The Questions that Dare Not Be Asked

Suzanne Scholte the President for the North Korea Freedom Coalition has a list of important questions that should be answered before the Second Inter-Korean Summit proceeds:

• Who will represent the North Korean people?

• Will South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun ask for the political prison camps to be closed?

• Will Roh ask for the return of the South Korean abductees and prisoners of war as well as the abductees from other nations?

• Will Roh ask for North Koreans to be granted freedom of movement and travel so they can avoid starving to death?

• Will Roh ask Kim to stop torturing, imprisoning and executing the refugees who are repatriated from China because they were simply trying to feed their families?

We all know the Korean government’s answers to these questions, pretend they don’t exist. 

One of the most ironic things about the whole Taliban hostage crisis is that the Korean government and public wants the hostages returned to Korea at all costs, but the fact that Kim Jong-il has hundreds of South Korean hostages that were kidnapped from South Korea; no one cares about.  Where is the endless news coverage of the crying families of the South Korean citizens kidnapped by Kim Jong-il?  Why are 66 year old grandmas having to spearhead rescue operations to free their kidnapped husbands from North Korea, while the missionaries kidnapped by the Taliban have the entire Korean government working towards their release?  All questions that the Korean government would prefer to pretend don’t exist.

There is more than just the human rights problems with this summit in regards to South Korean citizens, the human rights conditions in North Korea are the worst in the world and the South Korean government could care less about those conditions as well.  They have even been using the atrocious human rights conditions to their advantage with the opening of the Kaesong Industrial Complex Slave Labor Camp. 

I credit Ms. Scholte for definitely not mincing words about the nature of this summit and calling it for what it is:

“Unless [South Korean president] Roh is planning on raising these issues and/or arresting Kim Jong-il for crimes against humanity, then this summit will simply allow Kim Jong-il to continue to interfere in South Korea’s elections, so that he can stay in power and continue to build nuclear weapons, produce massive amounts of drugs to poison the youth in free nations, counterfeit US dollars and work aggressively to destroy South Korea’s democracy, which is already weakened terribly by Roh’s administration,” Scholte told The Christian Post.

However, President Roh has much more important things to worry about than human rights of North Koreans and rescuing kidnapped South Korean citizens, like trying to convince Kim Jong-il to let him ride the train that he recently paid the North Koreans $80 million bucks to do one test ride.  When that test ride happened, I thought that would be the world’s most expensive train ride, but now it appears that will be eclipsed by the fare Kim Jong-il will demand for a train ride to Pyongyang.  Does anyone else find it a bit pathetic the Roh has to beg Kim Jong-il to let him use a train that South Korean tax payers have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in? 

It really is amazing the divergence from reality one must take in order to keep the Myth of Progress alive.