The real test is whether Kim Jong Il opens his gulag and lets the political prisoners out and the world’s TV cameras in.
The real test is whether North Koreans are free to communicate with the world, to write what they want, say what they want, read what they want — and whether the world may now communicate freely with them.
The real test is whether North Koreans may freely come and go from their own country without penalty; especially without risking time in brutal labor camps or even the periodic bouts of public execution.
The real test is whether North Koreans are free to pull down the statues and throw out the portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, and stock their homes, if they so choose, with bibles, or Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations,” or Czeslaw Milosz’s excellent work on totalitarian double-think, “The Captive Mind,” or George Orwell’s “1984″ – or, for that matter, South Korean newspapers and stacks of books, reports and testimony available throughout the free world on the corruption, decadence and atrocities of Kim Jong Il’s regime.
The real test is whether private news outlets can be safely established by North Koreans, in North Korea, and freely allowed to compete with the state’s Korean Central News Agency, to offer more usefully informed accounts of what, precisely, was done with Robert Park between his entry into the country on Christmas Day, and Pyongyang’s announcement that he is now deemed ready for release.
While we wait for these developments, here’s a link to the excellent site of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, where you can browse some of the reports on the prison camps, the horrors faced by North Koreans trying to escape, the hunger, the stunted children, and the waste, agony and deprivation inflicted by the policies of the state which has now so “leniently” decided to share with the world the product of its “interview” with Robert Park.
Whatever Robert Park allegedly said in NK or did not say does not matter. It does not matter either whether he was forced to say the things or he voluntarily said what he said. What matters is the fact that he walked into the living hell on earth on his own alone. That was what I waited for ten years I worked on NK human rights issue. If he comes out of NK alive, we have to welcome him back to our bosom. We have to continue to cry with him for the suffering of the North Korean people. Robert was, is, and will be my hero.
We saw a documentary on N. Korea and I truly do not see how they survive. The state of the children was sad. Sad seems like such an inadequate word for what the documentary showed. How can one man do so much damage and be allowed to stay in power is beyond my understanding of humanity.
We live in a world abundant with food, shelter, care.
No one should suffer , Especially the children.
North Korea needs to be opened, whether the leaders like it or not,
It occurs to me that while what the NKs are saying at this point about his condition or opinions cannot be believed, neither can most of what he will probably say when he is released. Whether he is believable or not, any potential he may have ever had in his private life to influence anything in NK is history.
Having high-flown motives does not inherently bestow credibility or effectiveness.
Sounds like a brave man.
Sin-U Nam,
I agree with you that Robert is a hero. His effort to call the world’s attention to the suffering inflicted on the masses by the evil regime is the most selfless act anyone could have thought up.
God Bless you, Robert Park. There is a special place in heaven reserved just for you, I’m sure.
Brave MAN!
I’m inclined to believe that the Norks just made up that bit about him admitting fault.
A controversy erupted in South Korea, as I expected, whether Robert Park should have done what he did or not. Whether he was an idiot or a braveheart. It is sickening to read all these garbage. Robert knew very well what NK is, Kim Jong-il is, and how much the NK people are suffering. That NK is one vast concentration camp and that Kim Jong-il is a coward and butcher. He decided to walk into that living hell on earth in spite of that. The idiots want Robert’s blood. They say Robert should have died in NK to become a martyr. I say Robert resurrected and will do more for the 23 million mondern day slaves than anyone else. Robert, keep your head up high and fight on! I will cry and fight with you all the way.
Even if he did admit fault…we do not know what he was put through, the torture, the threats. Anything to survive, anything..
All of this merely shows that he is human. he should be welcomed back as a brave man that tried to help the desperate. He will have stories to tell..
Where is he????? Who is working on this ????
Please follow up on this with some new investigation. It appeared to me that Mr. Park may had some mental health issues going into this fiasco and upon his release I can only conclude that the poor man’s mental health is now much worse. It appears to me that the NKs cracked him quickly like a soft nut and realized he was mentally ill, thus his quick release. I hope that hose around him who have been professing their love for him in the local media are up to the task of helping this man, but I fear he will be exploited by even them.