By Kim Se-jeong
Kim Sang-hun, an activist on North Korean human rights, stood before a surprisingly large crowd on Jan. 29 at the Ilmin Art Center in downtown Seoul where the documentary “Kimjongilia” was screened.
“What you saw in the documentary is only the surface (of the brutality by the North Korean regime against its people),” he said.
Directed by Nancy Heikin, “Kimjongilia” offers a glimpse of North Korean political prison camps through testimony of people who escaped from the country.
According to Kim, the degree of brutality committed by the regime goes beyond imagination.
For example, he said, authorities hung 15 women from a crane and set fires beneath them. “They were burnt to death.”
Prisoners facing public execution have all the joints in their body broken in advance. “No prisoner walks on his or her own feet. They’re all dragged to the spot. And they are gagged shut at all times,” he said.
Kim has counless testimonies like this ― all in written form ― collected over the last 15 years. The number of people he and the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, an organization he has worked with since its inception, have interviewed reaches over a thousand.
With the amount of anecdotal testimony, he succeeded in bringing the topic to the United Nations General Assembly. As a result, the U.N. now votes every year and adopts a resolution condemning the regime for human rights violations.
His next plan is to reproduce the testimony in a documentary.
This will be helpful in shoring up international support, he said, which could influence the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to take up the issue. The council has the power to investigate and take action.
Kim said he is positive that by then, China, one of five at the members ignoring human rights violations in North Korea, won’t be able to distance itself from the issue.
Prison camps in North Korea serve to “re-brainwash” those who have shown “acts of disloyalty” to the state.
The worst kind is an attempt to flee the country, and if caught, the escapee and his or her entire family are sent to the camps indefinitely.
Malnutrition and health problems are prevalent. Song Byeok, a painter who defected and recently had an exhibition in Seoul, said he was released when he was too sick to move or work.
Prisoners are forced to make paper flowers and clothes, which are often exported to Europe and China.
Kim deeply deplores the lack of awareness among South Koreans, and criticized the government, which adopted the Anti-Communist Law preventing citizens here from being involved in any activity with North Korea.
“That has created and fed hostile sentiment against North Korean citizens (who are the victims of atrocities).”
Other activists agree with Kim, saying the South Korean public turns a cold shoulder to the topic of North Korean human rights.
Kim called for an open flow of information about North Korea as remedy, for example, “having the Rodong Sinmun printed and sold on newsstands in Seoul along with other newspapers.” Such measure may sound a bit extreme, especially in the current political atmosphere where the South last year suffered two attacks by North Korea.
“We (North and South Koreans) are the same people. If we don’t do to help, who will do so?” he said in a determined voice.