The Wrong Kind of Attention

[Update: You MUST read this IHT op-ed by Grace Kang and David Scheffer, on raising the issue of prosecuting Kim Jong Il for crimes against humanity. I tend to agree that this would go nowhere in the U.N., which (and this is me talking now) would be a perfect demonstration of the institution’s worthless as a global law-giver. Thanks to a commenter.]

Two and a half years ago, I left the Army and started a blog called OneFreeKorea to bring badly needed attention to the horrific conditions under which the people of North Korea live, and die. After thousands of posts and countless hours of volunteer activism, Kim Jong Il has done more to bring those conditions into the public consciousness of America with the push of one button (OK, seven buttons) than a billion of my own keystrokes could possibly accomplish.

In addition to numerous radio and TV reports I’ve seen, check out Michelle Malkin’s latest “Hot Air” vlog. Ted Turner’s apologia for Kim Jong Il features prominently. Malkin’s use of videotape that North Korean dissidents risked their lives to get is especially gratifying.

One small disagreement: it would not be completely accurate to suggest that liberals have no understanding of this issue. A few have been stalwarts from the beginning of this new and growing movement. On the other hand, Nick Kristof’s ambivalence is typical of many: there must be something wrong about a movement that attracts so many evangelical Christians. For some, it follows that anyone they oppose couldn’t be all bad.

I’ll be ready to believe that this issue has caught on when we start seeing more coverage of North Korea’s alleged gas chambers where entire families are killed together, its ethnic cleansing by infanticide, or its use of famine for political cleansing (2.5 million dead and counting). I yield to Carl Gershman of the National Endowment for Democracy, who did not discover this issue recently:

The second issue is to end the misnamed famine, which is really the unspeakably cruel way Pyongyang has eliminated any potential opposition. It has long been known that the North Korean regime classifies the population according to perceived loyalty, and that food supplies have been diverted away from those deemed as “hostile” or “wavering,” who have thus been the victims of acute starvation. As many as three million people may have already died in this way, which is perhaps one of the reasons the regime feels secure enough to reach out to South Korea, Japan, and the West for various kinds of economic assistance. If this is true, North Korea has committed a crime against humanity every bit as horrible as the Rwandan genocide or the killing fields of Cambodia. Needless to say, no effort should be spared in trying to feed people who still face starvation, and relief organizations must insist that they be allowed to verify that food is reaching those whom it is intended to help. But it is also necessary to document the use of starvation as a political weapon and to hold the regime in Pyongyang accountable for this crime.

Meanwhile, over at Opinion Journal, more of the wrong kind of attention, which means the right kind for LiNK. Congrats!
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