Over the past four decades, we in South Korea have worked tirelessly to realize these freedoms in our own society. Today, we can speak of freedom and human rights with confidence, and the international community recognizes the progress we have made. Admittedly, our record still lags behind that of advanced democracies, but as long as freedom of the press is alive, we can be hopeful that these rights will continue to be realized.
Now it is time to turn our eyes northward. In North Korea, not one of the four essential freedoms is guaranteed. All media outlets operate under the control of the Workers’ Party of Korea; people are imprisoned or even killed for practicing their faith; surveillance and persecution create a climate of constant fear; and widespread poverty denies citizens the freedom from want. Without outside assistance, mass starvation is a looming threat—a fact highlighted by urgent appeals from international relief organizations. Experts warn that the regime’s grip on its people will only tighten as social and economic conditions worsen.
The harshest burden falls on political prisoners and those held in North Korea’s notorious camps. The number of prisoners is estimated by Amnesty International to reach 150,000. These men, women, and children are often incarcerated simply for expressing dissenting political views or for attempting escape. The regime itself has made clear its rejection of universal human rights, calling such principles “classless” and denouncing political prisoners as “traitors” and “human garbage.” In such a system, abuse and persecution are not exceptions but the rule.
For these reasons, we resolve to join hands with human rights organizations around the world to bring the North Korean human rights issue to the forefront of the international agenda. We believe that by doing so, the 20 million people of North Korea may one day share in the freedoms we enjoy, and that the day of a democratic and peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula will be brought closer.
We define our movement as follows:
In its actors, it is a citizens’ movement.
In its direction, it is an international movement.
In its historical lessons, it is a peace movement.
In its impact, it is a movement for unification.