In June of 2012, at a café in Seoul, leftist National Assemblywoman Lim, Su-kyung spotted North Korean defector Joseph Baek, and proceeded to denounce him as a “traitor” for having fled the North. Lim is a symbolic figure, having illegally visited North Korea to participate in the communist “World Festival of Youth and Students” in July of 1989. Lim’s visit to the North was arranged by Lim, Jong-seok (no relation), who was a top leader of a militant pro-North Korean and stridently anti-American student group. After Moon, Jae-in became president, he appointed Lim, Jeong-seok as his chief of staff.
In June of 2012, at a café in Seoul, leftist National Assemblywoman Lim, Su-kyung spotted North Korean defector Joseph Baek, and proceeded to denounce him as a “traitor” for having fled the North. Lim is a symbolic figure, having illegally visited North Korea to participate in the communist “World Festival of Youth and Students” in July of 1989. Lim’s visit to the North was arranged by Lim, Jong-seok (no relation), who was a top leader of a militant pro-North Korean and stridently anti-American student group. After Moon, Jae-in became president, he appointed Lim, Jeong-seok as his chief of staff.
Whom did the North Korean defector Baek betray? He betrayed neither the citizens of South Korea, nor the unfortunate subjects of the North Korean regime. It was only a “betrayal” of the North Korean dictatorship. Lim, Soo-kyung viewed North Korean defectors from the perspective of the North Korean regime. Those who are sympathetic to the North’s regime, including President Moon, sometimes reveal their subconscious mindsets. In public, pro-North figures usually try to conceal such feelings, and cleverly mask their true natures. Nevertheless, their intentions are clearly reflected in their hostile policies toward North Korean defectors, The administration of President Roh, Moo-hyun abstained from voting on almost all of the United Nations’ resolutions condemning North Korea’s human rights abuses which were submitted between 2003 and 2007. While Moon, Jae-in was serving as President Roh’s chief of staff in 2007, the administration decided to abstain from voting on the United Nations General Assembly resolution on the human rights situation in North Korea, after first having reportedly consulted with the North to confirm its wishes.
After the U.S. Congress passed the North Korean Human Rights Act in 2004, similar legislation was proposed in South Korea’s National Assembly the following year, but the law could not be passed for eleven years, having been blocked by the stubborn opposition of left-wing political parties. Although it was ultimately enacted in March of 2016, its implementation has been stymied by the Moon administration. Moon sabotaged the establishment of the North Korea Human Rights Foundation, which the legislation had provided for, and blocked the appointment of an ambassador for North Korean human rights issues.
There are many examples of the Moon administration having harassed and otherwise mistreated North Korean defectors and their civic groups in order to curry favor with the Pyongyang regime. First, and most outrageously, Moon’s government forcibly returned to the North two North Korean fishermen who had been found by the South Korean Navy while crossing the Northern Limit Line in the East Sea. Although the fishermen had made clear their intention to seek asylum in the South in written requests, the Moon government ignored their pleas, and instead secretly returned them to the North on November 7, 2019, through the Joint Security Area of Panmunjom. Moon repatriated them in response to allegations by North Korean authorities that the two men were murder suspects. The two fishermen were deprived of the right to defend themselves under South Korean law, and it was reported that when their blindfolds were removed as they were handed over to North Korean soldiers, the two men fainted on the spot as they realized they were being returned against their will. This forcible repatriation violated Article 3 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, as there were substantial grounds to believe that the would-be defectors would be tortured in the North, which regards those who flee as serious criminals. There have other similar cases in which the leftist Moon administration repatriated North Korean defectors without due process of law.
The Ministry of Unification under Moon excluded Kim, Myung-sung, a North Korean defector-turned-journalist at the Chosun Ilbo newspaper, from the press pool sent to cover the ministerial talks with North Korea at Panmunjom in October of 2018. South Korean police have also prevented North Korean defector groups, such as Fighters for a Free North Korea led by Park, Sang-hak, from sending balloons carrying information about life in the free world into North Korea.
North Korean defector Han, Sung-ok and her young son starved to death, and their bodies were discovered months later, on July 31, 2019. They had escaped from the starvation and oppression in the North to South Korea, an advanced welfare society. Their deaths were a tragedy caused by the Moon administration’s negligence. As Moon’s government fostered an atmosphere of neglect and harassment toward North Korean defectors, volunteers working to promote the well-being of defectors have been demoralized.
Moon’s administration has also imposed financial pressure and hardships on North Korean defector groups. Among the approximately 80 North Korean defector groups in the South, around 20 are engaged in activities promoting North Korean human rights and sending messages of hope and freedom into the North. It is extremely difficult for them to sustain their activities without outside financial assistance, since many defectors suffer from financial insecurity. However, the current government has made it more difficult for businesses to provide essential assistance to such groups. There is a widely held perception that companies which donate funds to North Korean defector groups have been or will be subject to tax investigations of a subtly retaliatory nature. Therefore, many businesspersons are naturally reluctant to assist such groups. These discriminatory circumstances have frustrated the fundraising efforts of defectors, This predicament leaves North Korean defector groups with no other alternative but to rely on assistance from the government. However, the Moon administration has been indirectly and directly pressuring such groups to mute their criticism of the North Korean dictatorship, by such drastic measures as cutting off or drastically reducing funding they receive from government agencies.
In December of 2017, the National Police Agency cut approximately US$ 80,000. in funding to the Soong-ui Association, the first group ever established by North Korean defectors in South Korea. The National Intelligence Service also cut its annual funding of approximately US$ 130,000. to an association of North Korean defectors led by Choi, Joo-hwa, a former colonel in the North Korean military. The Defense Security Command no longer provides annual financial assistance of US$ 40,000. to an advisory group, the Unification Research Institute, established by former North Korean soldiers. Another North Korean defector group comprised of former soldiers, the North Korean People’s Liberation Front, led by Choi, Jung-hoon, is also suffering financially because the Ministry of National Defense has terminated the group’s research project on the North Korean military. Indeed, the financial situations of North Korean defector groups have deteriorated to the point that they are no longer able to pay staff or rent office space. Such groups have therefore been compelled to substantially reduce their activities.
The information and experience provided by North Korean defectors are crucial human resources which allow the South Korean government to collect accurate and timely information about the North. It seems as if the Moon administration has ceased attempts to obtain important information from such defectors, apparently to avoid any offense to the North Korean dictatorship.
In conclusion, the left-wing Moon government does not really care about North Korean human rights or supporting North Korean defectors. For Moon, the most important things are the concerns and interests of the North Korean regime.
Although boasting of his past as a human rights lawyer, Moon’s true face is revealed by the fact that he has yet to address the crucial issue of North Korean human rights with Kim, Jong-un.
