Posted on 06/13/2003 7:19:21 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
N. Korean Defector Tries for U.S. Visit
Wed Jun 11, 3:36 AM ET
By KENJI HALL, Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea - Six years after fleeing one of the world's most repressive regimes in search of freedom, Hwang Jang Yop remains confined to South Korea (news - web sites).
Hwang, the most senior North Korean ever to defect and a former mentor to leader Kim Jong Il, has had little contact with the outside world since he fled to the South in 1997.
He rarely appears in public or gives interviews. Under the protective custody of South Korea's spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, Hwang has had few opportunities to reveal what he knows about the inner workings of Pyongyang's secretive communist regime.
Now, as a tense standoff over North Korea (news - web sites)'s nuclear programs continues, U.S. officials and public interest groups are encouraging him to speak out.
Hwang has been invited by the Washington-based conservative policy group Defense Forum Foundation for a weeklong visit to Capitol Hill, beginning June 16.
But with that trip less than a week away, nobody seems to know whether South Korea will allow him to go.
"We are awaiting a final decision by the Republic of Korea government," said Defense Forum Foundation president Suzanne Scholte, using South Korea's official name.
Hwang has already told U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials what he knows about Pyongyang, said Nicholas Eberstadt, a Korea expert at the American Enterprise (news - web sites) Institute. But Washington wants him to repeat his harsh criticism of the North in a public forum.
"He would know in his bones things about the North Korean system that outside analysts can only learn after years or decades ... and can't be gleaned from spy satellites," said Eberstadt. "He's walking, talking, breathing intelligence."
The 81-year-old Hwang has impressive credentials.
He was a member of North Korea's highest decision-making body, the Central Committee of the Workers Party, when he defected in Beijing in 1997 with an aide, Kim Duk Hong, on his way home from an academic seminar in Japan.
Known as the architect of North Korea's guiding philosophy — juche, or self-reliance — Hwang headed the prestigious Kim Il Sung University; served three times as chairman of the legislature, the Supreme People's Assembly; and once tutored Kim Jong Il.
He reportedly faced a purge at the time he left North Korea. However, he says he defected because he wanted to warn of the regime's plan to attack the South. His four books in Korean and his essays on the Internet advocate an end to the North's dictatorship and a reunification of the divided Korean Peninsula.
The Defense Forum Foundation first offered to host Hwang in 1997, but he declined after the National Intelligence Service said it couldn't ensure his safety. South Korea turned down at least three other invitations for Hwang to visit Washington for safety reasons, despite the U.S. State Department's offer to arrange for his security. The State Department renewed its offer last month.
U.S. Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., whose House Policy Committee has asked Hwang to testify, said he would be disappointed if South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun's administration "repeated its predecessor's mistake" in denying Hwang a visit.
"If he again ends up not coming to the U.S., it will make lots of American officials suspicious about whether South Korea is an ally and a democratic country," said Oh Kong Dan, Asia analyst at the Washington-based Institute for Defense Analyses. "It could jeopardize U.S.-South Korea relations."
Conservative South Korean lawmakers say Hwang's isolation is more about politics than protection.
Once ammunition for South Korea's propaganda war with North Korea, Hwang's criticism of Pyongyang now stands at odds with the South's policy of engaging the North in a dialogue. The two Koreas never signed a peace treaty formally ending their 1950-1953 war.
Their push toward reconciliation has stalled since October, when U.S. officials said the North admitted to having a clandestine nuclear program.
Hwang has accused the National Intelligence Service of trying to muzzle him. A spokesman for the agency, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Hwang is free to do as he wants. He said Hwang rejected a request for an interview.
Oh, of the Institute for Defense Analyses, said Hwang's testimony could reveal to Washington how power in the North is consolidated in the hands of one man — and provide clues about how it can be taken away.
"He can tell us firsthand how the regime operates ... how Kim Jong Il rules," said Oh, who interviewed Hwang in Seoul in 1998.
S. Korean gov is afraid that he would rail against N. Korean regime and may even defect to U.S. His comments could also get a big press coverage. He could deal a big blow to the policy of appeasement.
Seems to me the guy is grooming the US and preparing the US for accepting a pro-NorthKorean media coup at the expense of our efforts and SouthKorea's genuine efforts.
What made you think that he is up for pro-North Korean media coup ? It is true that he does not advocate a war. But he want N. Korean regime to either back down or be changed by putting serious pressure on N. Korea.
This is not the first time he tried to go to U.S. He tried it once under the previous administration. But S. Korean gov came down hard on him. So he gave up.
He even got into trouble for speaking out inside S. Korea. The goverment threatened to lift the protection from him, which would expose him to N. Korean hitmen.
I think you refer to the posts on these incidents.
Once ammunition for South Korea's propaganda war with North Korea, Hwang's criticism of Pyongyang now stands at odds with the South's policy of engaging the North in a dialogue.
Either the government of the South has been well infiltrated by the North or someone is being paid big bucks, just as Saddam paid for cooperation. Engaging in dialogue is just like sending a decision to a committee, an excuse to avoid making a decision. Drawing things out is usually a sign of money involvement whether threw payoffs or rip offs of US aid. As you said, follow the money.
Yes, it is being milked. But not as much milik is coming out this time. Some teachers and professors sent their students to the rally as a part of class project. Leftists always prey on young innocent minds, turning them into political cannon fodders for their "Jihad."
Despite such efforts, the mood is souring overall.
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