|
The Korean Federation of University Student Councils and a group called Solidarity for Reunification are to dispatch a contingent to Brussels to denounce a conference on North Korean Human Rights to be held there next week. During the period, the 90 members plan to hold marches, candle vigils and photo exhibitions all around the Belgian capital. The cost for each participant is a reported W1.3 million (US$1,300). The aim, a statement on the group¡¯s website says, ¡°is to convey to Europeans our nation's will for peace on the Korean Peninsula and denounce hegemonic U.S. policies."
The U.S. takes advantage of the human rights question in North Korea to pursue its hegemony, they reason, and the Europeans need them to tell them so. But it is these activists who are ignorant of what is happening in the international community. The resolution condemning North Korea¡¯s human rights abuses adopted by the UN General Assembly in December was sponsored by the EU. Seven European countries, led by Germany, the U.K. and Denmark, have granted asylum to 280 North Korean refugees since the late 1990s, and it is they who have been pressuring America to put its money where its mouth is.
Besides, it is absurd to claim that any discussion of North Korea¡¯s egregious human rights abuses threatens peace on the Korean Peninsula. The activists can¡¯t have it both ways. When Pyongyang¡¯s nuclear ambitions are mentioned, they say the North is powerless to defend itself. If human rights are mentioned, they say, ¡°Shhh, do you want to provoke a war?¡± There is no reason Europeans should comprehend the peculiar fluidity of North Korea¡¯s defensive capabilities any better than other Koreans.
It would be interesting to discover whether this total waste of W1.3 million a head in foreign currency is coming out of the individuals¡¯ pockets.
|
