In
Korea as in the West, there is hesitation on how much we should see the
negative along with the positive. Seeing the positive is healthy, they
say, and the negative not so much. Those who see "the fly in the
ointment" are not always seen affectionately, and yet it is necessary at
times to see what is there even if it may hurt. In Korea, there are
many who want to help the North because they are our brothers and
sisters. But at times those with authority make this difficult. The
truth should not be overlooked, however, regardless of troubling
circumstances, even if it may not be good for our public and private
'health'.
Writing
a series of articles in the Catholic Times on the state of human rights
up North, the head of the Database Center of North Korean Human Rights
reports on the three churches in the North: Protestant, Russian
Orthodox and Catholic. The Buddhists have a temple that speaks to their
cultural history in Korea. The churches, he says, were built by and run
by the government, and they decide who may attend. There are no priests
or sisters in the North. There have always been doubts about the
sincerity of the Christians attending these Churches, he makes clear.
Refugees
who have left the North almost all say there is no religious freedom
there. Most say you are punished for practicing your faith when you are
found out. He has in his database 1,152 incidents of religious
persecution, involving 700 people. Many have been publicly executed, and
large numbers are considered political prisoners and kept in
concentration camps, punished with a life of hard labor.
He
asks what is the reason the government continues to say there is
religious freedom in the North and yet severely punishes those want to
practice their faith? The center has for ten years documented the human
rights violations of the North, and can document instances of
government deception.
The
silence of the South concerning the cruel treatment of religious
believers in the North is hard for the columnist to understand; this
includes, he says, religious believers in the South. Though they pray
for them and for an improved religious climate, and support humanitarian
aid to the North, religious believers here, he regretfully notes, have
made no concrete effort to support ending the persecution of religion
and the cruel treatment of prisoners in the North, not to mention
raising their voices in protest over those who have died as martyrs
fighting for religious liberty in the North.
Those
suffering because of religious persecution in the North, and those who
are in the concentration camps as political prisoners, are waiting for
someone to help them. Not only the religious people but all who are
threatened with death are waiting for deliverance, he said. He wants the
whole world to know the situation up North, so that something can be
done about it.
Each
year the Center publishes a White Paper. The first White Paper was
sponsored by the Bishops Committee for the Reconciliation of the Korean
People. He knows they are not able to free those who are suffering in
the North, but they are able to make known to the world the plight of
those who are suffering by publicizing the atrocities committed. This is
the hope that he has, and he wants the rest of us to participate.
In
the global village we live in, we often see this kind of dilemma. In
Korea, the same divisions exist. There are those who do not want to
alienate the North by continuing to point out what they are doing,
because it will have a negative effect on inter-Korean relations. Though
an undeniable fact, what is to be done when others want to make the
situation known, hoping it will help relieve the suffering up North?
Because both approaches hold out the promise of finally achieving the
stated goal, it's difficult to persuade adherents of either approach to
support the others position and relinquish their own.
