6th February 2010
North Korea Is “Lenient” With Human Rights Activist
Mark Hanson
In a sign that the regime in North Korea is still attempting to woo the United States, the state news agency has reported that Robert Park has been released from custody.
The Christian human rights activist entered North Korea last year, carrying a letter for Kim Jong-il, the Communist leader of the country. He was protesting at North Korea’s poor human rights record.
Many dissidents and others are allegedly held in secret prisons, although the country’s regime refutes this. Park works for a Seoul based organisation calling for North Korea to improve human rights.
Those who have either visited, or escaped from the North genuinely report that the state is an extreme example of oppressive government. For Christians, Open Doors, an international charity that helps persecuted Christians, has repeatedly placed North Korea as the place where it is hardest to be a Christian.
Many Christians have fled over the border into China, although China still has a policy of forcibly returning such asylum seekers to Korea. China’s own record on human rights is also desperately poor.
The North Korean state news agency reported that Park has expressed “sincere repentance” and had also given an interview in which he criticises the West’s “propaganda” and expresses the “love” he has been shown by all in the North. It is extremely probable that either this report is false, or was given under duress.
Despite a somewhat belligerent series of moves by North Korea, including development of a nuclear programme and missile tests, it has been more placating towards America in its treatment of American nationals. Park is a Korean-American, and last year two other US human rights activists were released after intervention by Bill Clinton.
