North Korea defector to world: Look beyond 'beatings, camps.'

[elleng]

A North Korean defector whose memoir describes his meeting with Kim Jong Il says the world's intense focus on the regime's human rights record fails to see the full scope of its inhumanity to its people.

Jang Jin-sung, who says he tossed away his once-cherished lapel pin of Kim during a dramatic escape from the country, says the international community should look beyond the surface as it tries to hold new leader Kim Jong Un accountable.

Jang's memoir "Dear Leader" came out in English last spring, just as a groundbreaking U.N. commission of inquiry on North Korea turned the world's attention to practices like forced abortions, mass starvation and a system of harsh prison camps holding up to 120,000 people.

"It's like it only counts as a human rights problem if there are literal beatings, camps," Jang said in an interview this week in New York. "But the entire system is brutal and inhumane. The way the surveillance is run ... The physical aspect is just one side of the experience."

In a letter to Kim, the commission of inquiry even warned that he could be held accountable. The U.N. General Assembly late last year approved a resolution urging that North Korea's human rights situation be referred to the International Criminal Court.

North Korea tried to stop the momentum by raising the possibility of allowing a U.N. human rights visit to the country, but moments after it became clear that the resolution had strong support, its diplomats threatened another nuclear test.

Now Pyongyang has shifted its approach. After another prominent defector last month said he had changed important parts of his life story, North Korea declared that anything based on Shin Dong-hyuk's testimony could not be trusted. This week, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong wrote to the U.N. secretary-general saying the U.N. resolution has "collapsed" and is illegal.

Human rights groups and the head of the commission of inquiry, retired Australian judge Michael Kirby, say the report and ensuing resolution are based on the testimony of scores of North Korean defectors and remain solid.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/294b4f6334104774a0e7b55c209b1c85/north-korea-defector-world-look-beyond-beatings-camps

[davidpdx]

1. Thank you for posting this

I need to get that human rights group going so we can post articles like this in it. So very few people are aware of or care about the plight of North Korean refugees. It is great that we have a few who do.

[Jefferson23]

2. They need to be hauled to the ICC..at the very least the world sees a clearer picture for all

the abused and we're talking about an entire nation..for the most part. K&R