South Korean politicians should put aside their partisan differences and raise unison voice in support of the human rights conditions in North Korea, argued a former North Korean commando.
“We shouldn’t keep silent about the North Korean human rights conditions,” said Kim Shin-jo, a former North Korean special force member who in 1968 was arrested after a failed attempt to kill then the South Korean President Park Chung-hee.
He made headlines when he said at the court hearing: “I’ve come here to cut the throat of Park Chung-hee,” at that time.
Kim now serves as a Christian pastor in a city, south of Seoul.
The Grand National Party has asked Kim to serve on the committee for North Korean human rights. “I am a person who is not interested in politics. But I want to help to pass a North Korean human rights law. So, I’ve accepted the offer,” Kim told a local newspaper, JoongAng Ilbo.
The United States Congress voted for a North Korean human rights act in 2004. South Korea has yet to have one.
Kim blames the delay to South Korea’s culture of exploiting North Korean issues for political purposes. “North Korean human rights and the issue of refugees shouldn’t be used politically,” he laments.
“I have a hard time understanding South Korea,” said Kim, who has now lived in the South for over 40 years.
“On North Korean issues, we should have one single voice (to be effective). But we are split inside South Korea. Then, how we could we talk to North Korea (coherently)?” he said.
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