Posted on 04/30/2003 7:35:34 PM PDT by MangoCrazy
Korean Reds Hold 200,000 Congress To Hear Testimony Today By ADAM DAIFALLAH Staff Reporter of the Sun
WASHINGTON — North Korea is holding more than 200,000 innocent people in 12 secret concentration camps that are the sites of "the worst crimes against humanity in the 21 st century," a survivor of one such camp will tell Congress today.
Soon Ok Lee, who defected from North Korean in 1994, was held prisoner in the Kaechon prison camp from 1987 to 1992.
In testimony scheduled for delivery today before the House Subcommittee on International Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Human Rights, she will lay out in gruesome detail the horrors of life in the camps, among them beatings, torture, human biological testing, forced abortions, infanticide, and endless hours of hard labor.
The hearing at the House Subcommittee on International Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Human Rights signals the opening of a second front in the case against Kim Jong Il’s dictatorial regime. The "axis of evil" nation has acknowledged that it possesses nuclear weapons, making it a serious security threat. However, there has been comparatively little attention paid to the country’s human rights violations.
"The crimes against humanity that have been perpetuating in North Korea for decades have destroyed the humanity and personalities of all North Koreans.The personality cult of the leaders, the father and son, was the norm that came to replace respect for humanity," Ms. Lee’s testimony says.
"To achieve this purpose, the North Korean leadership operates secret concentration camps and prisons for political prisoners in at least 12 locations.
Their goal is to eliminate all forms of opposition. Over 200,000 innocent victims, including women and children, are detained there for life without a judicial process."
"I experienced a living hell there during the seven years that I was there. The ordeal at that time was to such an extent that even today I am not sure whether I am alive or merely dreaming," says Ms. Lee’s testimony,an advance copy of which was obtained byThe New York Sun.
Perhaps the most dramatic part of her account involves the treatment of pregnant women. They "were unconditionally forced to abort because the unborn baby was also considered a criminal by law," Ms. Lee’s testimony says.
"Women in their 8 th or 9 th month of pregnancy had salt solutions injected into their wombs to induce abortion," her testimony says. "In spite of these brutal efforts, some babies were born alive, in which case the prison guards mercilessly killed the infants by squeezing their necks in front of their mothers. The dead babies were taken away for biological tests. If a mother pleaded for the life of her baby, she was publicly executed under the charge of ‘impure ideology.’"
According to Ms. Lee, the 6,000 prisoners at the Kaechon prison "were treated as being lower than beasts." Of that number, 2,000 or so were housewives, she says, arrested for trying to find food after the regime discontinued rations. Prisoners worked 16 to 18 hour days, slept three to four hours, and were only allowed to use the toilet three times a day at fixed times.
"Our cells were about 6 by 5 meters and contained 80 to 90 prisoners per cell. The cells were so crowded that the prisoners slept with the feet of the next prisoner right under their noses," she says.
The president of the National Endowment for Democracy, Carl Gershman, wrote in the Washington Post of April 17 that the North Korean regime is "the most oppressive system in the world today" and "a remnant of Stalinist totalitarianism at its worst."
A senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, Daryl Plunk, said that the main reason human rights issues are not given greater attention is because the country is so isolated. He said information on the violations comes predominantly from intelligence and defectors.
"In my mind the primary human rights violation is the starvation of the North Korean people by the regime. In a country that virtually has no economy and produces little food imports virtually nothing,one is left to fend for oneself. It becomes a struggle. Estimates vary, but millions have died over the years," Mr. Plunk told The New York Sun.
Asked whether it is a mistake to not make a bigger issue of the human rights abuses, Mr. Plunk said, "absolutely."
"It certainly should be part of the mix. North Korea has largely dodged that bullet. It’s a positive thing we’re having hearings but it remains to be seen whether that catches on."
A former ambassador to South Korea, James Lilley, said North Korea is a "ghastly, desperate, country" that tramples on its citizens and uses massive starvation to survive.
The human rights information "gets out but it just doesn’t sink in. It’s like a pebble in the water, the ripples disappear," said Mr. Lilley, now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. "You can’t deal with North Korea without watching this. If you lose sight of this you’re going to end up shortchanged or supporting a sick dictator like Kim Jong Il."
Ms.Lee is pleading for America to intervene on behalf of North Korea’s citizens "as a matter of international responsibility" by asking the regime to "respect human rights and to close down their political prisoner camps."
The testimony is part of a hearing looking into the State Department’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
Others scheduled to testify today include the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, Lorne Craner,and the executive director of Freedom House, Jennifer Windsor.
And way less experience at firing them or mounting a complex choreographed projection of military power. Don't be scared.
May/June/July 2003: "There is absolutely no proof that N. Korea is a threat to the U.S.!"
/end liberal rant
Well said. Deserved to be repeated.
Don't worry about the plans for dealing with North Korea. The North Korean military has been studied carefully for the last fifty years, and we'l be ready, if the time comes.
Don't worry about the plans for dealing with North Korea. The North Korean military has been studied carefully for the last fifty years, and we'l be ready, if the time comes.
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