Posted on 11/15/2005 4:59:15 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
USCIRF to release "Thank you, Father Kim Il Sung": Eyewitness Accounts of Severe Violations of Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion in North Korea At Capitol Hill press conference with Congressional Members
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 14, 2005
Contact:
Anne Johnson, Director of Communications, (202) 523-3240, ext. 27
WASHINGTON ? The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) will be joined tomorrow by Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Congressman Christopher Smith (R-NJ) for the release of the USCIRF study “Thank you, Father Kim Il Sung”: Eyewitness Accounts of Severe Violations of Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion in North Korea at an on-the-record press conference on Capitol Hill in the Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2172, from 3:00-4:00 p.m. The press conference is open to members of the media and the public. The Commission’s study, led by David Hawk, distinguished author of The Hidden Gulag: Exposing North Korea’s Prison Camps, presents evidence based on extensive, in-depth interviews with North Korean refugees and escapees on the policies used by the North Korean government to stamp out religious faith and practice, including eyewitness accounts of public executions of religious believers and indoctrination sessions at “Kim Il Sung Revolutionary Research Centers.”
“Thank you, Father Kim Il Sung” is the first phrase taught by North Korean parents to their children. From cradle to grave, North Korean citizens are surrounded by the all-encompassing presence of the “Great Leader” and his son, the “Dear Leader,” Kim Jong Il, and their Juche ideology and personality cult. The Kim dynasty is much more than just an authoritarian political regime. It holds itself to be the ultimate source of power, virtue, spiritual wisdom and truth for its citizens. Interviewees in the study talk about the portrayal of religion as evil in North Korea’s education system and media, and the reported 450,000 “Kim Il Sung Revolutionary Research Centers” at which North Koreans are required to attend at least weekly sessions for instruction, inspiration, and self-criticism. Heterodoxy and dissent are repressed quickly and efficiently, with punishment meted out to three generations of the dissident’s family. “Thank you, Father Kim Il Sung” tells the story of the systematic denigration of North Korea’s once vibrant religious life, the conscious attempts to establish a quasi-religious cult of personality centered on Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il, and the survival of limited religious activity in North Korea.
“The Commission’s study ? the first of its kind by a U.S. government agency ? reveals that Kim Jong Il fears that cross-border contacts will puncture the hermetic seal that he has tried, with considerable success, to place around North Korea ? the seal that preserves the Kim dynasty and its ‘divinity.’ Anything that casts doubt on the beneficence or omnipotence of the ‘Dear Leader’ has to be repressed,” said USCIRF Chair Michael Cromartie. “There is interesting evidence that some North Koreans are testing prohibitions against religious activity. That is why there is renewed government interest in ensuring that North Koreans coming back from China are not ‘infected’ either by South Korean democracy or any form of religious belief. Several of those interviewed for this study claim that faith in the “Dear Leader” is not as strong as it was before the famine of the 1990s, having been shaken by the crushing economic and other deprivations in North Korea. Fortune-telling, a remnant of Korean Shamanism, is also resurfacing.”
Continued Cromartie, “As the international community deals with North Korea’s nuclear aspirations, human rights objectives should not be put aside. Negotiations to end nuclear proliferation should include issues such as family reunification, abductions, rule-of-law development, market reforms, religious freedom, needs-based food distribution, and economic development. Toward that end, the Commission’s study includes recommendations for U.S. policy.”
Commission recommendations for U.S. policy include that the U.S. government should:
"Thank you, Father Kim Il Sung": Eyewitness Accounts of Severe Violations of Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion in North Korea will be available on the Commission's web site at www.uscirf.gov at 3:00 p.m. on November 15 and may also be obtained by contacting the Commission's Communications Department at communications@uscirf.gov or (202) 523-3240, ext. 26 or 27.
The Widespread Re-emergence of a Shamanistic Remnant
Summary
A number of questions in the interviews sought to explore the existence or non-existence
of unofficial systems of thought and belief outside of the official Juche/Kimilsungist
ideology. Interestingly, the interviews revealed the widespread re-emergence of a
remnant form of Shamanism, the ancient pan-Asiatic animistic belief system.46 Several
interviewees reported the re-emergence of “fortune telling”?the belief that one’s destiny
or fate is not under one’s own control (as in Juche), but lies in the stars or other natural
phenomena. Further, one’s fate can be “divined” by persons having special powers.
Some interviewees explicitly associated fortune telling (gunghap) with Shamans
(Mudang), though most did not. The practice of fortune telling is not a casual thing in
North Korea, and it is reportedly not cheap. Often, the fortune telling sessions were
described as being conducted in rooms devoid of furniture except for a bowl of water.
46 See Chapter 5 for a brief description of Shamanism in Korea.
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The fortune teller would ask many questions about the person and his or her family, and
sometimes shake and speak in unintelligible syllables before rendering the fortune. The
fortune teller would be paid in kind (e.g. animals or rice) or in cash, sometimes the
equivalent of a month’s salary.
All described fortune telling as an illegal activity.47 However, all said it was much too
widespread for the authorities to eliminate it, and that indeed, even North Korean
officials utilized the services of fortune tellers. Many interviewees associated the reemergence of fortune telling with the onset of the famine and the severe deterioration in
social conditions in the mid 1990s. Many interviewees had themselves visited fortune
tellers, and everyone described the phenomenon as widespread.
Specific Responses
Interviewee 3: “I knew about fortune tellers from the time I was 12. I went there with my
mother…. There was nothing in the room except for the person [fortune teller] because it
was illegal to set up a fortune telling house, though many high-ranking officials went
there to find out more about their future.”
Interviewee 5: “My mother went to [a fortune teller]. I was told that many high level
officials’ wives have been to one. I think [fortune telling] occurred spontaneously as the
society got worse.”
Interviewee 6: “[T]here was a lady that ‘piggy-backed a spirit.’ She correctly predicted
that I would get caught when conducting business enterprise activities. I consulted a
similar person before leaving for China, and I did exactly as he told me to do…. Fortune
telling is not legal, but in reality the authorities turn a blind eye to it. Even the
Gukgabowibu (national security agency police) consult [fortune tellers] when they are
stuck in their investigations.”
Interviewee 7: “… as society became more difficult, people’s minds were dried up of
hope, and one looked into palm reading and fortune telling.”
Interviewee 8: “North Korea’s fortune telling houses are an open secret now. There were
one hundred houses where I lived and two of them were fortune telling houses….”
Interviewee 9: “It was very hard economically, so more and more people were into
fortune telling. There are books from the South [on fortune telling].”
Interviewee 10: “It is not legally allowed, but many people go to [a fortune teller]. My
sister believed in it, so we used to go to the fortune teller.”
47 While conducting research for Hidden Gulag, the author of this study interviewed a woman convicted and imprisoned for fortune telling, though she believed that this was an “add-on” charge by the state prosecutors in addition to her primary crime of “disturbing the socialist order,” because she was overheard singing a South Korean song. See Hidden Gulag, pp 46-48.
44
Interviewee 12: “[Fortune telling] is not freely allowed, but it is not strictly prohibited
either. There was one old lady in my town who did fortune telling. She told us about our
past history, and she also did acupuncture for those who were sick….”
Interviewee 13: “Mudang and fortune tellers are very active in North Korea, but they are
still illegal. However, even when their activities are disclosed and they are arrested by
the authorities, they are released right away. North Korean authorities are making an
effort to obliterate Christianity only….”
Interviewee 15: “Fortune telling has become very common, but people still do it in secret.
If it is disclosed to the authorities, people hear abusive language, and sometimes people
are arrested. I also went to a fortune teller, prompted by curiosity, when I had economic
problems.”
Interviewee 19: “There was a fortune teller in my town. She was around 50 years old.
When people went to the fortune teller, people brought rice or 300 won to her. When I
entered her house, she sat in front of a small table, and asked me why I came to her. She
asked about my family in detail. Then she talked about my family. Most of what she
said was correct. In the middle of the conversation, suddenly her body shook and then
she began to talk in someone else’s voice. It was an old person’s voice. She began to
move her arms unconsciously. After 15 to 20 minutes, she dipped a writing brush in
water and then began to write something. It was very strange. I think the government
did not allow fortune telling until 1997-98, but after that time the government overlooked
fortune telling.”
Interviewee 28: “When we started to go through real tough times, and because so many
people started to visit fortune tellers, enforcement [of the prohibition against fortune
telling] became more lax.”
Interviewee 32: “ It is not allowed to read someone’s fortune in North Korea. However,
because the violation regards superstition, the punishment for fortune telling is lighter
than that for Christianity.”
Interviewee 34: “The state does not permit [fortune telling], but everyone does it. Even
state officials visit fortune tellers.”
Interviewee 35: “There are many fortune tellers who are called mudang or
sinupeunsasam (someone who is possessed by a spirit).”
Interviewee 36: “Fortune tellers are supposed to be arrested, but in reality, they are not
because even government officers, military officers, and police officers go to fortune
tellers. I believe you can find a fortune telling house every two kilometers. I myself
have been to a fortune teller, who said I would be successful if I would go outside of my
hometown.”
Ping!
"...may I have another?"
I watched the show on CNN Sunday night. They used videos that we've seen and you posted here during this past year, though they gave narration to them.
Compelling and depressing.
It is depressing.
OMG you are MAD TV Fan YEAHHHHH
I was very lonesome
You know that is that Bobby Lee he also play Connie Chung LOL!
Hey Tiger I don't want be person that Chia Pet psychic LOL!
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