By Kim Young-jin
Robert Park, the American missionary detained by North Korea last year for crossing its border, is speaking out against human rights abuses in the isolated state despite deep emotional wounds that remain as reminders of his time there.
Little had been heard from Park, 29, who was released last February after 43 days in incarceration for crossing the North Korea-China border. In a recent interview in Seoul with the Monthly Chosun, he offered a scathing review of the regime.
“More than 3 million people have died in North Korea (due to the regime),” he said. “Kim Jong-il has not shared a fortune in aid with the people, using it instead on weapons development.”
Park told the publication he is still haunted by memories of torture he experienced in captivity, sometimes to the point of having suicidal thoughts.
“When they released me, they said: ‘He can’t do anything. Let’s show the whole world. We are victorious,’” he said.
“They must have expected me to commit suicide as soon as I was released. In truth, they still scare me now. But when I think of the North Korean people and defectors, who are in greater pain than I, I can’t die.”
He said authorities shot footage of him being sexually tortured.
During the interview, he said the conditions were so bad that he prayed for Kim Jong-il’s death, but then stopped and began praying for his own.
On Christmas Day 2009, Park crossed the Tumen River carrying a letter asking North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to free the 200,000 people reportedly languishing in the country’s brutal political prisoner system.
Reports by the U.N. and other organizations say North Koreans are subject to vast malnutrition due to chronic food shortages, widespread torture and forced labor.
Describing the situation as the “worst act of genocide since the Holocaust,” Park called on the international community to do more as the fate of North Koreans is “everyone’s responsibility.”
“The (Korean) government should change its approach entirely,” he said, urging powers to make human rights the top priority.