A documentary on N. K. defector boy impresses Americans

A 7-year-old North Korean boy’s escape from North Korea was shown on the screen as the lights were turned off at a seminar room of the Korea Economic Institute (KEI) in downtown Washington D.C. on Friday afternoon. After crossing the border between North Korea and China and landing on the land of freedom, the boy whose name is Shin-hyeok vomited in a car that he got into for the first time. He did so as if he was vomiting his terrible nightmares in North Korea.

Channel A`s “Special Report: The Defectors from North Korea,” which won the top prize at the 47th annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival in April this year, was shown on the screen and well received. Around 60 South Korean and American audiences attended a seminar titled, “The North Korea Human Rights Act: A Decade Later,” and their eyes were glued to the screen while having sandwiches for lunch.

The American audiences said they were impressed. KEI Vice President Mark Tokola, a retired U.S. diplomat, said, “I was able to watch and listen to what North Korean defectors go through. I hope many more people could watch this documentary film.” Roberta Cohen, co-chair of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (KRNK), said, “It was very impressive to see North Koreans trying to escape in tough conditions.”

The seminar co-hosted by HRNK and KEI was a venue for reviewing human rights conditions in North Korea for a decade since the legislation of the North Korea Human Rights Act by U.S. Congress in 2004 and discussing ideas for improvement.

“I hope the U.S. could actively rescue North Korean orphans, accept North Korean defectors or pressure China’s economy to stop Beijing from sending North Koreans back to North Korea,” said Cho Jin-hye, president of North Koreans in the U.S.A. and a presenter in the seminar. “If the U.S. makes up its mind, it can easily make North Korea collapse.” She also said, “Even though it is widely known that three million North Koreans starved and were beaten to death, it is sad that how long we monitor them and wait and do nothing.” After being sent back to the North four times while crossing the Chinese border with North Korea for food in the mid-1990s, Cho successfully defect from North Korea in 2006 and landed on the U.S. soil.

“We should continue raising North Korea’s human rights issues and fight for them,” Robert King, U.S. envoy on North Korean human rights issues, said in keynote speech. He also said, “North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong’s attendance in the U.N. General Assembly was evidence that Pyongyang feels uneasy about the movement of the international community that tries to stress its human rights issue, and shows that we are winning the fight.”