The Seoul Summit on promoting North Korean Human Rights concluded Saturday with a prayer vigil that attracted more than 20,000 international human rights campaigners, Christian activists, politicians, defectors from the communist country, and concerned South Koreans.
According to organisers of the Summit, which began Thursday, the main goal of the meeting was to shine an international spotlight on the systematic abuses of the North and to rally international support on bringing an end to the oppressive regime of Kim Jong Il.The following are excerpts from an interview with Dr. Barrett Duke, a member of the Freedom House Working Group on North Korea that helped sponsor the Summit.
What does the Seoul Summit mean for North Korea Human Rights?
I think the Seoul Summit – if North Koreans are able to hear about it – will encourage them by helping them know that the world is aware of their plight and that it is beginning to act as one to help them. One of the reasons why we wanted this to be held in Seoul is that it gives the best opportunity for the people of the North to know the world is focusing on them.
Do North Koreans even know they are in bondage?
A good many must because thousands of them leave the country every year. I think with the exception of the elite and those whom Kim Jong Il favours, the rest of the population knows their lives are very difficult. An increasing number of them are becoming aware that life is not nearly as difficult and that in fact life is pretty good in the rest of the world.
Through the North Korean media, Kim Jong Il has claimed the Seoul Summit is the U.S. government’s attempt to overthrow his regime. Do you have any comments on this?
First of all, no one associated with the summit is calling for regime change. All we’re asking is for the regime to treat their people better and to extend to them the basic human rights that the rest of the world recognises. The summit is about relief for the North Korean people, and I think this message will travel through to the North as what was said at the summit travels by word of mouth from community to community in North Korea.
There has been a lot of criticism toward the South Korean government’s policy toward its neighbour.
It’s been my experience that the South Korean government has not been open to the possibility of a free North Korea. Perhaps they feel threatened by the economic realities of a greater partnership between the South and the North. While I don’t know all of the reasons, it seems pretty certain to me that the South Korean government – and certainly its president – has not made human rights abuses in North Korea as an issue.
Has the North Korean human rights improved in the last decade?
I can’t tell. As far as I know, people are leaving as quickly now as they ever have. Recent videos that have circulated include scenes of government executions, and these indicate that much of the North Korean people still live in very hostile conditions both materially and politically.
