Fixing Distorted History, a Prerequisite to Democratizing North Korea

On the occasion of the 102nd anniversary of the March First Movement
By Kim Myong
Edited by Greg Scarlatoiu, HRNK Executive Director

On March 1, 1919, one hundred and two years ago to this day, the Korean people turned a new page in their history by proclaiming the annulment of the 1910 Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty and the independence of Korea, and by launching a non-violent national movement for independence from Japanese colonial rule, also called the “March First Movement.”[1] Encouraged by the concept of “national self-determination” promoted by then U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, patriotic forces in Korea, a country Japan annexed by force in 1910, began a nationwide anti-Japanese movement to regain national sovereignty through a peaceful demonstration. That momentous effort was unsuccessful, crushed by the brutal repression of the Japanese imperial forces.[2] However, the March First Movement marked a paradigm shift in the minds of Koreans that the sovereignty of their country and nation mattered the most, above anything personal. On this occasion, they also learned that the independence of their country could be achieved only through armed struggle, not through bare-handed peaceful demonstrations. Later on, the Korean independence movement took one step forward with the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, tasked to lead the anti-Japanese independence struggle amidst Japanese colonial rule.

To observe the national pride this movement symbolizes, the Republic of Korea (ROK) proclaimed March 1 as a National Day and Public Holiday through the National Holiday Act of October 1, 1949. On the contrary, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has never made March 1 a national holiday. They hold sporadically commemorative events attended by “religious” or social organizations under the control of the Korean Workers’ Party’s United Front Department as part of their effort to reunify the Korean peninsula under communism by rallying their supporters inside South Korea. Unaware of what is really going on, South Koreans may be impressed that the North Korean authorities “cherish” the common history of our nation’s anti-Japanese struggles.

For North Koreans who have been brainwashed for life by history education centered on the so-called “revolutionary activities” of Kim Il-sung and his Baekdu Bloodline Family, March 1 is just an ordinary and “meaningless” day. While living in North Korea, I had no proper understanding of the March First Movement, nor did I spend this day honoring all the martyrs who died for the country. Despite being a short moment in the nation's 5,000-year history, this day is very important: The March First Movement demonstrated the national aspiration for independence and helped to catalyze the growing popular anger towards Japanese occupation. Deceived by the false propaganda of the North Korean authorities, who are so skilled in distorting the national history, dozens of millions of my fellow countrymen in North Korea worship only the Kim family while devaluing or ignoring the brilliant traditions and true historic accomplishments of their nation. Changing their distorted perceptions of history should be the first step toward democratizing North Korea.

North Korea’s Absurd Sophism Distorts the Historical Facts on the March First Movement

Distorted education by the North Korean authorities on the March First Movement is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many other historical facts that they have warped to their liking.

First, North Korean education doesn’t provide any details on the 33 national activists who initiated the March First Movement and prepared the Declaration of Independence. Instead, the movement is used and abused to idolize the Kim family by claiming that it originated in Pyongyang under the leadership of Kim Il-sung's family members.

In North Korea, it is taught that the first flame of the March First Movement started in Pyongyang and then spread down to Seoul, and that “the patriotic young students of Pyongyang Soongsil Middle School played a leading role under the revolutionary influence of Kim Hyong-jik, an outstanding leader of the anti-Japanese national liberation movement.” [3] In other words, North Korean propaganda claims that Kim Hyong-jik, father of Kim Il-sung, had a decisive influence on initiating this movement through the students of Pyongyang Soongsil Middle School, where he had earlier studied. North Korean propagandists and “educators” insist that the movement was a turning point in shifting the struggle for national liberation from the nationalist movement to the communist movement.

However, according to historical archives at the time, Kim Hyong-jik, who had already dropped out of school, was arrested in 1917 by the Japanese police in South Pyongan Province for the “Korean National Association” incident and was released in 1918.[4] He immediately moved to Jung-gang-jin (a geographical area of North Pyongan Province), which proves that he could not participate in the March First Movement in Pyongyang. Besides, there is no specific record of his contribution to this movement, either.

Even in Kim Il-sung's memoirs, “With the Century,” perhaps by his mistake, nowhere is there any mention that the students who were influenced by his father commenced this movement. Instead, he wrote that his maternal grandfather Kang Don-uk urged his fellow villagers and young people to participate in the anti-Japanese independence demonstration. According to Kim Il-sung’s memoirs, he then took the lead in their march from Chilgol to Pyongyang during the March First Movement. In his memoirs, Kim Il-sung also claims that his maternal uncle, Kang Jin-sok, led the march together with his father. He described the March First Movement in Pyongyang in more detail than that in Seoul. He also described Ryu Gwan-sun as an ordinary female student without mentioning her name,[5]and characterized the 33 national activists who led the March First Movement as incompetent elite and bourgeois nationalists.[6] This shows that Kim Il-sung was trying to distort the truth about the March First Movement by under-evaluating the importance of Seoul as the origin of the movement and ignoring the historical figures who led it.

Second, North Korea exaggerates, claiming that, just before his seventh birthday, Kim Il-sung participated in person in the March First Movement, and that his participation provided an opportunity to raise his national consciousness and pushed him to later engage in the anti-Japanese armed struggle.[7]

“I was only eight years old at the time, but I joined in the march wearing my worn-out shoes full of holes. I shouted hurrah over and over with the marchers and reached the Botong Gate. The marchers rushed inside the castle past the Gate; I could not keep up with them in my tattered shoes and so I took them off and ran after the marchers as fast as my little legs could move. When adults sang hurray for independence, I sang hurray together.” [8]

As written above, Kim Il-sung recalled in his memoirs that he had joined the demonstrators at a young age to march with them past the Botong Gate of Pyongyang. Given that the round-trip distance from Mangyongdae where he lived to the Botong Gate was about 15-20 miles, it is hard to believe that he marched alone without help or company of any of his family members. He also recounted that in the following days, he went up to Mangyongdae Peak, blowing a trumpet and beating the drum, and shouting hurrah for independence even after sunset. Unlike his Chilgol family members, who personally participated in the March First Movement, no other members from his Mangyongdae family seemed to join him in the movement, which casts a shadow of doubt on his participation itself.

Kim Il-sung wrote that his worldview broadened and he matured much faster than others by experiencing the scenes of marchers shouting hurrah for independence and witnessing people being killed by the armed police during the movement.

“The March First Movement placed me in the rank of the people and left an image on my eyes of the true nature of the Korean people. Whenever I hear the echo of the March First hurrahs, I feel so proud of the Korean people's unbending determination and heroism.” [9]

In fact, North Korean textbooks show drawings illustrating young Kim Il-sung, marching in the front row of Pyongyang demonstrators and shouting hurrah with them to convince school students that their great leader hated Japanese imperialists profoundly and nurtured the big ambition of regaining the independence of his country since childhood.

Third, while arguing that the Kim family was directly or indirectly involved in the March First Movement, North Korea paradoxically makes an inappropriate and parsimonious evaluation of this movement, emphasizing that only the anti-Japanese armed struggle by Kim Il-sung was appropriate and effective as a manifestation of the independence movement.

North Korea’s official interpretation is that the March First Movement failed because of the following factors: a) it was not guided by an outstanding leader, a revolutionary class, and a revolutionary party; and b) the nationalist leaders of this movement had class-based limitations and deep-rooted pro-Americanism. They say that despite its failure, the movement has historical significance in that it raised the Korean people’s anti-Japanese national liberation movement to a higher level, in an attempt to secure the legitimacy for, and link it to, Kim Il-sung’s armed struggle only.[10]

North Korea labels the 33 national activists who wrote the March First Declaration of Independence “Bourgeois Nationalists.” Furthermore, North Korea blames them for having failed to identify an appropriate way to fight against the armed Japanese imperialists, as they were presumably “prisoners” of President Woodrow Wilson’s idea of national self-determination and counted too much on powers such as the United States. They also say that the movement proved that the nationalists were no longer in a position to lead the anti-Japanese national liberation movement.[11]

In his memoirs, Kim Il-sung wrote: “The failed March First Movement taught us that in order to win our fight for independence and freedom, we must have effective revolutionary leadership and organizational structures; we must use the right tactics and strategies; and we must debunk toadyism and build up our strength on our own.” And he highlighted the importance of his anti-Japanese armed struggle for combating Japanese imperialism and liberating the country.[12]

In history education, North Korea neither gets the historical events across to their population based on objective facts only, nor does it allow them to use their judgment to assess history. Instead, there is “one-way injection” education, based on the textbooks prepared by the Korean Workers’ Party. Therefore, North Koreans are obliged to believe and accept the severely distorted history as it is taught to them by the public education system.

History Education in North Korea is a Legal Means to Build the Kim Family’s Cult of Personality

The main purpose of history education in North Korea is to highlight that Kim Il-sung’s family has been, across generations, the most revolutionary and patriotic family in the country, and that it is the only family that can yield an outstanding leader representing the popular masses.

Currently, the school education’s curriculum contains four subjects related to the Kim family’s “revolutionary activities”—i.e., the history of Kim Il-sung, of Kim Jong-il, of Kim Jong-un, and of Kim Jong-suk—giving priority to these subjects and totally neglecting the Korean history per se. Instead of gaining sufficient knowledge about the Korean nation with its 5,000-year history, the North Koreans are more focused on learning about “the revolutionary life, immortal achievements and great human features” of the Kim family members, starting from Kim Il-sung’s anti-Japanese struggle and his activities after liberation. At school, students do not know much about Ryu Gwan-sun, An Jung-geun[13] and any other patriots or independence activists who devoted their lives in the anti-Japanese struggle. When the Shanghai-based Provisional Government or the Korean Liberation Army is introduced to North Korean students, more emphasis is placed on the perceived mistakes by these organizations rather than what they did right. By the end of history education, students get convinced that the anti-Japanese armed struggle by Kim Il-sung was the one and only right way to achieve national liberation.

In addition, they also learn about other members of the Kim family, beginning with Kim Il-sung’s great-grandfather Kim Ung-woo, as if they were all “great examples of revolutionaries and patriots who devoted their entire lives to the independence of the country and happiness of the nation.” They are taught that great-grandfather Kim Ung-woo took the lead in destroying and sinking the General Sherman in the Daedong River, [14] that grandfather Kim Bo-hyon and grandmother Ri Bo-ik were passionate patriots who raised their children for the revolutionary struggle, that maternal grandfather Kang Don-uk was a patriot who dedicated his life to education and the independence movement, and that all his uncles and younger siblings were revolutionaries who fought for independence (Table 1). By portraying the Kim family as the most revolutionary and patriotic family in the country, the North Korean authorities have justified the hereditary ruling by the Kim family and made it a moral obligation for their people to loyally support their leaders.

Table 1: Designations used in the idolization of the Kim family

Names	Relationship with Kim Il-sung	Designations
Kim Jong-suk	First wife (1919­–1949)	Anti-Japanese heroine; great female revolutionary; the quintessential example of ideal Korean mothers
Kim Ung-woo	Great-grandfather (1845–1930)	Passionate patriot
Kim Bo-hyon	Grandfather (1871–1955)	Passionate patriot
Ri Bo-ik	Grandmother (1876–1959)	Passionate patriot
Kim Hyong-jik	Father (1894–1926)	Indomitable revolutionary fighter; passionate patriot; prominent leader of the anti-Japanese national liberation movement of the country
Kang Ban-sok	Mother (1892–1932)	Indomitable revolutionary fighter; great mother of Korea; great female revolutionary; the best example of Korean mothers; outstanding leader of the Korean women's movement
Kim Hyong-gwon	Uncle (1905–1936)	Indomitable revolutionary fighter; the best example of revolutionary believers; inflexible revolutionary with conviction and commitment
Kim Chol-ju	Brother (1916–1935)	Indomitable revolutionary fighter; the embodiment of great revolutionaries
Kim Won-ju	Cousin (1927–1957)	Indomitable revolutionary fighter
Kang Don-uk	Maternal grandfather (1871–1943)	Passionate patriot; great educator
Kang Jin-sok	Maternal uncle (1890–1942)	Passionate anti-Japanese revolutionary fighter

Source: Based on the North Korean version of the History of Korea.

From April 1992 until his death in July 1994, Kim Il-sung wrote and published eight volumes of his autobiographical memoirs, "With the Century.”[15] As pointed out earlier, controversy exists over many of the historical “facts” introduced in his memoirs.

As soon as Kim Il-sung’s memoirs were published, all North Koreans were called on to read them every day and study their “essence” during the weekly Saturday saeng-hwal-chong-hwa “life and ideological guidance” group meetings, according to the ideological study plans assigned by the Korean Workers’ Party’s Propaganda and Agitation Department. Kim Il-sung’s memoirs constitute an important part of his cult of personality.

“Ga-gye Politics” Thrives on the Dictatorship of the Kim Family

North Koreans internally refer to the extended family of Kim Il-sung as ga-gye (lineage). For example, if someone says that “he or she is married to ga-gye,” it means that he or she married someone who is lineally descended from Kim Il-sung—including his paternal and maternal lineages, i.e. Mangyongdae Kim family or Chilgol Kang family. The term ga-gye does not apply to any other families, for whom the term ga-jok (family) is used. As the years went by, the ga-gye expanded rapidly by marriage between ga-gye members and ga-jok members of different surnames or same surnames from different clans. For example, by marrying Kim Kyong-hui, who is Kim Il-sung's daughter, Jang Song-taek and his bloodline were integrated into the ga-gye. The same was true of Ho Dam, former Foreign Minister of North Korea, who married Kim Il-sung’s cousin, Kim Jong-suk, who was president of the DPRK Committee for Foreign Cultural Relations until recently. For the people of North Korea, ga-gye means royal family and represents absolute power.

From the late 1960s, when Kim Il-sung’s one-man rule was being established, members of the ga-gye began occupying high-level positions in the Korean Workers’ Party, the State, and the Military. In fact, their positions did not matter in exercising power. If, for example, someone introduces him or herself as Kim Il-sung's cousin or his maternal niece’s husband, he or she will enjoy a higher privilege than the general managers or the Party secretaries of the enterprises. No one could be more powerful than a ga-gye member in resolving practical issues for smooth management of a business enterprise.

For example, when public enterprises in North Korea want to build houses for their employees or import some raw materials from China, they have to obtain permission to do so from several state agencies by undergoing a multi-phased process. The North Korean term for the license they get for such business is called “waku.” Depending on the content and nature of the business, a waku requires a very complicated and hard process that, in most cases, is “facilitated” through bribery. People often fail to get a waku, even after spending a lot of time and energy for it. Members of ga-gye can help figure things out using their networks and connections because lots of their family members or relatives are already in key positions at the powerful state agencies that issue the waku. In addition, when high-level officials are subjected to legal punishment for an administrative mistake made in the line of work, ga-gye members often help them to be acquitted. It is needless to say that they receive handsome “compensation” for their help. So, fierce competition often rages among agencies in order to attract members of ga-gye to their offices. 

In this way, Kim Il-sung's relatives or members of the ga-gye penetrated all major state agencies to run “ga-gye politics,” which contribute greatly to widespread corruption and inefficient business management.

As I was surrounded by a number of ga-gye members during my life in North Korea, I knew their nature like the back of my hand. I found them everywhere I went—at the schools I attended and at my workplaces as well. They enjoyed all kinds of privileges and immunities that ordinary people could not aspire to even in their dreams. To me, they were living in a totally different world, and they belonged to a different class in all aspects.

Without making any effort to study hard, they were easily accepted to the top universities of their choice, regardless of their scores on the entrance exams. Even if their school attendance was lower than 50 percent, or even if they did not diligently participate in the school’s organizational life, it did not matter. They were never reprimanded and graduated from their universities with the highest results, as if they had been excellent students. Later on, they found good jobs of their choice in the Party, law enforcement, armed forces and security agencies, in the offices that enabled them to work abroad, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Ministry of Foreign Trade, or in the foreign currency-earning companies under Office 39 of the Korean Workers’ Party. They were frequently exempted from social work duties in their offices, were lazy and unfaithful in the implementation of their main tasks, but they received good end-of-year evaluations and got promoted faster than others.

With no concerns at all about their daily living, they had a lot of free time. They were wasting their lives on pleasure and entertainment. Many of them became addicted to alcohol, drugs, and sex. Instead of having a bookshelf filled with books at home, they collected South Korean and foreign movies, including pornographic videos, that were banned in North Korea. If ordinary people got caught watching South Korean movies, they would be immediately sent to the kwan-li-so (political prison camps), but the members of ga-gye, accused of the same “crime,” were released soon upon receiving a severe warning. Besides, “yeon-jwa-je,” the North Korean method of punishing up to three generations of the family when a person is found guilty of a “serious crime,” hardly applied to the Kim family and ga-gye members.

In a word, North Korea was the country of the Kim family and ga-gye. These people were living with a sense of superiority, as if the space where we lived together belonged only to them and as if they were untouchable. They were the North Korean “nobility,” and lived extraordinarily selfish lives.

As the dictators changed, the Mangyongdae Kim family and the Chilgol Kang family seemed to be pushed away out of the core of North Korean power, whose center seems to be shifting gradually toward the “Wonsan Kim family.” This will bring another type of ga-gye politics to North Korea.[16]

Truth is More Powerful than Lies

The denial of historical facts by the North Korean authorities is absolutely necessary to maintain their regime. During their seven decade-long reign, the Kim family has committed countless unforgivable crimes against the nation and humanity. They needed to alter or distort the facts to hide their crimes, and they needed to cheat their people to continue ruling over them. If the North Koreans knew the truth of history, the Pillars of Belief in the Kim family and the Myth of the Great Leader would collapse in a matter of seconds like a wall washed away by a deluge, and this would undoubtedly lead to the collapse of the North Korean regime. Truth exists to be eventually revealed. Truth always prevails over deception and lies (Diagram 1).

Diagram 1: Truth Is More Powerful than Lies

“Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.”

Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations

Out of so many facts that the North Korean authorities are trying to distort or hide, two facts about Kim Il-sung’s and Kim Jong-il’s births were the most shocking to me. Kim Il-sung was born into a family of devout Christians who believed in God. Kim Jong-il was born in Russia and was named “Yuri Irsenovitch Kim.” Let me take the liberty of presenting a few facts on Kim Il-sung’s birth, although they are already known to the world (Box 1).

Box 1: Kim Il-sung was born into a family of Christian believers Kim Il-sung's parents, Kim Hyong-jik (father) and Kang Ban-sok (mother), were devout Christians. American Presbyterian missionary Nelson Bell brokered their marriage, which would result in the birth of Kim Il-sung. Kim Hyong-jik, in his childhood, dreamed of becoming a pastor. He attended Pyongyang Sunhwa School, which was established by American missionaries, and learned to write the Bible in Korean calligraphy. At the time, American missionaries paid a cent in Korean coins to students who came to church. The missionaries loved Kim Hyong-jik, especially for showing his faith by putting all the coins he received into the church offering box. On the recommendation of American missionaries, Kim Hyong-jik entered Soongsil Middle School. This school was founded in 1897 in Pyongyang as a private school by American Presbyterian missionary William M. Baird. Kang Ban-sok was born as the second daughter of Kang Don-uk, who was a devout Presbyterian. Her real name at birth was Kang Shin-hi, but she was baptized in church by Nelson Bell and renamed Ban-sok, the Korean translation of Saint Peter, one of Jesus’ Twelve Apostles. Through Nelson Bell’s brokerage, Kim Hyong-jik and Kang Ban-sok got to know each other and married. As a result, Kim Il-sung was born into a devout family. When he was a child, Kim Il-sung followed his mother to church and faithfully believed in Christianity. Ironically, under Kim Il-sung’s rule, North Korea was transformed into the world’s worst religious persecutor. Source: Kim Il-Sung and Christianity in North Korea by Dae Young Ryu, Journal of Church and State, Volume 61, Issue 3, Summer 2019, Pages 403–430

The reason why the North Korean authorities hide the true facts about Kim Il-sung’s and Kim Jong-il's births is because, once known to the people, they may become an obstacle to deifying and idolizing their “great leaders.”

Like anyone else in the world, North Korean people have the right to access information. This right is an integral part of the fundamental right of freedom of expression, as recognized by Resolution 59 of the United Nations General Assembly adopted in 1946,[17] as well as by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.[18] It has also been enshrined as a corollary of the basic human right of freedom of expression in other major international instruments, including the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.[19]

If any government takes measures to block, for any reason, the free access to information by the North Korean people, they will be blamed by the entire Free World for forsaking 25 million North Koreans and enabling the Kim dynasty to continue to enslave them. As a result of such actions, the prospects for democratization of North Korea and for the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula will remain uncertain.

---

[1] The declaration released on this day is called the “March First Declaration of Independence.”

[2]  Encyclopedia of Korean Culture (https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Item/E0026772).

[3] North Korean version of the History of Korea (for the 4th grade of high schools). Printed in 2000 by DPRK Educational Books Publishing House.

[4] The “Korean National Association” was a pro-independence clandestine organization founded in Pyongyang in 1915. It was soon discovered by the Japanese imperial authorities and its founding members were imprisoned in 1918, which led to its immediate dissolution. For more details on this organization, please visit: https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/조선국민회 .

 

[5] Ryu (Yoo) Kwang-sun (1878~?) was a Korean independence fighter and believer in Cheondoism. Arrested and sentenced to 1 year and 3 months of prison for anti-Japanese activities on November 22, 1920, her fate is unknown after that date.

[6] Kim Il-sung's Memoirs “With the Century” Vol. 1 (April 1992). Chapter One: Land of misfortunes.

[7] Kim Il-sung was born on April 15, 1912. According to the Western way of counting age, he was about to turn seven in March 1919. According to the Korean way of counting age, he was about to turn eight.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid.

[10] North Korean version of the History of Korea (for the 4th grade of high schools). Printed in 2000 by DPRK Educational Books Publishing House.

[11] In his memoirs, Kim Il-sung wrote that the national self-determination was a hypocritical slogan issued by the US to prevent the influence of Russia’s October Socialist Revolution from spreading to other parts of the world.

[12] Kim Il-sung's Memoirs “With the Century” Vol. 1 (April 1992). Chapter One: Land of misfortunes.

[13] An Jung-geun (1879–1910) was a Korean nationalist and independence activist who assassinated Prince Ito Hirobumi, a four-time Prime Minister of Japan and former Resident-General of Korea, in 1909. He was subsequently imprisoned and executed by the Japanese authorities on March 26, 1910.

[14] The General Sherman was a U.S. Merchant Marine side-wheel steamer attacked and sunk in the Daedong River in 1866. The incident is often credited as a catalyst to the end of Korean isolationism in the second half of the 19^th century.

[15] The eight volumes of Kim Il-sung’s memoirs cover the period from his childhood to his repatriation upon the liberation. The last two volumes were posthumously published.

[16] Kim Jong-un is presumed to have been born in Wonsan, on January 8, 1984.

[17] The UN General Assembly Resolution 59, A/RES/59(1), adopted on December 14, 1946, is available at: https://research.un.org/en/docs/ga/quick/regular/1 .

[18] The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on December 10, 1948, is available at: https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/ .

[19] The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), adopted on 16 December 1966, is available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx .

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Categories: crimes against humanity, DPRK, History, Human Rights, Independence, Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Suk, Kim Jong Un, Kim Regime, March 1 Movement, Nonviolence, North Korea, ROK, South Korea, Truth

Education, Information, and Liberation for North Koreans

 By Jihyun Park

Translated into English by Jeune Kim, HRNK Research Intern
Edited by Greg Scarlatoiu, HRNK Executive Director

HRNK contributor Ms. Jihyun Park is a British North Korean escapee and human rights activist. Ms. Park is co-author of “Deux Coréennes.” She is a survivor of forced marriage and human trafficking. She escaped from North Korea twice, enduring imprisonment in gulags and many near-death experiences. Today, she displays immense courage, raising awareness of the plight of North Korean women and the crimes against humanity they suffer. In doing so, she continues to face danger on a daily basis. Ms. Park received the NatWest's Chairman's Award AWA in 2018 and the Amnesty Brave Award in 2020. Currently, she is running as a conservative candidate for local election in the United Kingdom.

North Korean teachers have always had control over the ideology of the children. They teach history, and the idolization of Kim Il-sung for the ultimate purpose of cementing the Kim family regime’s grip on power. Korean War orphans sent to Eastern Europe had a different educational experience. Eastern European teachers educated them, taking on subjects such as art and music. The role of literature was particularly significant. Of course, the repression of intellectuals in Eastern European countries that received those North Korean children was harsh. But, particularly after the death of Stalin in 1953, Eastern European countries experienced a slight relaxation of draconian restrictions. That all ended with the Hungarian anti-communist revolution of 1956.

Their Eastern European teachers taught the North Korean children about ancient Greek mythology, classical literature and had them read the works of Shakespeare. Many of the children realized that there was a world out there, completely different from the one of uniform collectivism emphasized by North Korean teachers. There were even children who secretly borrowed books and read them when they were out of the sight of North Korean teachers. What they discovered was self-reflection, the power to reflect back on themselves.

The children’s eyes were opened to the freedom and universal human rights that shaped modern civil society in Europe. They learned this from Eastern European teachers, even though Eastern Europe itself was, at the time, under the yoke of communist dictatorship. It was a profound change that could not have taken place if these children had not lived in Eastern Europe. Oppressed as they were, some of their Eastern European teachers still had memories of different times, and different political systems.

Why did Kim Il-sung bring the war orphans living in Eastern Europe back to North Korea during the late 1950s and start shutting out all information from the outside world? Finding out what it is that transformed the thoughts and behavior of these children is the fundamental key to solving this North Korean puzzle today.

Kim Il-sung brought these children back to North Korea because of the art and culture they encountered in Eastern Europe. He did so because, even though Eastern Europe was ruled under a communist system at the time, its culture had been founded on individualism and the way of thinking that shaped modern European civil society had also evolved from individualist philosophy.

Just as it did 70 years ago, North Korea continues to maintain the most brutal regime in history under the Kim family dictatorship and, in the name of xenophobia, blocks information coming from the outside.

Why does North Korea restrict information? In a totalitarian dictatorship, they must root out all the flowers and trees that grow in the fields, and instead plant flowers of their own favorite color, and divide and cultivate them based on their components (songbun). In addition, North Korea regards “double thinkers” (those who pay lip service to the Kim regime, but are suspected of being sympathetic to different political systems) as a hostile class, so people cannot share what they really think with their families at home, nor with their relatives outside.

When I was young, there was a song that my father would always sing during the holidays, when he and his friends had one drink too many. It was a folk song called “Let Us Go to the Sea.” He would sing, “Let’s go to the sea over there, let’s go to the sea…” Because I was young then, I did not understand what that song meant. But now, I understand that it was about the desire to gaze at the vast blue sea and freely express all the sorrow and resentment from deep within to one’s heart’s content. My parents’ generation only knew loyalty to the Supreme Leader. They could not even confidently answer their own children’s questions, fearing a mistake could downgrade their songbun status; they feared even inquiring about the whereabouts of their own relatives.

It was in the 1990s when the Arduous March began to permeate this dark land. Numerous people dying of starvation left; they were people who left North Korea and went to China, clutching their starving stomachs, because they had to survive.

The place where they went was also dominated by a communist regime, but for the people of North Korea, it was an opportunity to discover a new world. And as we saw the distorted and falsified history of North Korea, we were able to open our eyes.

The first thing we heard in China was Chinese people cursing Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. Even though the government controlled everything, the Chinese people could freely watch dozens of TV channels. The moment I saw them watching South Korean dramas on satellite TV and singing South Korean songs, I was so surprised by this kind of world that I asked myself the question: “Who am I and where am I from?”

Even as I was forcibly repatriated, beaten, and tortured as a “traitor” in a North Korean prison, I was able to endure the suffering because of the image that sparked before my eyes: being in that place, like I was receiving a gift for the first time in my life. I lived determined to go back to that place. This is why people who are forcibly repatriated twice, even three times, still want to leave that hellscape.

For those who are not living in a tunnel but in a lightless cave, information, culture, and art are like warmth that melts away the chill on a cold winter’s day, a moment to forget the struggles and dance beneath the palm trees, and a lighthouse in the middle of a dark sea that you are blessed to see as a gift from God.

What the North Korean regime fears is this gift from God—that the people of North Korea will think differently from the regime. Therefore, the North Korean regime regulates its people according to a planned daily schedule from when they wake up in the morning to when they go to sleep in the evening, coercing them into forced labor, and not allowing for any free time.

Even as they see the people dying of starvation, without any concern for their lives, they continue to force upon them an overwhelming amount of political brainwashing, never stopping even once.

They use idolization to entrap the minds of the North Korean people living under a dictatorship and oppress their souls.

The law that has been proposed on the order of Kim Yo-jong in step with this North Korean regime is the law regarding the development of inter-Korean relations; it is the anti-leaflet law in South Korea. Anti-North Korea leaflets not only include information that discloses the brutal atrocities committed by the dictatorial North Korean regime, but also things that will melt the hearts and ease the hardships of North Koreans. Activists even send gifts, such as vitamins, Bibles, and portable media devices containing culture and art.

Before Germany was reunified, the East German government said that their enemies were on the roofs, fearing the antennas mounted on the roofs used to watch West German TV. After reunification, the people of East Germany said that during the day they were in East Germany and at night they were in West Germany, demonstrating how the information flowing in from West Germany had changed them.

The current administration that speaks of peace on the Korean peninsula, President Moon Jae-in’s family were also refugees who came to South Korea during the Hungnam evacuation that is referred to as the Christmas Miracle. If they had no information, would they have gotten on that boat? Moon, whose family received the miraculous information that others did not receive and settled in South Korea and became president, is now obstructing the miraculous information that the people of his hometown longed for while shouting for peace on the Korean peninsula. Whom does this hypocritical “peace” serve?

The following line from the bill sparked much anger:

Article 25 (Penalties) ① A person who violates Article 24 (1) shall be sentenced to a maximum of three years in prison or fined up to 30 million won.

Reading this bill sent chills down my spine, reminding me of the forced repatriation from China. The Chinese government made sure that if a Chinese national discovered a North Korean escapee, they would immediately inform the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, and then get paid with a reward. As a result, the Chinese would feverishly search for North Korean defectors and report them, driving them to be forcibly repatriated. Many North Korean lives were lost, and this resulted in many separated families.

This law, which is like the South Korean government making a public notice to its citizens to report those who launch anti-North Korea leaflets to authorities, is mortifying for North Korean escapees.

It is the duty and mission of a free individual to lend a helping hand to those who are reaching out and seeking help from a dark place.

There are many people in North Korea who are living as “double thinkers,” and it is information about culture and art that has come in from the outside world that has brought about this change of thought.

Even though we are not able to travel to North Korea, we should not forget the extraordinary sense of accomplishment when information and news from the outside world reach the North Korean people.

Even now, there is something that the South Korean government should not forget. If the enemy of the North Korean dictator right now is the free government of South Korea, then tomorrow, those who put this bill into effect must keep in mind that they could easily become enemies of the dictator. One day, they may even become slaves as well.

One thing is sure: No leader, no government, and no law will be able to prevent the North Korean people from accessing information from the outside world—not even Kim Jong-un or Moon Jae-in. They have already tasted the free world through information entering North Korea. There is no turning back.

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Categories: China, communism, crimes against humanity, DPRK, education, Escapee, Famine, Freedom, Human Rights, Information, Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un, Liberation, North Korea

North Korea’s Workers’ Party Turned 75: Nothing to Celebrate

By Greg Scarlatoiu, Executive Director, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK)

Image credit: Anton Ivanov Photo - stock.adobe.com

On October 10, 2020, North Korea’s Workers’ Party (Korean Workers’ Party, KWP) celebrated its 75th anniversary, but should the world’s media and pundits do the same for a party and regime committing crimes against humanity? An ossified Stalinist bureaucracy, the KWP has survived the fall of communism by three decades. Kim Il-sung’s KWP established absolute control over a Korean populace that had known nothing but totalitarian political regimes for over half a millennium: 40 years of Japanese imperial occupation (1905–1945), preceded by 500 years under the feudal Chosun Dynasty.

Kim is the party, and the party is Kim, pursuant to North Korea’s monolithic ideology. Through indoctrination, regimentation, draconian control, surveillance, severe punishment of those suspected of disloyalty and their family members, and a chain of command and control that permeates all levels and walks of life in North Korea, the KWP has survived. Moreover, it has overseen hereditary transmission of power twice: from grandfather and party founder Kim Il-sung to son Kim Jong-il in July 1994; and from son Kim Jong-il to grandson Kim Jong-un in December 2011. Despite rumors about his poor health, Kim Jong-un has relied on the party’s Organization and Guidance Department (OGD) as a power base, just like his father did. He has purged hundreds of senior officials branded disloyal by the OGD. Many of them were executed by anti-aircraft machine gun. Bodies were pulverized, turned into pink mist.

As HRNK author Robert Collins points out in his seminal 2019 report on the KWP OGD, this powerful agency acts as an advisory body to Kim and a filter between him and the rest of North Korea and the outside world. The KWP OGD advises on Supreme Leader guidance. It transmits his orders down the chain of command. It assesses compliance at the local level. It punishes perceived failure and it rewards absolute loyalty reflected in dutiful implementation of party guidance. Through the OGD, the party calls the shots. It decides who lives and who dies, who gets promoted and who gets demoted. There is no daylight between the party and the Supreme Leader. They are one.

Currently, the KWP has 3.5 million members and 200,000 candidate members, out of a total population of 25 million. In North Korea, two other parties exist on paper only, and the KWP has commanded absolute control of every aspect of life, politics, economy, and society in North Korea since October 10, 1945. Occasional international media reports on “tension” between the party and the military (Korean People’s Army, KPA) are mistaken. There can be no rift. Party guidance moves everything in North Korea. Anyone who counts in North Korea is a party member first. The military belongs to the party, and so do all other institutions, such as the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), the Provincial People’s Assemblies (PPA), the 270,000-strong internal security agencies, and the Socialist Labor Youth League. The nuclear and ballistic missile programs as well as North Korea’s Foreign Ministry and diplomatic corps are no exception. North Korea’s donju, the entrepreneurial nouveau riche, must submit to the KWP and Kim. In the de jure absence of private property in North Korea, and with the Criminal Code banning entrepreneurial activity, party protection guarantees business success. The old, unwritten social contract in North Korea was: “Be absolutely loyal to the party and the leader, and you will receive everything you need through the Public Distribution System (PDS).” Distribution depends on one’s job. Job assignments depend on one’s songbun social-political classification, based on perceived loyalty. After the great famine of the 1990s and the PDS collapse, that unwritten social contract changed to: “Be absolutely loyal to the party and the leader, and we will allow you limited opportunity to look after yourselves and your families.” In North Korea, market actors are not revisionists or revolutionaries. To survive, they must still prove their unwavering loyalty to the party.

During the October 10 military parade in Kim Il-sung Square, media and pundits focused on the larger, apparently upgraded version of the Hwasong-15 ballistic missile, the 11-axle TEL carrying it as well as other upgrades to North Korea’s military gear. All critical issues. One detail was perhaps overlooked. In the background, a slogan read: “Dang-ui Gundae.” “The Party’s military.” One must remember the overwhelming role that the KWP has played for 75 years. Diplomats, negotiators, military and security experts, and human rights defenders alike must remember that the Supreme Leader and the party are one. That is the one and only decisionmaker in North Korea. The rest is a façade. The KWP is responsible for the deaths of nearly 5 million in the Korean War, 3 million in the great famine of the 1990s, and hundreds of thousands in North Korea’s political prison camps. On the KWP’s 75th anniversary, there was nothing to celebrate. Only bereavement, grief, and rage for the millions of lives lost.

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Categories: donju, DPRK, Human Rights, Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un, KWP, North Korea

The Need for the Truth: COVID-19-Free North Korea

By Kim Myong
Edited by Greg Scarlatoiu

Kim Myong is a former senior North Korean government official who has agreed to share with HRNK analysis of the North Korean response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Since the official admission of an outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) in its neighboring country, China, North Korea has closed its borders, suspended flights in and out of the country, and restricted the cross-border movement of people and goods to prevent the disease from entering and spreading within its territory. Public health measures, such as disinfection and quarantine, have also been adopted nationwide. On several occasions, North Korean government-controlled media reported on the number of people in some parts of the country, including foreign residents, who had been quarantined or placed under “medical observation.” There was also sporadic reporting on how many of them had been freed from isolation, while consistently denying that any cases of COVID-19 infection or death had ever occurred.

North Korea’s healthcare system is fragile and precarious. The people of North Korea have long been affected by chronic malnutrition, poor health, and weak immunity. North Korea’s intimacy with China is the result of both geographic proximity and dependence on China in trade and tourism. Consequently, it would be no exaggeration to state that North Korea is far more vulnerable to COVID-19 than any other country in the world. Thus, it would be perfectly reasonable to assume that there have been some COVID-19 infections and deaths in North Korea. Perhaps it would not be unreasonable to assume that North Korea has been more affected than any other country in the world. Experts continue to try to determine the rationale behind the North Korean government’s adamant denial of reality. Only North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, who holds the key to everything happening in the country, would be able to provide the right explanation. However, based on my knowledge of North Korean society and personal life experience, I would like to provide some insights on this topic.

First, North Korea appears to be very concerned about its relations with China, and is thus reluctant to publish the real COVID-19 data. At this time, the U.S.-North Korea nuclear talks and inter-Korean dialogue are deadlocked. The economic sanctions imposed by the international community on North Korea continue to be tightened. Kim Jong-un very likely believes that he has no one to depend on but Xi Jinping and China.

On the one hand, China, the point of origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, has been criticized in the free world for failing, at the early stages of the virus outbreak, to act quickly and to share the basic public health information that might have helped thousands of Chinese people avoid contamination. China has also been suspected of systematically underreporting its coronavirus numbers. On the other hand, China has launched a disinformation campaign to dispute the Chinese origin of the virus. If North Korea transparently publicized its coronavirus figures, this could add a fact check potentially undermining China’s denial and disinformation campaign.  The two countries share an 880-mile-long border, and admission of a massive COVID-19 outbreak in North Korea would substantially reinforce evidence that the pandemic originated in China. Kim Jong-un might have decided to conceal the real data to avoid embarrassing Xi.

Second, the North Korean government seems reluctant to publish the figures of COVID-19 cases to prevent ideological agitation among the population and keep its people from having any mistrust in the regime. In the mid-1990s, when the country was hard hit by famine due to severe food shortages, around three million North Koreans starved to death. However, the government never released this information inside or outside the country. At that time, I lived in Pyongyang and suffered from food shortages like many other people. Via word of mouth and rumors, I learned that inhabitants of other provinces were starving, but I could never imagine that such a huge number of people had died. Pressed hard by the widespread famine, then North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il agreed to receive food assistance from the international community under the pretext of recurrent natural disasters – e.g. drought and flooding. Until then, he had even been reluctant to disclose to the outside world information on actual human and economic losses caused by real natural disasters, and had categorically rejected any proposal by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to receive international assistance.

Following Kim Jong-il’s admission that a humanitarian emergency was unfolding, a taskforce was immediately established in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to receive food and fertilizer as foreign aid, under humanitarian assistance programs of the United Nations and other international organizations. Nevertheless, Kim Jong-il never informed the taskforce on the number of people who had died of hunger. At weekly meetings organized on Saturdays to brainwash the population, the regime called on people to consume as little food as possible to mitigate food shortages and to help farmers in a variety of ways.  The North Korean people were asked to provide physical support to farmers, by supplying labor to increase food production, and mental support, through hiding the truth about mass starvation. Kim Jong-il was probably afraid of the people who, once informed on the real facts, would no longer trust his version of socialism and begin resisting the Kim Family Regime, which had ruled the country for decades. Instead, his propaganda machine invented a so-called revolutionary anecdote that he was eating porridge and taking a nap to alleviate the pain of the food shortages, just like the overwhelming majority of the North Korean people. However, the anecdote had it that, instead of napping in his bedroom, Kim Jong-il would take a snooze in the car, on his way to delivering on-the-spot guidance. He used this anecdote as propaganda to brainwash the people, hide his super luxurious lifestyle, and project a glorified version of a magnanimous self. As an old Korean proverb puts it, Kim Jong-il was trying to “cover the sky with the palm of his hand,” engaging in a futile attempt to distort and hide the obvious, overwhelming, and harsh truth. The North Korean people were not deceived, and eventually understood that truth.

Kim Jong-un would never want to fall short of the high standards of deception established by his father. As we have seen in North Korea’s handling of COVID-19, just like his father, Kim Jong-un is keen on deceiving his own people. To Kim Jong-un, letting hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of North Koreans die of the disease like worthless slaves would not be an issue.  To him, watching so many people die would be less painful than a finger prick spilling one droplet of his own blood. So, instead of focusing on testing and treating people to save their lives, he is only concerned with containing the spread of the virus. Any statistical data on COVID-19 infection cases and deaths seems to be classified as “top secret” in North Korea, and strict censorship would be applied to the information related to the disease to prevent the truth from leaking at home and abroad.

On March 17, Kim Jong-un unexpectedly launched a project to build the “Pyongyang General Hospital” and appeared at the groundbreaking ceremony. Since then, North Korean media has been ramping up propaganda, praising his leadership and the superiority of the socialist health system. However, no one truly believes that propaganda anymore. All of this propaganda and glorification of the leader is paradoxically an indication that Kim Jong-un has something to hide, and that he is fearful of the wavering hearts and minds of the population. Just like his father, Kim Jong-il, who was reluctant to disclose statistics about the unfortunate North Korean population that had to starve due to lack of access to cheap and basic food in the 1990s, Kim Jong-un is using all the means at his disposal to hide the truth about the coronavirus spread in North Korea. He is also afraid of the shock waves that may reverberate through North Korean society if statistical data were released on the loss of precious life because of lack of proper testing and treatment. He fears the negative impact of such information on North Korean society and its potential to alienate the population from the regime.

Last, but not least, it appears that Kim Jong-un, by hiding the facts, wants to find an excuse for continuing military provocations, such as a series of missile tests performed in March. Before the coronavirus crisis broke out, Kim Jong-un was envisioning a number of steps that could be taken without crossing a redline and upsetting President Donald Trump, who seemingly was less interested in talking with him this year. While the world is fighting the coronavirus pandemic, North Korea's missile testing surely upsets us all.

The world would have different perceptions of a North Korea ravaged by coronavirus and a North Korea completely untouched by the pandemic. Of course, few will believe the absurd lies that there have been no coronavirus infections or fatalities in the country. Kim Jong-un seems to be mistakenly induced to think that his military actions would be less condemned or even excused if the truth is concealed. On the one hand, North Korea is likely to continue similar low-intensity and carefully controlled military provocations in the weeks and months to come. On the other hand, it will double down on diplomatic efforts at the UN to have sanctions against the country lifted, in particular by manipulating China and Russia.

In conclusion, it is very likely that the number of coronavirus cases and fatalities in North Korea exceeds imagination. The international community should put strong pressure on the North Korean government to share transparent information. The North Korean government should be pressed hard to request and accept much needed assistance without delay to save the lives of North Koreans already affected by malnutrition and weakened immunity, as they are most likely to die from COVID-19. If we fail in the pursuit of truth, the coronavirus pandemic will trigger a humanitarian crisis on par with the great famine of the 1990s.

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Categories: analysis, coronavirus, COVID-19, DPRK, Human Rights, Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un, Kim Regime, North Korea, pandemic

HRNK-NKFC LAY A WREATH AT THE VICTIMS OF COMMUNISM MEMORIAL IN MEMORY OF THE VICTIMS OF NORTH KOREA

By Rosa Park, HRNK Director of Programs and Editor

Today, Friday, June 14, 2019, the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) and the North Korea Freedom Coalition (NKFC) together lay a wreath at the Victims of Communism 12th Annual Roll Call of Nations Wreath-Laying Ceremony at the Victims of Communism Memorial located on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and New Jersey Avenue in Northwest Washington, DC. HRNK and NKFC join hands in remembrance of the countless victims of communism in North Korea since 1948, the year the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) was established. The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation was founded thanks to a bipartisan effort in Congress that lead to PL 103-199, which was “signed into law by President Bill Clinton on December 17, 1993.”[1]After years of hard work, President George W. Bush dedicated the Victims of Communism Memorial on June 12, 2007.[2]

NKFC & HRNK wreath before the wreath-laying ceremony.

During the dedication, President George W. Bush spoke to the underlying reason behind the memorial that still resonates today: “We dedicate this memorial because we have an obligation to those who died, to acknowledge their lives and honor their memory.”[3]There are an estimated 100 million victims of communism around the world. In North Korea, at times one hears about the improved standard of living in Pyongyang and greater access to markets all around the country. Nevertheless, thanks to the 2014 United Nations Report of the Commission of Inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the world now knows that crimes against humanity have been thoroughly documented in North Korea. On the surface, these are seemingly contradictory reports.

How do we define who a victim is in North Korea? The Oxford dictionary defines a victim as “a person harmed, injured, or killed as a result of a crime, accident, or other event or action.”[4]Today in North Korea, every citizen is indiscriminately a victim, from the lowest “hostile” classes to the highest, privileged “loyal” classes of songbun. The Kim regime is systematically harming, injuring, and killing anybody it arbitrarily deems to be a threat. Even the privileged in North Korea face the fear of execution at the hands of the Kim regime.

While fully acknowledging the rise of markets and cell phones in North Korea, which are undoubtedly positive developments the citizens of North Korea still face widespread malnutrition, political oppression, and fearpolitik. According to the World Food Programme, “an estimated 11 million people – more than 40 percent of the population – are undernourished.”[5]Malnutrition could easily be addressed by the Kim regime, which consciously chooses to keep its weapons rather than properly feed 11 million citizens. Malnutrition is even more acute in North Korea's political prison camps. There are more than 30 kwan-li-so (political prison camps) and kyo-hwa-so (reeducation through forced labor camps) that we know. Between 80,000 and 120,000 prisoners are held at the political prison camps. Many others are imprisoned in reeducation through forced labor camps. Even at the top of North Korean society, fear controls the privileged. High-level officials have been made to watch their peers be executed by ZPU-4 anti-aircraft machine guns to instill fear and to keep the elites in line. These atrocities are now well documented and continue to incite outrage. Corroboration of instances such as these have been made possible thanks to North Korean escapee testimony and satellite imagery, revealing the horrors committed by the Kim regime.

Compared to ten years ago, the world is now more aware of the suffering of the victims of communism, including the North Korean people. "Many people have been liberated from communism" states HRNK Co-Vice-Chair and NKFC Chairman Suzanne Scholte, "but North Koreans still suffer under this brutal ideology. Today, we not only remember the millions of North Koreans who have died at the hands of Kim Il Song, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong Un, but we remind the world that North Koreans are still suffering."

HRNK, NKFC, and countless other organizations and individuals understand that it would be detrimental to forget history and are passionate about raising awareness of the reality in North Korea. However, many Americans today are failing to remember or notice the suffering that is perpetrated at the hands of communist regimes around the world, including the crimes of the Kim regime. The Victims of Communism 2018 annual report found that “1 in 4 Americans Have Received No Education About Communism” and “52% of millennials indicated that they would prefer to live in a socialist (46%) or communist (6%) country [rather] than a capitalist (40%) one.”[6]

 HRNK & NKFC wreath-laying ceremony at the Victims of Communism Memorial. 

HRNK & NKFC staff and interns pause for a moment of silence for the North Korean people after the laying of the wreath at the Victims of Communism Memorial. 

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan reflected that “communism is another sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages even now are being written.”[7] Today in 2019, HRNK and NKFC are still working towards righting the wrongs of communism's legacy. HRNK Executive Director Greg Scarlatoiu, a naturalized American born and raised in Nicolae Ceaușescu’s communist Romania, worries "that Millennials do not fully appreciate the gravity of the abominable oppression, repression, and deprivation communism caused. I experienced that up close and personal until age 19. It is truly heartening to see my younger colleagues lay a wreath on behalf of HRNK today, in memory of the victims of this ideology that ultimately gave the world nothing but desperation, destruction, and genocide." Younger generations have an obligation, just as generations had before them, to those who died at the hands of communism to ensure that the errors and crimes of the past are never, ever repeated. We must “acknowledge their lives and honor their memory.”[8]''

HRNK legal research intern Brian Wild, HRNK research intern Eliza Klingler, HRNK legal research intern Kiersten Reinhold, HRNK director of programs and editor Rosa Park, NKFC member Greg Forman, HRNK research intern Eunsaem Shin, and NKFC/DFF intern Johnny Park stand with the HRNK & NKFC wreath before the Victims of Communism Memorial. 

Photos by Michele Helen Reyes

--
[1]Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, "History of the Memorial," https://www.victimsofcommunism.org/memorial.

[2]Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, "The Dedication," https://www.victimsofcommunism.org/memorial.

[3]George W. Bush, White House Archives, https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/06/20070612-2.html.

[4]Lexico Powered by Oxford, "Victim," https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/victim.

[5]World Food Programme, “WFP DPR Korea Country Brief April 2019,” https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000105234/download/?_ga=2.132774918.949245137.1560460769-638249160.1560460769.

[6]Victims of Communism and Yougov, "Third Annual Report On U.S. Attitudes Toward Socialism,” https://www.victimsofcommunism.org/2018-annual-report.

[7]BBC,“Ronald Reagan: In his own words,” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3780871.stm.

[8]George W. Bush, White House Archives, https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/06/20070612-2.html.

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Categories: cold war, communism, crimes against humanity, DPRK, education, events, executions, Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, KimJongUn, Memorial, Murder, North Korea, Political Prison Camps, victims, victims of communism