Not a lot of North Koreans get to travel the world, telling their life story to world leaders.
But Kang Chol-Hwan was one of the lucky few to escape the tight grip of the North Korean government, and he is gradually becoming the poster child for an international community aimed at ending North Korea’s human rights abuses.
In addition to promoting his book, Chol-Hwan’s visit to UCLA Wednesday – one of a series of stops at universities around the country – served to highlight the disparity between interest and action in terms of ending North Korea’s notoriously brutal record of human rights violations. His appearance packed a room in Haines and his memoirs have gotten the attention of world leaders like President Bush. But, as Chol-Hwan said, North Korea’s mistreatment of its own people has remained unchanged – and perhaps even worsened – in the 13 years since he escaped from a North Korean prison camp.
Chol-Hwan and his family were imprisoned for an alleged crime committed by his grandfather and he remained in the prison camp for 10 years, surviving on meager rations, often eating mice, frogs and insects. After bribing guards with alcohol and tobacco, Chol-Hwan was able to escape to South Korea and became determined to expose the conditions in which North Koreans live.
“I hope I can reveal what’s really happening in North Korea,” he said through a translator. The world often does not know the extent of suffering in the type of labor camps he lived in, Chol-Hwan said. “People don’t believe that these things are actually going on.”
Organizations like Liberty in North Korea, which sponsored Chol-Hwan’s appearance, also seek to expose the atrocities inflicted upon the North Korean people by their own government.
Elliot Lee, the internal communications director for Liberty in North Korea National and recent UCLA graduate, said the group’s efforts are limited to helping the North Korean defectors on an individual level, through orphanages and other smaller institutions, rather than changing the regime in the country.
But in spite of efforts aimed at addressing North Korea’s human rights violations, the country’s treatment of its people has not improved in recent years, Chol-Hwan said.
And improvement could be slow in coming because much of the mistreatment of the North Korean people stems from its economic problems.
George Totten III, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Southern California, said North Korea’s strength lies in its military and nuclear capabilities and the government’s priorities are thusly shifted. With the country’s resources geared toward the military, North Korea does not have the capacity to support its own people, Totten said.
“There’s just not enough to go around,” continued Totten, who is also the founding director of the USC Korea Project. “The need is much greater than (the North Korean government) can cover so people are suffering greatly from lack of food.”
North Korea made headlines recently for its decision to reject international food aid. North Korean authorities said the aid presents security risks but many in the international community have berated the decision because it is believed the country’s poorest residents need the aid and will suffer as a result.
As Totten said, though, North Korea has a long history of closed borders and isolationist policy and the country must open itself up before a large-scale change will be possible. “The way to have peace there is through understanding and contact,” he said.
But Chol-Hwan said recent U.S. foreign policy, which demonized the tactics of the North Korean government, has run counter to the international goal of opening up North Korea. Instead, he said by labeling North Korea as a member of the “Axis of Evil,” the United States has given the North Korean regime fodder for creating anti-American sentiment within its borders.
Rather than publicly deriding North Korea’s tactics, Chol-Hwan said, “it will be more effective if the Americans confront North Korea with the humanitarian crisis.”