosun Ilbo reported that it was learned Sunday that the second round of displaced family visits, scheduled for November 2-4, will apparently be postponed as the DPRK has failed to submit its list of 200 candidates. In addition, the DPRK has failed to notify the ROK National Red Cross of the status of 100 people given to it in a list on September 30, without giving any reason for the delay.
The exchange of letters due to be held in November is now almost certain to be delayed also. In addition, the DPRK has unilaterally abandoned the exchange of newspapers, after just five days; and the second round of economic cooperation talks that were supposed to take place in Pyongyang on October 18. (Kim In-ku, "NK DELAYS SECOND ROUND OF FAMILY VISITS," Seoul, 10/21/00)
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori revealed during his meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Seoul on October 20 that when Mori visited Pyongyang in 1997 as Liberal Democratic Party Executive Council Chairman, he proposed to the DPRK to solve the abduction issue by making up a story that the abducted Japanese civilians were discovered in a third country, such as the PRC. Mori stated, "Because the DPRK is a country that respects 'saving face,' (making up) a story that the missing civilians were found in Beijing or Bangkok could be a solution (acceptable to the DPRK).
However, there has been no response from the DPRK." The report added that at the time of Mori's visit to Pyongyang in 1997, the DPRK's official stance on the issue was that there is no such thing as abduction (of Japanese civilians by DPRK agents). (Makoto Katsuta, "MORI SAYS HE PROPOSED SOLUTION TO ABDUCTION ISSUE," Seoul, 10/20/2000)
Chosun Ilbo reported that although as of Sunday, the DPRK media had yet to release the news about ROK President Kim Dae-jung's receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize. As an SBS-TV reporter who was in Pyongyang at the time reported that some DPRK officials were happy that the Korean people had finally won their first Nobel prize, it seemed at the time that the DPRK authorities would indeed release the news.
However, many DPRK defectors said that since the DPRK never broadcast any thing about the Nobel Prizes in the past, this time would be no different. They added that prize news is dealt with in classified documents distributed to high level officials and diplomats, but that the general public does not even know what a Nobel Prize is. One defector who was once a high level official said, "North Korean authorities do not think well of the award since they believe that the winner is decided by the US and that many European laureates disapprove of communism." ("NORTH KOREA SILENT ON NOBEL PRIZE," Seoul, 10/16/00)
Chosun Ilbo reported that on March 30, 1970, nine Japanese Red Army students who hijacked Japanese Airlines (JAL) passenger aircraft Yodo in the sky arrived in the DPRK via Seoul. The DPRK, treating them as political refugees, granted them various favours.
Housed in Pyongyang, the hijackers also enjoyed financial support. Five of them were listed as missing in Japan, having been instructed by the Japanese Foreign Ministry to return their passports on grounds, among others, that they contacted apparent DPRK agents. Their expulsion from the DPRK is being discussed in connection with the forthcoming US removal of the DPRK from the list of terrorism-supporting countries. Thirty-two family members of the Japanese hijackers still live in Pyongyang. (Shin Jung-wha, "NK MAY RETURN HIJACKERS TO TOKYO," Seoul, 10/16/00)
WELL-FOUNDED FEAR : China ignores international law in its treatment of North Korean refugees
By James Seymour Senior
Research Scholar at Columbia University’s
East Asian Institute, and corporate secretary of Human Rights in China
When the
subjects of refugees and the People’s Republic of China come up together, it
is usually a question of refugees from China. But in fact there are
many refugees in China itself, escaping rights deprivations elsewhere even
worse than they expect to encounter in China. The first group of foreigners
coming to the PRC were people from Vietnam in the wake of the war there; they
were mostly individuals seeking to escape the turbulence and the depressed
post-war economy. Now there is a new wave of refugees, North Koreans, a
phenomenon little noticed abroad.
The Korea Herald reported that an ROK researcher said on October 10 that the number of DPRK defectors stood at 1,265 as of the end of September. Out of the total, 1,048 are living in the ROK, while the remainder have either died or immigrated to other countries (Kang Seok-jae, "NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS NUMBER 1,265," Seoul, 10/11/00)
Pyongyang, October 10 (KCNA) -- General Secretary Kim Jong Il received a certificate of Honorary Citizenship of Comas, Peru, on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the Worker's Party of Korea.
The Comas City Council decided on October 3 to award this certificate to him with due ceremony. At the ceremony Mayor Arnulfo Medina conveyed the certificate to the Korean ambassador to Peru. Written on the certificate are the following words: The Comas city government awards a certificate of Honorary Citizenship to Kim Jong Il, General Secretary of the Worker's Party of Korea and Chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission, on the occasion of the 55th birthday of the WPK, in high appreciation of his great contributions to global peace and cultural development.
The Korean Herald reported that the ROK government unveiled on October 2, the list of 100 DPRK Nationals hoping to locate their separated family members in the ROK. ROK officials said the ROK and the DPRK exchanged a list of 100 separated families from each country in the border village of Panmunjom on September 30. DPRK observers said that unlike the reunions, most of the DPRK applicants are ordinary people this time.
Forty-five of the 100 DPRK applicants were engaged in farming when they lost their family members five decades ago, 22 were students and 18 others were laborers. One of the most distinguished people on the DPRK list is Paek Yong-chol, dean of the electrical engineering department at the prestigious Kim Chaek University of Technology. Most are elderly, with 39 in their 70s and 61 in their 60s. Fifteen of them are women. (Kim Ji-ho, "SEOUL BEGINS SEARCH FOR SEPARATED KIN," 10/3/00)
The Korean Herald reported that the DPRK invited ranking ROK officials, political party leaders, and social and religious group leaders on October 3 to attend the 55th anniversary of DPRK's ruling Workers Party on October 10. ROK official said that a total of 30 invitation letters, relayed through the border truce village of Panmunjom, were delivered to two government organs, six political parties, seven religious groups and 15 social organizations.
The letter, jointly signed by DPRK representatives from government, parliament and organizations, said, "The coming Oct. 10 is a meaningful day, which is the 55th anniversary of the Korea Workers Party. If the South's dignitaries from various walks of life visit Pyongyang and celebrate this holiday together, it will present the whole nation a great joy and fresh hopes for national unification." Among its recipients were the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP), the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the National Alliance for Democracy and Reunification of Korea (NARDK) and the ROK Federation of University Student Councils, or Hanchongnyon. Most political parties made clear they would turn down the offer.
The GNP and the United Liberal Democrats raised the possibility that ROK leaders could be exploited by the DPRK's tactics, while the ruling Millennium Democratic Party said it was pressed by tight schedules. Most social groups, however, said that they would "positively consider" the invitations. Park Se-gil, a NARDK policy chief, told the ROK's Yonhap News Agency that the visit to the DPRK by ROK leaders is an "event symbolizing the inter-Korean reconciliation and upgrading the South-North relations that have been developing since the summit." (Kim Ji-ho, "N.K. INVITES SOUTHERN LEADERS TO PARTY ANNIVERSARY," 10/4/00)
Associated Press reported that despite domestic criticism, forty representatives of religious, labor, arts and civic groups and scholars left Monday for the DPRK to attend the 55th anniversary of the founding of the DPRK's ruling Workers' Party on October 10. ROK government officials and opposition leaders, however, turned down invitations to the event. Conservative groups in the ROK have said attending the anniversary would amount to paying tribute to the totalitarian system of the DPRK. ROK officials required those traveling to the anniversary to sign a statement promising that they will not make any political comments while in the DPRK. (Jae-Suk Yoo, "S.KOREANS TO GO TO NORTH ANNIVERSARY," Seoul, 10/9/00)
The recent summit of June 13 2000 between the
President of South Korea and the North Korean dictator should not make us
forget the tragic situation North Korean is in.
Nevertheless,
this meeting will not have been in vain if it paves the way to actual and
real actions in support of the people of North Korea. Unfortunately, one
cannot as of now count on the support of any one of the states involved in
the region to reach such an aim. For various reasons, Russia, China, the
United States of America, Japan and even South Korea are not really pushing
for a reunification of North and South Korea which remains the only way to
put an end to the ordeal of the North Korean people. It is then up to the
world public opinion to take actions leading to this reunification.
Its
first objective will be to force North Korea to accept the control of the
distribution of food and medical aids by independent organizations:
non-governmental groups such as Médecins du Monde, Doctors Without
Borders or Action Against Hunger, which are now obliged to stop their aid
because they cannot prevent it from being diverted to the privileged members
of the North Korean regime, must be able to intervene in favor of the most
destitute.
Its
second objective will be to force the Pyongyang regime to recognize the
right of North Koreans to cross their borders legally and safely. In our
opinion, such a control of the distribution of aid and the right of North
Koreans to leave their country freely should indeed be the sine qua non
condition to the continuance of any help to North Korea.
Its
third objective, while we work towards the recognition of the inalienable
human right of North Koreans to free circulation, will be to obtain the
status of political refugee for those who are able to flee, so they are not
sent back to North Korea by States having a common border with it or in any
way handed over to the North Korean authorities.
Have
signed so far:
The Korea Herald reported that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said on September 2 that five former ROK prisoners of war (POWs) and a fisherman who were abducted to the DPRK, as well as his two family members, recently escaped to the ROK via a third country. ("FIVE MORE S. KOREAN POWS DEFECT TO SOUTH," Seoul, 09/04/00)
Chosun Ilbo reported that the DPRK spies released by the ROK returned safely to the DPRK through Panmunjom. Approximately 500 people came out to greet the returning agents by the border. In Pyongyang, many citizens came out to the roads to congratulate the returning "unification heroes," and Central Pyongyang Television conducted live interviews with some of them. In the television broadcast, it was announced that foster families had been made for those who had no surviving families in the DPRK. ("FORMER SPIES RETURN TO NORTH KOREA," Seoul, 09/02/00)
Present at the press conference were suite members of the President of the SPA presidium, and reporters of leading media of Germany, the U.S., Britain, Japan and other countries and South Korea. Choe Su Bon, vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs who is the spokesman for the President, released a statement. The statement said:
The President of the SPA presidium of the DPRK and his party which had been on transit in Frankfurt airport to attend the UN Millennium Summit were compelled to return home after cancelling their plan to participate in it due to the unreasonable obstructions on the part of the U.S. side.
At the time the President and his entourage were about to board the already booked American Airliner "AA 176" after going through all transit formalities as per the publicly recognized regulation in Frankfurt airport on Sept. 4 those who style themselves U.S. Air Security Agents showed up there and treated them like criminals. They opened the luggage and hand luggage of all the suite members and pressurized them to undress and put off their shoes. They went the length of searching even such private regions of their bodies that baffle description. They attempted to do such a rude thing against the President, too.
We lodged a strong protest with them against this after flatly rejecting such inspection on the spot and demanded they immediately report this to Washington. The American Air Security Agents reappeared after their brief disappearance and said what they did was instructed by their superior. And they provocatively charged that anyone from North Korea and seven other countries labelled "rogue states" are unconditionally subject to the above said strict inspection, otherwise no one is allowed to board the plane. They cancelled our seats in the plane without any prior agreement with us.
This rude provocation of the United States to the President of the SPA presidium who represents the DPRK, a dignified UN member, is a grave infringement upon the sovereignty of an independent state, an intolerable abuse and insult to human rights and a blatant challenge to the exercise of rights by the member countries according to the UN Charter and the United Nations and the summit organized by it.
This is, at the same time, a high-handed act of ignoring the international law and international usage. The incident cannot be construed otherwise than a deliberate and premeditated act conducted under a pre-arranged script of the U.S. administration. The U.S. blocking of the entry of the President and his entourage into the U.S. even after issuing entry visas to them and inviting them even to a banquet to be hosted by President Clinton glaringly shows the sinister and cunning double-dealing trick of the United States.
All this goes to prove that the U.S. is a typical state of rogues. We bitterly condemn this unreasonable act on the part of the U.S. as a flagrant violation and challenge to the UN Millennium Summit, the first of its kind in the history of the united nations, and the UN Charter. The U.S. side should formally apologize for the serious act committed against the President of the SPA presidium and will have to own full responsibility for all the ensuing consequences.