By Kim Young-jin
It’s not as if activist Tim Peters is indifferent to the political drama unfolding in North Korea after the death of despot Kim Jong-il. Rather, he makes a point to stay updated on the country whose impoverished people he has dedicated his life to assist.
But as the international media pores over each movement of heir Kim Jong-un and his coterie of powerful aides as they take power, he is troubled that the North’s grave humanitarian situation continues to fall largely by the wayside.
“As this drama is being played out in North Korea’s corridors of power, people are foraging in the forest to find bark to make soup,” the American missionary said. “It’s important to balance what’s going on in Pyongyang with the fact that its economy is moribund and people are doing anything they can to survive.”
Though the North has pulled out all the stops to present the inexperienced twenty-something as leader since his father’s Dec. 17 death, concern lingers over whether he will be able to fully grasp power.
Spectacles in the showcase capital such as the funeral proceedings for the late Kim, presided over by his son, are carefully constructed for international consumption and distract from the real conditions faced by the vast majority of North Koreans, Peters said in an interview with The Korea Times.
“To devote all the time and attention to that seriously neglects the plight of the lion’s share of the population.”
The impoverished North has long been known as one of the worst human rights violators for its sprawling political prisoner system, blockade on outside information and brutal punishment for those who attempt to defect, conditions Peters called “slavery.” He noted that Pyongyang regularly ranks as the worst repressor of religious freedom.
Peters, who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, knows of the plight better than most outsiders. His group Helping Hands Korea has long been on the front lines of the struggle to assist those escaping across the Chinese border.
Tens of thousands of North Korean refugees are estimated to be hiding in China, which repatriates defectors under a reported deal with Pyongyang, its ally. Over 21,000 have arrived safely in the South, mostly after making a treacherous escape through a third country.
The group has focused its attention on an estimated 50,000 stateless children and their North Korean refugee mothers who were sold to Chinese men by human traffickers. Many such children, who mostly stay off state records, experience mental and physical stunting.
The group also assists defectors to make their way here via an “underground railway.”
Reports from the border suggest Pyongyang ordered a severe crackdown on the border before announcing Kim’s death, an apparent move to prevent a tide of defections that could destabilize the power transfer. A local daily this week reported that three would-be defectors were shot dead as they attempted to cross the Amnok River (Yalu River).
Despite the bleak outlook, Peters, who lives in the South, says there are plenty of ways for the world to pressure the North on human rights, including efforts to bring members of the leadership before international court for its infractions.
He said Washington should lead the charge, starting by pressuring Beijing more seriously on the repatriation issue and helping those on the border, a matter that has been left mostly to activists.
“The U.S., if it wants to stand up for the principles the country was founded on, needs to be way out in front to fight for these people who are the casualties of the North Korean crisis,” he said.
Despite the efforts to seal the border, he expected the defections to continue. Calling the refugees he has met “incredibly brave,” he said many defectors are in contact with multiple loved ones in the North to support their own escape bids in the near future.
Though prospects for North Korea’s future remain murky, the activist said it was up to outside governments and the media to keep the human rights issue from being overshadowed by all the political intrigue.
“It’s time the world stops treating the plight of 20 million people as an afterthought,” he said.