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Anti-NK station and Nat`l Security Law

Posted January. 24, 2011 08:13,   

한국어

Free North Korea Radio, a South Korea-based shortwave station targeting North Koreans, saw its annual financial support of 400,000 to 500,000 U.S. dollars from the U.S. government more than halved last year, a first since the station`s foundation in 2004, due to accounting errors. Mainly led by North Korean defectors, the station lets North Koreans know what is happening in both South Korea and the world by renting foreign shortwave frequencies with U.S. funds. The broadcaster also breaks news about the isolated communist country to South Koreans. If financial support decreases, such activities cannot continue.

The ultimate solution to problems on the Korean Peninsula is the democratization of North Korea. To free 24 million North Koreans suffering from terror and hunger under the hereditary dictatorship of Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un, South Koreans must help their brethren in the North know about world affairs and their situation. East Germans were allowed to watch West German TV programs before reunification, but North Koreans are prohibited from using all means of communications, such as TV, radio, the Internet and mobile phones, that allow them information on the outside world. Equally important is to inform the world of how North Koreans are suffering human right abuses and hunger. In this sense, the South Korean government must be ashamed that four South Korea-based broadcasters targeting the North, including Free North Korea Radio, are operating on foreign funds and frequencies.

Worse, left-leaning figures in South Korea turn a blind eye to the suffering of North Koreans when they visit the Stalinist country and serve as the North`s mouthpiece after returning home. Senior judge Kim Yong-dae has found guilty the Rev. Han Sang-ryol, adviser to the left-leaning People’s Solidarity for Social Progress, and Han Chung-mok, co-chairman of the leftist civic group. The former was indicted for making an unauthorized trip to North Korea in June last year and the latter for organizing protests to remove a Gen. George MacArthur statue at Incheon Freedom Park. “Criticizing only South Korea while ignoring the suffering of North Koreans clearly threatens the very existence and safety of South Korea,” Kim said in his ruling, adding, “The two Koreas confront each other militarily and the National Security Law in South Korea remains in effect. Given this, freedom of thought and expression should be allowed within certain limits.”

Friday marked the 43rd anniversary of North Korea`s botched attempt in 1968 to assassinate then South Korean President Park Chung-hee. Kim Shin-jo, the lone North Korean commando arrested alive at the time, joined a trip to explore the assassination attempt organized by the South Korean Army and vividly told young South Korean troops of the situation at the time. He said, “North Korean leaders talk about reconciliation and peace in public, but behind the scenes, they continuously seek to communize South Korea,” adding, “We shouldn`t believe North Korea’s peace offensive.” Pyongyang`s nuclear weapons development, sinking of the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan, and shelling of Yeonpyeong Island bear out Kim Shin-jo’s comments.