Removal of dictatorships

The late Moammar Gadhafi, the iron-fist ruler of Libya for 42 years, is now history after a miserable death. The pro-democracy revolution in the Middle East, which began in Tunisia in December last year, swept through Egypt and toppled Gadhafi`s government and continues to spread like wild fire. In Syria, protests against the 41-year rule by President Bashar al-Assad and his late father Hafez al-Assad linger despite the Syrian government’s violent oppression that has killed some 3,000 people. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is also under pressure to step down from his 33-year rule.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, who is seeking to transfer his power to his son in the North`s third-generation power succession, is probably uncomfortable to see the pro-democracy movements sweeping through North Africa and the Middle East. The bravado of dictators can be swept away by the tsunami of popular uprisings.

Global determination and solidarity, which does not sit back and watch Gadhafi`s massacre of innocent people, have brought about Libya`s liberation. The United Nations set a precedent in punishing crimes against humanity by intervening in the Libyan crisis under the notion of “responsibility to protect” citizens. The notion allows the international community to intervene in a country to protect citizens in the event of mass killing, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and other crimes versus humanity. A U.N. resolution and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s military intervention were the critical factors that helped the Libyan people and led to their country’s democratization.

Libya, which has thrown off the yoke of dictatorship, faces the tough task of creating a modern state based on democracy. As the country has no experience in democracy, it will be tough to build a democratic state and overcome separatism among some 140 tribes and regions. It is also a daunting task to restore industrial facilities and oil fields destroyed by the civil war, collect all the weapons, and help 250,000 refugees. The international community should provide full support for Libya’s National Transitional Council so that it can exercise its leadership. Korea should also actively participate in Libya’s reconstruction.

Driving out dictators like Gadhafi and saving the people are inevitable in the progress of history. Progressive ideology is in chaos in South Korea, however. Kim Jong Il is one of the world’s worst dictators who oppresses his people in a far more cruel way than any other despots in the Middle East and North Africa. North Korea, which has bigger territory and more natural resources, was better off than South Korea until the mid-1970s. Kim Jong Il is now pouring money into nuclear development and arms buildup though millions of North Koreans are starving. The entire country is like a giant gulag. About 150,000 people are being held at concentration camps for political prisoners. The North Korean media never reports on the situation in Libya, let alone the Jasmine Revolution. Social networking services that can disseminate outside news in the North and its internal news to the outside world are non-existent in the Stalinist country.

Leaving alone or defending a regime that oppresses and starves its people is an inhumane act regardless of progressive or conservative ideology. Pro-North Korea forces in the South are unreserved in praising people such as Gadhafi and Kim Jong Il though they enjoy the benefits of democracy and market economy. In an answer to a question about the pain of North Koreans, a well-known poet who praised Gadhafi said South Koreans in poor neighborhoods also lead miserable lives. A leftist Buddhist group even gave a human rights award to Gadhafi in 2003 for his role in promoting the causes of “freedom, justice and equality.”

South Korea must broadcast short-wave radio programs and send balloons to the North so that its people will learn about the miserable end of Gadhafi`s rule after 42 years of dictatorship. To help North Korea democratize is true progressivism and South Korea`s duty. No matter how hard it tries, North Korea cannot avoid the global trend of democratization. The international community and South Korea should cooperate to advance the North’s democratization.