Seoul Summit: Michael Horowitz’s statement

(by guest blogger Andy Jackson)

This a part of a series of posts on the Seoul Summit: Promoting Human Rights in North Korea and related events.

The portions in the blockquote were taken from my notes. I apologize for any inaccuracies.

Michael Horowitz is the director of Hudson Institute’s Project for International Religious Liberty. He is a passionate advocate for human rights and religious freedom, which has led him to be one of the strongest critics of the Kim Jong-il regime. What follows are taken from my notes of Horowitz’s statement at the Seoul Summit on Friday, December 9.

I have often criticized the US and South Korean governments. Today I have come to criticize myself. I have not done enough to stop the death camps, the starvation, the trafficking of women.

I could have done more and I know the ways in which I could have done more, but I found excuses not to do so. In 2006 I will give everything I have to win freedom for the people of North Korea. Any regime that is a terrorist threat to its own people is a terrorist threat to the world. I pledge to do all that I can [for human rights in North Korea]. There are many things that can be done.

1. Those who care for human rights in North Korea must be clearer than we have been that we oppose military actions. Those who say “Ëœregime change’ means a military attack are lying. People must recognize it as a lie by those who want to keep Kim Jong-il in power.
2. More information must be gathered on North Korean human rights violations. Right now, Japanese TV stations are doing more [to gather information] than the US government. We must also get more information into North Korea. It is a shame that the US only broadcasts 3 hours a day into North Korea. It should be 12 or 24 hours a day.
3. There must be greater financing of the underground railroad to help defectors and other North Koreans.
4. Donors must give North Korea different forms of aid. Instead of just food that can be redirected to the military. We should build hospitals and water purification plants that cannot be sent elsewhere.
5. We must provide a place for North Korean refugees. What moral authority would [the United States] have on North Korean refugees if it doesn’t accept any itself?
6. More pressure must be put on Russia. Kim Jong-il’s relationship with [Vladimir] Putin has helped him stay in power.
7. The key is China. China deports between 200 and 400 refugees a week back to North Korea while some in the State Department praise China for its “Ëœpositive contributions.’ The Chinese government says that all the North Koreans in China are economic refugees, but they face persecution upon return so they are all political refugees. This must stop. China must be force to choose between sending North Korean refugees back or having good relations with the United States. Many of us will work to put that choice to China in 2006.

NGOs can make a domestic political force [in the US] on North Korean human rights. Many progressives where waiting on the six-party talks [before advocating North Korean human rights] but they realize that those talks aren’t moving. They are also aware of the Helsinki process [and how it helped promote human rights in the Soviet bloc].

Other Americans will follow Korean-Americans on North Korean human rights if they take the lead.

I will go one step further than Horowitz on one point. Not only will other Americans follow the lead of Korean-Americans on human rights for North Koreans, South Koreans will follow there lead as well.

When the Korean-American led student group Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) started its Seoul chapter last winter, there was little activity on Korean campuses concerning North Korean human rights. Last Saturday, I observed as over 250 Korean students gathered to organize for and promote the cause. Without the example and support of Korean-Americans, I doubt that the Korean students could have overcome leftist opposition on campus to get their movement off the ground (more on that later).

Many Korean-American business people, pastors and community leaders have strong contacts back in the old country. If they step up for human rights in North Korea, it could have a significant influence in South Korea.