Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Insights from World’s Darkest Peninsula


Tue 13 Nov 2018 | 07:10 PM
Norhan Mahmoud

Covered by: Mohamed Wadie

CAIRO, Nov. 13 (SEE)- “People before Politics” is the motto of Liberty, one of the most prominent refugee NGOs in South Korea, as those in charge of it believe that political summits has not improved human rights situation in North Korea.

Since being set up in 2004, the organization’s main aim is to bring stranded refugees in China to South Korea or America as the vast majority of women are trafficked and sexually assaulted.

Sokeel Park, Director of Research and Strategy at Liberty, noted that those who flee the north are like those who come out of a time machine. “It is like moving 50 years forward. A northern doctor must be rehabilitated here to practice his profession, as education in Pyongyang is centered on politics and the consolidation of ideology.”

Park noted that he personally has never visited North Korea but has been to the northern border of China, which is the common route for escaping, for several missions. “Two shallow  rivers separate North Korea and China; the Tuman and  the Yalu Rivers.”

Talking to an Egyptian delegation visiting Seoul, Park pointed out that gathering information about Pyongyang is not easy at all thus they use satellite images and rely on stories of people coming from the dark northern city either escapees or diplomats.

 

[caption id="attachment_22879" align="aligncenter" width="169"] Sookel Park[/caption]

 

Although defectors encounter various dangers, cross-border soldiers are the main threat. Good news is they can pass through them after paying bribes not less than $15000. 

The last risk faced by refugees is the possibility of being caught in China and sent back to North Korea. “Captives are thrown into inhuman detention camps in which their inevitable end is death.”

Regarding the North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un, Park noted: “He is just 34 years old; a small dictator with irrational calculations and a long-term strategy. As professionals and specialists, we do not think he give up his nuclear program.”

Park believes that Kim is afraid of enriching his people with knowledge and information as well as openness to the global community.

According to the latest statistics, Seoul has welcomed only 30  refugees which is negligible compared to the 25 million population of the north. “Some fugitives are being forgotten and the others are being pursued by the North Korean government.”

Park recounted a story of 13 defectors who were working in a restaurant in China and fled to Seoul, but Pyongyang considered the situation an infringement of sovereignty and abduction of its citizens.

As the meeting wrapped up, Park stressed that the UN sanctions on North Korea have political implications only and have not benefited the human rights situation. “Adversely, sanctions further isolate the people of Pyongyang and  China's crushing of Pyongyang has not only punished the regime but also the people.”