HIRC Chairman Trying to Ignite Korea’s ‘Great Debate’
Chosun Ilbo on Hyde Letter. In case you’re interested in reading half as much information a week later. . . . And no, I don’t think that’s a garbled reference to this site. If you want to read the full text, just click.
Update 11/15: Suddenly, I realize how much we are going to miss House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde when he retires, and how essential it is that the next chairman be of similar caliber (in other words, not Dan Burton) and interest in the region. Hyde is certainly doing a commendable job of adopting constituents whose own representatives have been less than aggressive in coming to their aid. The Donga Ilbo has noticed:
Hyde called the Korean Army “the comrades who fought with us. This could be an expression of how U.S. mainstream society sees the Korean War and the Korea-U.S. alliance. However, how are such “comrades” treated by their own country? The South Korean government turns a deaf ear to the issue of South Korean POWs in the North. They say the issue is not helpful to the engagement policy toward the North. Meanwhile, they send back even the bodies of North Korean prisoners who were guerillas during the Korean War. This is totally wrong.
This is absolutely the right thing to do. What Hyde is doing is vocally challenging the South Korean government on its betrayal of its own people–that is, triggering the national debate the current GNP leadership is too stultified to ignite. This undercuts Roh in the eyes of his own people while making a relatively smaller footprint of U.S. meddling than similar comments from the executive might create. On broader issues of freedom and liberation, of course, President Bush can and should say more. Hopefully, he will do just that in Tokyo this week.
Elsewhere, one of Soth Korea’s ex-POW’s adds:
“For 13 years, I lived an inhuman life in a gulag,” he said. “Human rights abuse is at the heart of the North Korean issue. He urged the government to make its position on this issue clear by participating in the vote. He added, “I want the National Human Rights Commission of Korea to ask North Korea without reservation to improve its human rights.
Lee (77), who defected from North Korea last May, said, “For the government to abstain from the vote is like saying to North Koreans: “Just wait for death helplessly.
Lee, whose family still lives in the North, said in an outraged voice, “Twice or three times in a month, the DPRK Public Security Service officers searched my house. They even lifted lids of soy jars with flashlights in their hands to see what was inside. He added, “In a sense, I did not leave North Korea, but I was driven out of the North by those who kept a close eye on every move I made.
A total of 99% of former soldiers in North Korea are dying of lung diseases that they got from the mining,” and he urged, “The government should put forth more efforts to repatriate former armed forces members and those who were abducted by the North.
The specific context? South Korea’s likely abstention on a U.N. resolution condemning North Korea. The government in Seoul appears to have it knickers in a real knot over what to do about that one.