My name is Kyung B. Lee. As the representative of the Council for Human Rights in North Korea, an independent, non-profit, non-partisan organization located in Toronto, I express my sincere thanks to the members of the Subcommittee on International Human Rights for allowing me the opportunity to present this formal petition. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and honourable members of the committee.
Today and the day before yesterday, Dr. Vollertsen and Mrs. Kim gave testimony on the horrendous situation that they experienced and that I witnessed at first hand in North Korea: the “worst of the worst”, as Washington-based Freedom House described it. Simply put, the so-called Democratic People's Republic of Korea is a failed and failing state, in that it is not only unable but also unwilling to feed and protect its own people.
It is also a rogue state, in that internally it is perpetrating crimes against its own people and externally is engaging in terrorism and terrorism-sponsored activities, committing acts of aggression, and developing weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, threatening regional and world peace.
In other words, North Korea is no longer a state in terms of morality and human security; it has lost statehood. It is still a state, though, militarily and ideologically, with its “military first” policy and chuche ideology.
In dealing with North Korean issues, the international community is more concerned about the security issue than the human rights issue. The human rights issue is rather overshadowed, I would say, by the security issue. Rightly so, perhaps, because we tend to take care of our own national or regional security first, before we think of the human security of others.
History tells us that nations that respect the rights of their citizens are less likely to turn to belligerence as a first resort, and vice versa. As the former special envoy for human rights in North Korea under the Bush administration, Jay Lefkowitz, said: with Hitler, Stalin, and others, “the march of tyranny at home was an antecedent to international aggression”.
On the other hand, no two democracies that value freedom and human rights have ever gone to war with each other. The relationship between Canada and the United States is a good example, I think. We Canadians don't feel threatened by the United States, our neighbour, which has perhaps hundreds or thousands of weapons of mass destruction, because the two countries share the same values--that is, freedom, human rights, and democracy.
In other words--and I will quote Lefkowitz again--“Focusing on human rights goes far beyond being a moral imperative”. He says it is a practical means to deal with the security issue as well.
I understand that our Canada has done a lot for human rights in North Korea, multilaterally and bilaterally, such as the co-sponsoring of the UN resolution, participation in the universal periodic review, and raising the issue at the ambassadorial levels.
Today I want to petition, based on the testimonies made, that further studies be made, if necessary, on behalf of the Korean Canadian community in Toronto that Canada do more. Specifically, I want to petition the subcommittee to move a parliamentary resolution on the human rights situation of North Koreans. I think Canada has a moral obligation to do so as an international leader in human rights and as a people's defender of freedom, human rights, democracy, and the rule of law at home and abroad.
Some 60 years ago Canada volunteered in the Korean War in order to defend the same values. The mission isn't finished just yet, in the sense that the northern part of the Korean Peninsula is still not free, not democratized.
North Korea usually snubs a UN resolution, calling it a U.S.-led political plot to topple the so-called highly respected style of our socialist system. Under the circumstances, a Canadian resolution, if passed by the Parliament of Canada, which has no direct military interest in the Korean Peninsula, would have a great impact on the international community and would serve as a huge pressure on the North Korean regime.
As to the contents of such a resolution, we have for reference resolutions the UN Generally Assembly adopted; recommendations Canada urged at the universal periodic review; recommendations the former UN special rapporteur advised; recommendations that the International Parliamentarians' Coalition for North Korean Refugees and Human Rights adopted; three private members' motions moved by Mr. Barry Devolin, the Honourable Judy Sgro, and Mr. Peter Julian; two resolutions our council adopted at the North Korean human rights forum two years ago; and our petition to Parliament for the dismantlement of North Korean gulags. I hope that all of these resolutions, recommendations, and petitions are reflected and incorporated into the parliamentary resolution, hopefully to be moved by this subcommittee.
We, the Council for Human Rights in North Korea, would be very pleased to contribute to the drafting of such a resolution, if invited, by making a written submission.
[Witness speaks in Korean]
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and honourable members of the committee.