Author Archives for Grant Montgomery

Hyeonseo Lee now knows how naive she was

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When famine struck in the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the North Korean government initiated a wide public education campaign — “Let us eat two meals a day” was the slogan, accompanied by information on how eating less was healthier.

As food distribution worsened and after the death of her stepfather, who had been arrested by military police on suspicions about his business deals and apparently killed himself while in hospital, the intense impact of famine became obvious.

“I saw people dying on the street. I was shocked. If we went near the train station or under the bridge we can easily see those dead bodies everywhere and the smells of decomposing bodies,” she says.

It troubled Lee not just emotionally, but intellectually. All her education and the propaganda told her North Korea was the greatest country on Earth, its leader could change the weather and her homeland was a beacon of light in a world immersed in darkness.

Across the river, there were the lights, twinkling in the Chinese town of Changbai. “I wanted to find out the answer myself by seeing the real life in China with my own eyes and I was very young, naive girl at the time so I was brave. I took the huge risk by crossing the border.”

The frozen river was narrow near her home and could be crossed with ease. She intended a “sneak visit,” she says, to see China, visit her father’s relatives there and return. She did not intend to defect.

But in China she saw her upbringing had been a lie. For the first time, she heard people speaking openly about the North Korean regime. She heard Kim Jong-un called a “bastard” and the country’s starvation blamed on his failed economic policy.

“It was shocking to me; how can you make fun of our Dear Leader like that?” she says. And at first it was hard to accept, she still wanted to respect her country — a common thing, she learned, for those who have just fled North Korea.

She says now she knows how naive she was, about that as well as how hard her journey would be. Walking across the river was perhaps the easiest part.

[National Post]

New York University student in North Korean jail to be set free?

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A South Korean student from New York University who is being detained in North Korea for allegedly entering the country illegally said Tuesday that he hopes to be released soon.

Won Moon Joo, who was presented to the media in North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, also said he was being treated well and asked his family not to worry too much about him.

He acknowledged breaking North Korean laws, but such admissions are often recanted by detainees after they’re set free. Detainees are also often coached ahead of time by North Korean officials as to what to say.

Joo, 21, who has permanent resident status in the United States, was arrested in April for allegedly entering North Korea illegally across the Chinese border. He did not explain why he tried to enter North Korea.

The appearance by Joo on Tuesday came as South Korea announced it had sent back two North Korean fishermen who were rescued from South Korean waters earlier this month.

[AP]

China set to try jailed US missionary near North Korea border

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On July 28, China will begin the trial of a Korean-American missionary, Peter Hahn, arrested last year over a non-profit school he ran near the sensitive border with North Korea, his lawyer said. Supporters of Hahn said he was being targeted because of his Christian faith and because of the small vocational school he ran.

Authorities have dropped three of the four charges against Hahn, 74, probably for lack of evidence, his lawyer, Zhang Peihong, told Reuters, leaving only the least serious charge of counterfeiting receipts. “I wouldn’t call my attitude optimistic,” Zhang said by telephone. “After all Peter has only done good works, so he shouldn’t face any punishment. I do hope the court will act impartially.”

Hahn could receive a maximum of two years in prison, Zhang said, but he expected authorities would simply deport him back to the United States instead.

Hahn, who was formally arrested in December after months under house arrest, will be tried in Yanbian prefecture, near the North Korean border in northeast China, Zhang added. Hahn has diabetes and has suffered strokes, his wife has said.

A sprawling crackdown by the Chinese Government forced hundreds of Christian missionaries out of China, most by having their visas refused, sources told Reuters last August.

Last year, a Canadian Christian couple who worked with North Korean refugees and ran a coffee shop in Dandong on the Chinese border were accused of espionage by the Chinese government.

[Channel NewsAsia]

Andrei Lankov on China and Kim Jong-un’s purges

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The following are excerpts of a RFA interview with Andrei Lankov, a native of the former Soviet Union who lived as an exchange student in North Korea in the 1980s: 

RFA: What has been the extent of [Kim Jong-un’s] purges?
Lankov: He’s been purging not only military officers but also security officials on a scale not seen in North Korea since the late 1960s, when his grandfather Kim Il Sung was consolidating power. … It means that he wants to be taken seriously. And it means that he wants a docile and obedient military.

RFA: We’ve seen reports of some senior officials defecting to South Korea. Do all of these purges indicate instability at the top of the Kim regime?
Lankov: The common assumption at the moment is that the purges point to instability. I’m not so sure about that….But if the current policy continues, it might increase the chances of a military coup.

RFA: Let’s talk about China. One of the officials executed in 2013 was Jang Song Taek, who was Kim’s own uncle. He was accused of being a traitor. This became a source of tensions with China, since the Chinese considered Jang to be a trusted negotiator and go-between. What are some of the other sources of tension?
Lankov: First, China is seriously unhappy about North Korea’s continuing development of nuclear weapons. China absolutely doesn’t want a nuclear North Korea. And some Chinese officials had pinned their hopes on Jang Song Taek as the man who could introduce Chinese-style economic reforms in North Korea. That hasn’t happened. North Korea’s missile launch and nuclear test in 2012 and 2013 were major causes of tension.

RFA: What are some of the other sources of tension?
Lankov: Finally, Xi Jinping may be the first Chinese leader to have only a faint memory of the Korean War. He has no sentimental links with North Korea. And there’s a great deal of mutual dislike on both sides. … many Chinese officials who didn’t grow up with direct experience of the Korean War, such as Xi Jinping himself, consider North Korea to be not a younger brother in arms but a strange, bizarre, irrational, and very stubborn country that creates lots of problems for China.

RFA: Some U.S. experts are disappointed that China hasn’t applied many of the sanctions called for by the U.N. against North Korea following its nuclear test and missile launch. Why does China choose to apply sanctions against only a few North Korean banks or companies but not against many of the others?
Lankov: China has a vested interest in keeping North Korea afloat. China needs a relatively stable North Korea. They don’t want to deal with the fallout from a North Korean collapse, which would likely be a messy situation involving thousands of refugees. They don’t want a North Korea under South Korean control. And North Korea serves for China as a buffer zone against the Americans and South Koreans.

[Excerpts of Radio Free Asia interview]

North Korea names new defense minister

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North Korea has named a new defense minister nearly two months after rumors surfaced that the last man to hold the post was executed.

A press release from North Korean state media, announcing a senior-level military meeting, called Pak Yong Sik the country’s defense minister.

Hyon Yong Chol, the country’s last defense minister, was last mentioned by state media on April 29. It has been reported that Chol was killed by fire from an anti-aircraft gun at a military school in front of hundreds of people in Pyongyang around April 30, the South Korean Intelligence Service (NIS) reportedly told members of its parliament.

Some analysts doubt that Hyon was killed, noting that he appeared on documentaries several times after the reported date of execution.

[CNN]

US to track and stop spread of North Korean WMD

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The nominee to become the highest-ranking military officer in the U.S. armed forces has vowed to make it even more difficult for North Korea to trade weapons of mass destruction with other rogue states.

Speaking at his confirmation hearing to be the next Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford said he would track down North Korean entities spreading weapons-related technology to Iran and Syria.

He added that Washington will strengthen cooperation with related countries to prevent weapons spread via North Korean ships and aircraft.

Dunford also stressed the United States will work closely with South Korea to shore up its defense posture. Analysts say that remark provides yet another hint the U.S. will push Seoul to accept the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system known as Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense or THAAD to ensure the allies can more effectively respond to North Korea’s ballistic missile threats.

[Arirang]

Diplomats state international pressure the key to change in North Korea

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Maintaining international pressure on Pyongyang is crucial in moving North Korea to improve its behavior and to better human rights conditions inside its borders, diplomats from the United States, the Republic of Korea and Japan said at a Heritage Foundation forum this past week.

Speaking at the Washington, D.C., event, Ahn Ho-young, South Korea’s ambassador to the United States, said, “Much of the leverage is held by China” in addition to the three allies and Russia.

The U.N. Commission of Inquiry on human rights in North Korea “shocked the international conscience,” Ahn said, when it released its report on conditions there in February 2014. He added that only 17 of the 108 non-aligned nations in the United Nations supported Pyongyang by not approving the report’s recommendations for inspections, further isolating the regime diplomatically.

U.N. inspectors “need to be given access to North Korea” to understand how dire the situation is,” Sasae said. International concerns about the regime’s actions “are not only limited to nuclear and missile issues.”

[USNI]

To date Kim Jong Un has executed 70 officials

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has executed an estimated 70 officials since taking power in late 2011 in a “reign of terror” that far exceeds the bloodshed of his dictator father’s early rule, South Korean officials said Thursday.

An official from South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, who refused to be named, citing office rules, confirmed that the spy agency believes the younger Kim has executed about 70 officials but wouldn’t reveal how it obtained the information.

Experts say Kim could be using fear to solidify his leadership, but those efforts could fail if he doesn’t improve the country’s shattered economy.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, at a forum in Seoul, compared Kim Jong Un’s 70 executions with those of his late father, Kim Jong Il, who he said executed about 10 officials during his first years in power.

High-level government purges have a long history in North Korea. To strengthen his power, Kim Jong Un’s grandfather, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, removed pro-Soviet and pro-Chinese factions within the senior leadership in the years after the 1950-53 Korean War. The high-ranking victims included Pak Hon Yong, formerly the vice chairman of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea and the country’s foreign minister, who was executed in 1955 after being accused of spying for the United States.

 [AP]

UNICEF: Drought puts North Korean children’s lives at risk

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A severe drought in North Korea is putting the lives of children at risk and many are in serious danger of disease and malnutrition, the U.N. children’s agency said on Wednesday.

UNICEF said in a statement that there had been in a sharp increase in cases of diarrhoea among children in drought-affected areas, as access to safe drinking water and sanitation was severely compromised. “Lack of rain reduces access to clean water and undermines effective hygiene, putting children’s lives at risk,” UNICEF Regional Director Daniel Toole said.

The North says it is experiencing its worst drought in a century, with some of its main farming regions particularly hard hit.

The country’s large number of malnourished children – as many as one in four children according to a 2012 study – heightens concerns about the impact of drought, UNICEF said. “These children are particularly vulnerable, because children who are malnourished have less resilience to water-borne illness and disease,” the agency said.

Experts said that despite the severity of the drought, the North’s fledgling markets and private farm plots should provide a buffer against a famine of the sort that devastated the country in the 1990s.

[Reuters]

Defector lawmaker urges Seoul to stand firm with North Korea

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A North Korean elite-turned-South Korean lawmaker, Rep. Cho Myung-chul of the ruling Saenuri Party, has insisted Seoul must be firm and patient in dealing with Pyongyang, asserting that Seoul must avoid talking for the sake of talking, or giving unilateral concessions.

“The North refuses to apologize for the 2010 Cheonan sinking and the 2010 Yeonpyeongdo Island shelling,” Cho told the Korea Herald, touching on the March 2010 sinking of the South Korean naval ship Cheonan and the North’s November 2010 shelling of a South Korean island. “If we forgive them again and just forget about it, nothing will come of it. How can we just forgive them, when they kill our young men left and right, whenever they want?” the first-term lawmaker said.

Cho also urged Seoul’s National Assembly to pass a human rights bill aiming to improve the situation in the North as soon as possible. The bill has been stalled in the Assembly since 2005. “The North is a country where freedom is absolutely absent,” the lawmaker said. “I know this because I’ve been there, and lived there.”

Cho, 56, is a former professor of economics at Kim Il Sung University, the North’s top school. Cho defected to the South in 1994 while serving as an exchange professor in China, leaving his parents, his brothers, a wife and children in the North. Cho said his frustration with the North’s repressive government led him to come to the South. “I felt that if I, a person from one of the most prestigious families in the North, defected, I would be able to shock the government’s leadership. My defection was a form of protest.”

[The Korea Herald]