By Philip Iglauer
With the alarm sounding and the world put on edge upon the announcement of Kim Jong-il’s death Monday, a world leader of human rights, freedom and democracy passed away quietly in his sleep at his country home Sunday in Hradecek, the Czech Republic. Vaclav Havel died at age 75.
The near simultaneous death of two men has become a study of contrasts.
Whereas Havel released political prisoners kept in his country after freeing his people from communist rule, Kim Jong-il filled North Korean gulags with anyone he thought opposed him.
But the contrasts are most acute in how the two men spent the waning weeks of their lives.
Kim Jong-il spent his last weeks secretly laboring to secure the succession of power for his young 20-something son, Jong-un, the second child of his third wife, in a bizarre and quasi-religious communist Kim Dynasty.
Havel’s last public appearance was made in a meeting with Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on Dec. 10.
Havel led his country in the peaceful Velvet Revolution, which toppled the communist regime in Czechoslovakia in 1989. He was the last Czechoslovak president serving from 1989 to 1992 but will be best remembered as a foremost human rights advocate and freedom fighter.
On learning of Havel’s passing, the Dalai Lama reportedly said that perhaps the best tribute to honor and remember Havel is to work toward building a more peaceful, open and just world.
Czech Ambassador to Korea Jaroslav Olsa, jr. said, “His last public appearance very much symbolized his world views, as ― only a week ago ― he met his decades-long friend His Holiness 14th Dalai Lama, who visited him in the Czech capital Prague, and signed an appeal in support of dissidents and human rights activists around the world.”
Havel regularly commented on the situation in North Korea. The Dalai Lama reportedly described him as both “unassuming” and “courageous,” said the regime in North Korea is “committing crimes against humanity against its own people.”
Havel also repeatedly criticized North Korea for holding “people without due process of law for arbitrary reasons in political prison camps.”