CPAC/KCPAC 2021 “Breakout Session” Panel —
“Strangling Democracy and Threatening the United States:
Human Rights Violations and Religious Persecution by the
Leftist Moon Administration of South Korea”
Panelists:
Park Sang Hak, North Korean defector and human rights activist seeking to free North Korea, whose activities seeking to aid oppressed North Koreans are being obstructed by South Korea’s Moon administration
Park Jung Oh, North Korean defector and human rights activist who is the brother of Park
Sang Hak
Lee Hyun Seung (Arthur), North Korean defector and Regional Director of the One Korea Network
Grant Newsham (moderator), author of Fraud in the South Korea April 15, 2020 election:
It probably did happen, and is a big deal for the United States
Center for Security Policy, Asia security analyst
President of KCPAC
Rep. Kat Cammack, Republican Congresswoman from 3rd district of Florida
Dan Schneider (introductory remarks), President of American Conservative Union
This panel focused on the human rights violations and religious persecution being perpetrated by the administration of South Korea’s leftist President Moon Jae In, with a particular emphasis on attempts to silence North Korean defectors advocating for North Korea human rights.
In introducing this breakout session panel, Mr. Schneider noted that KCPAC is a partner organization of CPAC and that the two had held CPAC events in South Korea. Noting that the Korean peninsula is a very important strategic location and that South Korea is a key American ally, he remarked that the U.S.-South Korea relationship was not in good shape today, due to the leftist Moon administrations leaning towards the Chinese Communist Party and away from the U.S. He further stressed the importance of South Korea remaining a free nation where people have their right of free expression upheld.
Mr. Newsham made the point that whereas Americans have considered South Korea to be a bastion of democracy and American-style freedom, in recent years, tragically, that
freedom has been restricted and in some respects even strangled by the Moon administration. These restrictions have negatively impacted freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and to the right to freely choose one’s representatives in a fair election. An example of such suppression of freedom by the Moon administration, he said, was the recent anti-leaflet law, which criminalized the launching of balloons carrying information and other materials into North Korea.
Park Sang Hak described his background and escape from North Korea, and how some members of his extended family were tortured and executed in the North after his family had fled, which motivated him to dedicate his life to opposing the North Korean regime. To this end, he said, he established in South Korea the organization Fighters for A Free North Korea, which has been sending messages of truth and information about the outside world to the people in North Korea by means of balloons.
Park Jung Oh explained that inspired by his brother Sang Hak, he had established an after school program for the children of North Korean defectors, and has also been sending information and other items into North Korea using bottles launched in the sea.
Regarding the current South Korean government’s response to this activism, Park Sang Hak stated that the Moon administration has persecuted him and thereby brought his activities to a complete stop. He added that Moon has sarcastically been referred to as a “spokesman” for North Korea, and that Moon has essentially been serving his “boss” Kim Jong Un, which has led Moon to lash out very forcefully against any efforts by human rights activists to send information into the North. He explained that the North Korean regime was so enraged by the sending of outside information into the North, that Kim Jong Un’s sister demanded the South Korean government put a stop to it, and even blew up a South Korean liaison office located in the North. Since the North Koreans threatened to “chase him to the ends of the earth” in order to kill him, he had to be protected by about 20 police officers stationed at his home. It was shocking, he said, that not only Kim Jong Un was targeting him, but that Moon, Jae In was also directly persecuting him. In addition, he pointed out that Moon’s party in South Korea’s National Assembly passed the anti-leaflet law upon the demand of Kim Jong Un’s sister, as if they were taking orders from her, and that this law would subject those found guilty of sending information into the North to up to three years in jail and a fine of up to US$ 30,000.
Pursuant to his persecution by the Moon administration, Park Sang Hak described how government prosecutors and police raided and searched his home and office as well as the home of his brother. He noted that the police had even established a special task force to investigate and harass not only him and his fellow human rights activists, but also those who had been financially supporting him. He added that Kim Jong Un wants to kill him and that Moon Jae In wants to send him to jail.
Mr. Lee explained that although after fleeing the North he initially had high expectations that South Korea and the U.S. would work together to bring freedom North Korea, he was later deeply frustrated by the miscalculations of those in South Korea and the U.S. who believe that Kim Jong Un would give up his nuclear weapons in exchange for certain concessions. He stressed that North Korea would never agree to denuclearize, and that the appeasement of the North, such as the massive amounts of funds sent by the South was pointless, since such aid was not used to benefit the North’s people, but only to buttress the North’s regime. He further stated that although Moon was a former human rights lawyer, he has not been speaking out against the North’s human rights abuses. The human rights violations by the North would only cease if and when the North opens up to the world and reforms itself, but that would not happen because the ruling Kim family has been committing crimes against humanity for over 70 years. The Moon administration’s appeasement policies towards the North, he reiterated, have only benefited the North Korean regime, not the North’s people.
Rep. Cammack, from a U.S. perspective, commented that as one who serves on the Homeland Security Committee of Congress, she was aware that North Korea was a master of “cancel culture,” since it would literally cancel any and all opponents, and that this should be a situation of great concern to the entire world in terms of human rights. For political, economic, cultural and historical reasons, she said, the relationship between the U.S. and South Korea has never been more important than now, and that there was an unbreakable bond between the two nations. She also remarked that the American left and the Biden administration seek to downplay their ties to Communist China, and condemned the Chinese Communist Party’s gross violation of human rights. She further pointed out that the North’s ruling Kim dynasty abuses human rights in order to remain in power, and that such rights violations are truly grotesque. The U.S. government, she emphasized, must use its influence to exert more pressure, by means such as economic sanctions, against those regimes committing horrible crimes against their own people. She concluded that conservatives in Congress and across the country must also pressure the Biden administration to hold China and North Korea accountable for their rights violations, adding that the U.S. must counter Chinese influence in the region, but that she doubted the Biden administration would adequately pursue such a course due to a certain degree of empathy for China.
Making reference to the other crackdowns on rights which the Moon administration has carried out in South Korea, Mr. Newsham mentioned libel laws and tax audits being used to intimidate and silence critics, and the targeting of the free press by Moon and his allies. He added that the Moon administration seems to have also been specifically targeting evangelical Christian churches for harassment, as exemplified by the jailing of Pastor Jeon, Kwang Hoon.
Mr. Lee noted that Pastor Jeon, the leader of the Christian Council of Korea, a strong supporter of the U.S.-South Korea alliance, and an outspoken critic of the Moon administration’s policies, was indicted and jailed for having told a rally that citizens should not vote for Moon’s leftist party, and that Moon was a spy seeking to communize South Korea, which statements should not be a crime in a democratic country which respects freedom of expression. This was just one example, Lee said, of the Moon government attempting to silence the voices of its critics, and he noted that this reminded him of China and North Korea.
Mr. Newsham commented that he had an opportunity to interview Pastor Jeon, and that pressure was being exerted not only on Jeon, but also on other evangelical churches, because the Moon administration considers them to be opponents and such churches are among the few remaining societal institutions which Moon and his allies have not yet been able to dominate and intimidate.
Regarding the plans of the U.S. Congress and specifically the Tom Lantos Commission to hold hearings on the anti-leaflet law and more generally the troubling human rights situation under Moon in South Korea, Park, Sang Hak observed that this was a necessary and very important step, he thanked the Lantos Commission for its willingness to hold such hearings, and he also expressed his appreciation in particular to Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey for playing a leading role in this effort. Park further noted that the Moon administration has been sending officials to Washington, D.C. in an attempt to prevent these hearings from being held by intensively lobbying against it. Park revealed that he is receiving text messages from Korea from people attempting to convince him to return and not to participate in the Commission hearings. In conclusion, he directly appealed to Rep. Cammack to lend her support to the planned hearings of the Commission, and Rep. Cammack then immediately agreed to do so.
Park Jung Oh said that if he had been invited to testify before the Commission he would have gladly agreed to do so, but that he had to return to Korea very soon since he was involved in some court cases involving his activism. He disclosed that South Korean officials have been closely monitoring his activities during his stay in the U.S.
Mr. Newsham concluded by emphasizing that the U.S.-South Korea alliance is so important that it is essential to bring attention to these types of problems.
