해외동포 및 한국의 종북마녀사냥에 대해 관심 있으신 단체와 인사들께 알려 주시기를. A Letter of Appeal to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights We, Hwang Sun and Shin Eun-mi, are just two of many Korean people who have been longing for the unification of Korea, and we have visited North Korea several times as a South Korean citizen and a Korean-American living in the U.S., respectively. As the real situation in North Korea is not well known, and as most of the media reports and rumors concerning North Korea have been seriously distorted, we have tried to introduce what North Korea is really like and to correct those distorted reports by discussing what we have seen in North Korea through many lectures and publications in South Korea. The motivation for our efforts and activities is that we strongly believe that if many people know what is really going on in North Korea, this will be helpful in realizing peace on the Korean Peninsula and the unification of the two Koreas. As a part of these efforts, we together have been holding a talk show about the unification of Korea here in South Korea since November, 2014. However, some of the South Korean broadcasting stations and media are groundlessly denouncing our activities. They describe us as if we were blindly praising North Korea because we secretly received orders from the North, by fabricating some comments that we did not mention in our talk show. The conservative broadcasting stations and newspapers are wrongly assaulting us, even insisting that those facts that we reported about North Korea, for example, North Koreas beer is delicious, or, North Korea has a policy to help mothers who have triplets, are all lies. Even worse, the South Korean government and the law enforcement authorities are also threatening us, saying that they will launch an investigation and even consider banning Shin Eun-mis entry into the South. In addition, false and distorted reports about ourselves and the talk show are going far beyond what we can accept, causing us extreme suffering. Our neighbors are avoiding us, thinking that we might be some kind of North Korean spies, and even some of our family members, relatives and friends are accusing us, saying that they do not want to contact us or meet us anymore. Such bullying to exclude us from society is seriously hurting the organizer and the audience of the talk show, as well as all of the Korean people who have been longing for the unification of Korea. As you well know, South Korea is still under the National Security Law, which is a notorious law to punish the South Korean people who praise any aspect of North Korea, or who agree with North Korea in any way. The UNCHR is already well aware of what the problems are in the National Security Law of South Korea, as the law deprives South Koreans of their right to the freedom of expression, which is a universal right. The Korean people, if they are expressing what they see, look at and feel about the North, are considered to be admiring North Korea blindly, and are punished with the excuse of ignoring the reality of the division of Korea. Such a witch hunt that condemns unification activists and all the people who desire the unification of Korea as blind North Korean sympathizers has prevailed in South Korea over the last few years. If someone criticizes the current Korean government and talks about reconciliation and peace between the two Koreas, they will be branded as a pro-North Korea sympathizer by the conservative broadcasting stations and the media channels, and will be socially excluded. Also, the government pursues relentless legal action against them. The government also violates its citizens privacy by continuously monitoring personal e-mails, telephone calls, and messenger records without civil consent. It seems as if the Korean people today are living under the same conditions as during the military dictatorship of South Korea in the past, or under the Nazi Party of Germany during the Second World War. Under these circumstances, many Korean citizens cannot openly express what they really want and are censored by others or censor themselves out of fear. We are now falling victims to an unrighteous regime. According to Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “No one shall be subjected to attacks upon his honor and reputation. However, we have been under heavy attack only because we talk about what we saw, listened to and felt in the North. Again, Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights specifies that everyone has the right to the freedom of opinion and expression, and this right includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media, and regardless of frontiers. Likewise, Provision 2 of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights also states, Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice. The Republic of Korea adopted these international covenants on human rights on July 10, 1990. However, our right to the freedom of expression has obviously been violated. The quote, Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly, is from the letter by Martin Luther King, from his time in the Birmingham jail. We do not believe that what we are suffering now will end with us, but also affect others. All the citizens living in South Korea cannot advocate reconciliation and peace between the two Koreas or enjoy the right to the freedom of expression out of fear, due to the witch hunt against so-called North Korean sympathizers that has been conducted across South Korea by some conservative broadcasting stations and media channels under the National Security Law. What we are hoping for is not much: the guarantee that all people will have the right to express what they see, listen to and feel freely; not to be attacked by false and distorted reports; and not to be isolated from their society by the irrational witch hunt against people who have longed for the unification of Korea. We have been lonely, fighting to seek our universal right to the freedom of expression and to advocate the peace and unification of Korea. We desperately ask that the United Nations Commission on Human Rights take more interest in the human rights issues of South Korea, and help us.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 12:46:37 +0000
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