The recent United Nations report of the atrocities inflicted by the North Korean government against its own people has rightly shocked the general public. Tales of children forced to betray their parents and of a starving woman forced to drown her own baby are horrific and reminiscent of the Nazi Holocaust or the extreme tactics of Soviet Russia. The United Nations is seeking to bring the leaders of North Korea to be tried in the International Criminal Court for perpetrating crimes against humanity, including rape, murder, enslavement, and torture.
Veiled Atrocities
While this report may have surprised some, news of this horrific regime has not exactly been a secret. We have known for some time that Korea has had almost impenetrable borders, that their citizens are tightly controlled by propaganda and restriction of movement, and that many citizens have ‘mysteriously’ disappeared into concentration camps. Chilling and dehumanizing stories have been widely released through publications such as Escape from Camp 14, which recounted one man’s experience of and escape from one such camp.
North Korea has made it convenient for the average person to remain ignorant of what is going on in their country. Backed by the Soviets, the nation officially split from South Korea after World War II. Since the Korean War, wherein they failed to take control of South Korea, North Korea has focused on becoming diplomatically and economically self-reliant so as to avoid any outside influence. Along with this isolation has come a steady stream of propaganda demonizing the United States and praising Communism and dictatorship. Since so few people are allowed into the country and so few people are allowed out, the people of North Korea seem to barely be on the radar for most of the world’s citizens. And while we are well aware of their nuclear weapon threats, it has been easy enough to avert our eyes from the stream of abuses being heaped upon its population of 24.7 million (CIA Factbook).
Widespread ignorance of these horrific acts cannot help but bring back memories of the Holocaust. It was clear Jews were disappearing and not returning; some accounts even managed to leak out of camps like Auschwitz and Birkenau. And yet, most of the world ignored or was not able to face what was happening to those persecuted until well after the war. Decades later, we are able to watch movies detailing the victims, the heroes, and the villains of the Holocaust. We see it as one of the lowest points in world history. The name, “Hitler” is used colloquially as a term for the worst and cruelest of dictators. We vowed that this sort of mass extermination, senseless discrimination, and inhumane treatment would never happen again. Yet, here we are again, opening our eyes to yet another regime’s total disregard for human life.
North Korea and Us
Amidst the well-landscaped grounds of the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Richmond, Virginia, is a statue of Rachel weeping. As evidenced by the Hebrew letters written in memorial beneath her, she is lamenting the victims of the Holocaust. The disconsolate weeping for a loss of life is not new. As the Prophet Jeremiah recalls, “In Ramahis heard the sound of sobbing, bitter weeping! Rachel mourns for her children, she refuses to be consoled for her children—they are no more!” All of us have been Rachel at some point – mourning the loss of a parent, a child, or a loved one. We may also weep for the loss of life of the unborn in our nation or those who die from starvation, lack of shelter or abuse in our country. Yet all of these losses hit close to home – what about the lives destroyed further afield?
One of my companions on this visit to the Cathedral asked why there was a statue memorializing Jewish Holocaust victims at a Catholic Church. The second companion responded simply that a life is a life – that we can lament lives lost regardless of whether we have any connection to them or not. After all, how easily could we have born into an oppressive regime like North Korea, instead of in a nation with comparatively limitless freedom? It is not just to those of us blessed with relative comforts and opportunity that the Lord said “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5), but to each one of the thousands of North Koreans living in deplorable concentration camps, often enduring sickening torture. Each one of us is equally precious in the Lord’s sight.
What can we do? Awareness and solidarity is an important first step. Ignorance only allows the leadership of North Korea to continue unopposed. Of course, just as we might contact our civil leaders on other issues of importance such as abortion, we can express our views about the oppression occurring in Korea. We are blessed with a freedom of speech that those in North Korea do not have – we can most certainly use that voice to speak up for them.