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STOP GENOCIDE IN NORTH KOREA

GENOCIDE and POLITICIDE ALERT: NORTH KOREA
http://www.genocidewatch.org/northkorea.html

"Genocide Watch has ample proof that genocide has been committed and mass killing is still underway in North Korea." - Genocide Watch (December 19, 2011)

 33 North Korean Defectors Will Be Forcibly Repatriated by China and Executed Without the Intervention of South Korea and the International Community
한국과 국제사회가 개입하지 않으면 중국에서 체포된 33명의 탈북자들은 중국에 의해 강제 북송되어 처형당할겁니다.

China set to repatriate 33 North Korean defectors: http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=060000&biid=2012021475018

China`s repatriation of NK defectors drawing int'l criticism: http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=060000&biid=2012021612988

Amnesty urges China not to repatriate North Koreans: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=19947

Obama urged to press China on N.K. refugees:  http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20120215000970

Chinese policy on North Korean defectors decried:  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/14/MNNG1N7DN9.DTL

SIGN PETITION!

http://www.change.org/petitions/save-north-korean-refugees-savemyfriend

Stop China's repatriation of North Korean refugees

Dear Mr. ___________,

Please allow me to take this opportunity to express my deep respect for your keen interest and constant effort as UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in North Korea to address the human rights situation in North Korea.

On the 8th, 10th, and 12th of February 2012, in three separate incidents, a total of 30 North Korean refugees were arrested by the Public Security Bureau in China and are currently in urgent danger of being repatriated to the DPRK. I understand that most of the arrested refugees have family members in South Korea and were captured during an attempt to reunite with these family members. One of the refugees in particular is a teenage orphan who escaped North Korea after losing his parents in order to search for his brother in South Korea.

This is a case of great significance because it is the first arrest of North Korean refugees following the death of Kim Jong Il. Kim Jong Un, Kim Jong Il's son and successor, has declared his intention to annihilate refugees that fled the DPRK during the mourning period for his father, together with their entire families.

As you are aware, Article 1 of the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, as amended by the 1967 Protocol (the "Convention"), defines a refugee as "any person who owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country." Further, Article 33(1) expressly mandates that "[n]o Contracting State shall expel or return ('refouler') a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. By returning North Korean refugees to their country, China, which became a Contracting State to the Convention in 1982, openly and blatantly violates the Convention's prohibition on forced repatriation.

While a number of human rights organizations have appealed to the National Human Rights Commission of the Republic of Korea for an emergency rescue effort, this is an issue that demands the attention of, and resolution by, the international community. I understand that the first step would be for you to issue an official statement regarding the case, and then for the UNHCR to organize an emergency rescue operation. In view of the urgency and gravity of this case, I urge that fast and effective action be taken.

Sincerely yours,

[Your name]

January 27th, 2012 - Worldwide General Strike and Call to Mass Demonstrations for North Korean Liberation and Human Rights

Seoul, Dec. 27, 2011 -- January 27th marks the 67th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp, the largest Nazi death camp where an estimated 1.1 million innocent men, women and children were killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust. In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated this date as an annual international day of commemoration to remember the victims of Nazism and the sacred promise of "Never Again". (For more information on the important meaning and significance of this date, read:http://www.un.org/en/holocaustremembrance/).

The Worldwide Coalition to Stop Genocide in North Korea, a nonpartisan coalition consisting of human rights activists and groups from around the world, is calling for an international general strike on this date to protest against genocide and crimes against humanity in North Korea.

Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, North Korea) runs a network of concentration camps where an estimated 1 million innocents have been murdered in silence and 250,000 political prisoners, one-third of them children, are currently being forced to perform slave labor on starvation rations, are subject to systematic rape and torture, biological and chemical weapon experimentation, and summary execution.

North Korea is actively targeting for destruction every group protected under the U.N. Genocide Convention, through its decades-long policy of killing the half-Chinese babies of North Korean women forcibly repatriated by China (constituting genocide on national, ethnical and racial grounds), and its systematic annihilation of its indigenous religious population and their families (genocide on religious grounds). The regime’s treatment of political prisoners and its exploitative and discriminatory food policy which is responsible for the deaths of several million North Koreans constitutes crimes against humanity as defined in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

At the historic UN World Summit in 2005, heads of state and government leaders from around the world committed to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. According to the Responsibility to Protect principle, the world has a duty to intervene to stop mass atrocity crimes first by 'appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian, and other peaceful means' and then by force, if necessary.

North Korea, as a genocidaire of the first order, is in the category of state perpetrator and is manifestly demonstrating this failure to protect. It is high time for the international community to act in North Korea.

LETTER OF DEMANDS TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY:

To the Leaders of Korea, America, China, Russia, Japan, the United Nations and the Entire International Community.

We Refuse to Allow the North Korean Genocide to Continue Any Longer. Over 4,000,000 Innocent North Koreans have been Murdered through Starvation by the DPRK regime since 1995, and an estimated 1,000,000 North Koreans have been Murdered as a result of Slave Labor, Rape, Torture, Starvation and Execution in North Korea’s Political Concentration Camps. The Very Existence of these Concentration Camps makes the North Korean State Illegal, Illegitimate, and Criminal, and Demands the Immediate Intervention of the International Community.

Our Demands, based upon the foundation of International Law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are as follows:

1) The Immediate and Total Liberation of All North Korean Political Concentration Camps

2) Compensation and Re-imbursement to All North Korean Victims of Slavery, Starvation, Torture, All Concentration Camp Survivors and Their Families for Immeasurable Loss and Suffering

3) The Immediate Stepping Down from Power of the DPRK Leadership

4) Prosecution of Kim Yong-nam, Chang Sung-taek and All Individuals Responsible for Commissioning or Carrying Out Acts of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity

5) Through the Guidance and Oversight of a Coalition of North Korean Refugee Leaders and Human Rights Activists, in Partnership with the Republic of Korea and the International Community, WE DEMAND THE LIBERATION AND REBUILDING OF NORTH KOREA BASED UPON THE FOUNDATION OF ENSURING AND GUARANTEEING WITHOUT FAIL THE HUMAN RIGHTS AND SAFETY OF EVERY NORTH KOREAN INDIVIDUAL ACCORDING TO THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL LAW, WHICH WAS COMPOSED TO PREVENT THE ATROCITIES OF NAZI GERMANY FROM EVER OCCURRING AGAIN. WE, THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, HAVE ALL FAILED TO KEEP OUR PROMISE AND UPHOLD INTERNATIONAL LAW, AND MOST MISERABLY IN THE CASE OF NORTH KOREA.

Worldwide Coalition to Stop Genocide in North Korea (Nonpartisan)
Please refer to:
"Responsibility to Protect in North Korea": http://hir.harvard.edu/responsibility-to-protect-in-north-korea

"North Korea and the Genocide Convention": http://hir.harvard.edu/north-korea-and-the-genocide-movement

Documentary Evidence of Genocide in North Korea: http://www.watch-documentaries.com/children-of-the-secret-state

Documentary Evidence of Concentration Camps, Gas Chambers, Chemical and Biological Weapon Experimentation on Human Beings in North Korea: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7096673757347175289

Documentary - Public Execution in North Korea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAQE7kDwPZY

Contact: http://www.stopnkgenocide.com, r2pnorthkorea@gmail.com

Facebook: Stop Genocide in North Korea http://www.facebook.com/groups/stopnkgenocide/ 

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2012년 1월 27일 - 북한의 해방과 인권을 위한 전세계 총파업 및 궐기대회https://www.facebook.com/events/128485210600303/ 
1월 27일은 나치 수용소들 중 가장 큰 수용소였던 아우슈비츠가 해방된지 67년째 되는 날이다. 홀로코스트 때 이곳에서 거의 백십만명의 무고한 남녀와 어린이들이 나치에 의해 희생되었다. 2005년 UN총회에서 국제사회는 "결코 다시는 이런 일이 반복되지 않도록 하자"고 약속하며 이 날을 나치에 의한 희생자들을 추모하는 전세계적인 기념일로 제정했다. (이 날의 중요성과 의미에 대해서는 http://www.un.org/en/holocaustremembrance/를 참조할 수 있다.)
북한의 집단학살 중단을 위한 전세계적 연대(전세계 인권 활동가들과 단체들로 구성된 비당파적 연대)는 탈북 청년들이 중심이 된 북한인권단체인 NAUH(대표: 지성호)를 중심으로 1월 27일 ‘북한주민의 자유와 인권을 위한 전세계 총파업 및 궐기대회’의 날로 정하고 국제 사회가 북한문제에 관하여 R2P 원칙과 국제법에 따른 의무들을 이행하기를 촉구한다.

북한의 집단학살과 반인도적 범죄

북한에는 강제노동수용소가 여러 군데 있으며 지금까지 거의 백만명의 무고한 사람들이 이곳에서 소리없이 희생되었다. 지금도 거의 25만명의 정치범 수감자들이 갇혀있는데 그 중 3분의 1은 아이들이다. 이들은 매일같이 노예처럼 강제 노동에 시달리며 굶어 죽을 정도로 적은 배급량에  의존하여 살아가고 있다. 또한 조직적인 고문과 강간에 시달릴 뿐만 아니라, 생화학무기의 실험대상으로 이용되기도 하고, 간부의 기분에 따라 즉결 처형을 당하기도 한다.     
북한은 UN제노사이드 조약(집단학살 방지 및 처벌에 관한 조약) 아래 마땅히 보호받아야 할 사람들을 향해 심각하게 범죄를 자행하고 있다. 지난 수십년간 중국에서 강제 송환된 탈북 여성들이 임신한 중국인 혼혈아이들을 죽이는 정책을 펴왔을 뿐만 아니라(국가적, 민족적, 인종적 집단학살에 해당) 종교를 가진 자국민들과 그 가족들을 조직적으로 말살시켜왔다(종교적 집단학살). 또한 정치범 수감자들에 대한 처우와 수백만명을 아사하도록 한 정부의 차별적이고 착취적인 식량정책은 국제형사재판소 로마규정이 언급하고 있는 반인도적범죄에 해당한다.
 
국제사회를 향한 호소문 (LETTER OF DEMANDS TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY) 대한민국, 미국, 중국, 러시아, 일본, UN 그리고 모든 국제사회의 지도자들께 요청합니다!
우리는 북한의 집단학살을 더 이상 용인할 수 없습니다. 1995년 이후 4백만 이상의 무고한 생명이 북한정권에 의해 학살되었으며 백만 명 이상이 정치범 수용소에서 강제 노동, 강간, 고문, 기아로 죽거나 처형당한 것으로 추정되고 있습니다. 정치범 수용소의 만행은 북한 정권이 얼마나 불법적인지 잘 보여줍니다. 국제사회는 더 이상 침묵해서는 안되며 즉각 개입해야 합니다.

우리는 세계인권선언과 국제법을 근거로 다음과 같이 요청합니다.
1) 정치범 수용소 수감자 전원에 대한 즉각적인 석방을 요청합니다.
2) 강제 노동, 굶주림, 고문으로 고통 당해온 북한의 모든 희생자들과 특히 정치범 수용소에서 말할 수 없이 학대당해 온 사람들과 그 가족들에게 보상해줄 것을 요청합니다.
3) 북한 지도자들의 즉각적인 하야를 요청합니다.
4) 김용남, 장성택을 비롯하여 집단 학살과 반인륜적인 범죄를 지시하거나 수행하고 있는 모든 북한 지도자들에 대한 기소를 요청합니다
5) 탈북 난민 지도자 및 인권활동가 연대가 앞장서고 대한민국과 국제 사회가 협력하여 북한을 해방시키고 새로운 기초 위에 건설하는 일에 참여해 줄 것을 요청합니다. 나치 독일에서와 같은 참극이 다시는 발생하지 않도록 전세계가 함께 규정한 세계인권선언과 국제법에 따라 모든 북한 주민들도 그들의 인권과 안전을 확실히 보장받으며 살 수 있도록 해야 합니다. (우리(국제 사회)는 북한 문제에 있어서 지금까지 국제 법을 준수하고 이행하는 일에 모두 철저하게 실패해왔습니다.)
이메일 문의: pink2011info@gmail.com
페이스북 https://www.facebook.com/events/128485210600303/ 
홈페이지 http://www.northkoreanhumanrights.com

 

Documentary Evidence of Genocide in North Korea: http://www.watch-documentaries.com/children-of-the-secret-state
 
Documentary Evidence of Concentration Camps, Gas Chambers, Chemical and Biological Weapon Experimentation on Human Beings in North Korea: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7096673757347175289

Documentary Evidence of Public Executions in North Korea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAQE7kDwPZY

Kwon Hyok, Former Head of Security at Prison Camp 22: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBYDE6yWl0I

"The Politics of Famine in North Korea"(1999): http://www.usip.org/publications/politics-famine-north-korea

"Action Against Hunger Stops Its Activities in North Korea"(March 10, 2000): http://reliefweb.int/node/60818

"The Great North Korean Famine"(2001): http://bookstore.usip.org/books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=51285

"The Deadly Secrets of North Korea"(August 2, 2001): https://www.doctorswithoutborders-usa.org/publications/article.cfm?id=1414&cat=ideas-opinions

"The Invisible Exodus: North Koreans in the People's Republic of China"(2002): http://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/2002/northkorea/

"N. Koreans talk of baby killings"(June 10, 2002): http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/10/world/n-koreans-talk-of-baby-killings.html

"The Hidden Gulag: Exposing North Korea's Prison Camps"(2003): http://www.hrnk.org/download/The_Hidden_Gulag.pdf

"Children suffer most in North's food crisis"(January 10, 2003): http://reliefweb.int/node/116747

"Death, terror in N. Korea gulag"(January 15, 2003): http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3071466/ns/us_news-only_on_msnbccom/

"Former guard: Ahn Myong Chol"(January 15, 2003): http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3071468/ns/us_news-only_on_msnbccom/

"Yad Vashem Reacts to Gas Chambers in North Korea"(February 3, 2004): http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/pressroom/pressreleases/pr_details.asp?cid=468

"Hunger and Human Rights: The Politics of Famine in North Korea"(2005): http://www.hrnk.org/download/Hunger_and_Human_Rights.pdf

"North Korean Refugees in China"(2005 Annual Report): http://www.cecc.gov/pages/annualRpt/annualRpt05/2005_7_refugees.php

"Public Execution of Choi Jae Gon, Park Myung Gil"(March 16, 2005): http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk00100&num=85

"Deformed babies killed for super race" (October 16, 2006): http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/deformed-babies-killed-for-super-race/story-e6frg6so-1111112366108

"Kim Chol-soo: Mass Atrocities in Prison Camps"(November 22, 2005): http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051122/ap_on_re_as/nkorea_prison_camps

"Brutality Beyond Belief: Crimes Aganst Humanity in North Korea"(2006): http://www.dailynk.com/english/sub_list.php?cataId=nk02600

"Public Execution of Yoo Bun Hee"(September 22, 2006): http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01100&num=1126

"Racially impure children killed"(October 15, 2006): http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article600929.ece

"Escape from Total Control Zone"(May 11, 2007): http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk00100&num=2051

"Born and raised in a North Korean gulag"(July 9th, 2007): http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/09/world/asia/09iht-korea.4.6569853.html

"North Korea: A Case to Answer - A Call to Act"(June 20, 2007): http://dynamic.csw.org.uk/article.asp?t=report&id=35

"N. Korean Defectors Describe Brutal Abuse"(October 29, 2008): http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/29/world/main4555614.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_4555614

"Escapee Tells of Horrors in North Korean Prison Camp"(December 11, 2008): http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/10/AR2008121003855.html

"Google Earth: North Korea Uncovered"(2009): http://www.nkeconwatch.com/north-korea-uncovered-google-earth/

"Lives for Sale: Personal Accounts of Women Fleeing North Korea to China"(2009): http://www.hrnk.org/download/Lives_for_Sale.pdf

"On the Map: Five Major North Korean Prison Camps"(2009): http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/world/north-korean-prison-camps-2009/

"N. Korea's Hard-Labor Camps: On the Diplomatic Back Burner"(July 20th, 2009): http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/19/AR2009071902178.html

"N Korea tests weapons on children"(July 24, 2009): http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/07/20097165415127287.html

"North Korea's 'Stateless Generation'"(March 3, 2010): http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20091202000104

"Dams Under Construction Near N. Korean Gulags" (April 12, 2010): http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/04/113_64021.html

"N. Korean killed for spreading Gospel" (July 5, 2010): http://wwrn.org/articles/33770/?&place=north-south-korea&section=christianity

"The forgotten genocide in North Korea"(April 20th, 2011): http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/when-will-we-stop-the-genocide-in-north-korea/2011/03/29/AFqXaMEE_story.html

"N. Korea's 'horrific' prison camps expanding (AFP)"(May 3rd, 2011): http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/images-reveal-scale-north-korean-political-prison-camps-2011-05-03

"Report: Torture, starvation rife in North Korea political prisons"(May 4, 2011): http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/04/north.korea.amnesty/

"North Korean government murdering disabled children in Pyongyang"(May 18, 2011): http://sanfrancisco.ibtimes.com/articles/148105/20110518/north-korean-government-murdering-disabled-children-in-pyongyang.htm

"North Korea: More Than a Human Rights Crisis"(August 17, 2011): http://monthly.chosun.com/client/news/viw_contentA.asp?nNewsNumb=201109100035&ctcd=H&cPage=1

"Calling for Action on North Korean Crimes" (September 9, 2011): http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903285704576558082763396582.html

"'Hell on earth': Detailed satellite photos show death camps North Korea still deny even exist" (September 20, 2011): http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2039542/North-Korea-Satellite-photos-death-camps-deny-exist.html

"North Korea and the Genocide Movement" (September 27, 2011): http://hir.harvard.edu/north-korea-and-the-genocide-movement

"North Koreans victims of a genocidal regime" (October 26, 2011): http://www.scmp.com/portal/

"Responsibility to Protect in North Korea" (November 9, 2011): http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/192623-responsibility-to-protect-in-north-korea?page=2

"Responsibility to Protect in North Korea" (December 7, 2011): http://hir.harvard.edu/responsibility-to-protect-in-north-korea

"A More Appropriate North Korean Eulogy" (December 19, 2011): http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/12/19/north-korean-eulogy-kim-jong-il/

 "GENOCIDE and POLITICIDE ALERT: NORTH KOREA" (December 19, 2011):  http://www.genocidewatch.org/northkorea.html

“Fear spreads across border from North Korea” (December 21, 2011): http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/21/world/asia/n-korea-china-border/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

"South Korea must act to save the lives of refugees from the North": (December 27, 2011): http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/12/27/robert-park-south-korea-must-act-to-save-the-lives-of-refugees-from-the-north/

"North Korea's Kim Jong Un wages defector crackdown" (January 5, 2012): http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/01/kim-jong-il-death-new-north-korean-leader-kim-jong-un-crackdown-on-defectors.html

"Time to End North Korea Genocide" (February 2, 2012): http://the-diplomat.com/2012/02/02/time-to-end-north-korea-genocide/

North Korea: The World's Principal Violator of the "Responsibility to Protect" (February 6, 2012): http://jia.sipa.columbia.edu/north-korea-world%E2%80%99s-principal-violator-%E2%80%9Cresponsibility-protect%E2%80%9D

"The case for genocide in North Korea" (February 7, 2012): http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20120208000741

"N.K. defectors in China face repatriation" (February 14, 2012): http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20120214001264

"China helps N. Korea punish S. Korea-bound defectors more harshly" (February 22, 2012): http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20120222001124

"`China informing N. Korea of defectors` intended destinations`" (February 22, 2012): http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=060000&biid=2012022203238

"Park at vanguard of campaign to protect NK defectors' rights" (February 22, 2012): http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20120222000933

"UN human rights official hits China on deporting NK defectors" (February 23, 2012): http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=050000&biid=2012022326638

When will we stop the genocide in North Korea?

"Holocaust” is the word used to describe the systematic extermination of millions of innocent European Jews during World War II. In the aftermath of this mammoth failure of humanity, many nations “repented” and declared that “never again” would such inhumanity and absolute disregard for human dignity and life be tolerated.

Yet on Jan. 1, the regime of Kim Jong Il warned that a “nuclear holocaust” would be inevitable if South Korea engaged the North in war. While the world watches peoples in the Middle East and North Africa rise up against tyranny, another people suffers on the Korean Peninsula. And that Pyongyang so irreverently invoked this term to describe its so-called necessary defense is a stark reminder of the genocidal and inhumane nature of Kim Jong Il’s regime and the atrocities it has committed against millions of innocents.

Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem, called on the international community in 2004 to investigate “political genocide” in North Korea. In response to reports of “North Korea’s use of gas chambers to murder and perform medical experiments on political dissidents and their families” and the “chilling image of the murderers coolly watching their victims’ death agonies . . . all too reminiscent of Nazi barbarism,” the group’s chairman, Avner Shalev, wrote to then-U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan that “the issue is all the more severe due to North Korea’s status as a member of the U.N.”

In other words, the world’s foremost authorities on genocide appealed to the international community, one of the few rays of hope for the North Korean people, who are trapped in a living hell.

An estimated 1 million innocent men, women and children have been murdered in North Korean political concentration camps since 1972, academics believe.

Virtually nothing has been done to speed the closure of these camps since 2004, though the testimony of tens of thousands of refugees provides mounting evidence of crimes against humanity and genocide.

Outside observers and nongovernmental organizations estimate that 3.5 million North Koreans died of starvation between 1995 and 1997. They continue to die in huge numbers in a government-organized famine akin to the Holodomor famine-genocide in Ukraine (1932-33), which was orchestrated by Joseph Stalin. Billions in humanitarian aid have been shipped to North Korea, more than enough to feed the nation’s population, but government and academic studies have revealed that North Korea systematically diverted the aid, using it to bolster its military might while millions, for whom the aid was intended, starved to death.

Raphael Lemkin’s Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide included political murders in its first draft definition of genocide, but Stalin objected, the definition was amended and the Soviet Union was not held accountable for the tens of millions of innocents murdered without just cause by starvation and in the Gulag. Some have incorrectly concluded that mass murder and genocide in North Korea would also be exempt from prosecution under the convention.

This is not the case. North Korea has been considered the world’s worst persecutor of Christians for many years by objective researchers of religious persecution such as Open Doors and Christian Solidarity Worldwide. Soon Ok Lee, one of the few survivors of the North Korean concentration camp system, has testified before Congress and later told MSNBC that “since the Korean War — in Korea they call it June 25 War — the No. 1 enemy is God. Kim II Sung hated God most.”

It is common knowledge among refugees and people who follow North Korea that those discovered to have any kind of faith or religious belief — and their families, to three generations — are executed or sent to concentration camps for life. This constitutes genocide under Article 2 of the convention; consequently, the world has not only the moral duty but also the legal right and obligation, under Article 8, to intervene.

Actions that all of us in the free world can, and must, take immediately to save the North Korean people and stop the crimes against humanity include:

l An NGO strike. The nongovernmental organizations supporting the genocidal Pyongyang regime must withdraw all support from Kim Jong Il immediately and unambiguously declare their action a protest of the North’s concentration camps, systematic diversion of food aid and mass atrocities.

l Use our resources effectively. The United States, South Korea, Japan and the rest of the international community must recognize that there is a way to effectively save those in desperate need. It is through the refugees, most of whom still have relatives and friends in the North with whom they are in secret communication. North Korean refugees and their ally organizations must be provided all possible resources.

l Mass demonstrations. Never have more than 100,000 people gathered to protest the mass atrocities in North Korea. All who object to the genocide must organize, assemble and make their voices heard.

We should get to work immediately, realizing that we are already far too late.

Relevant International Agreements:

UN Charter: http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/index.shtml

Universal Declaration of Human Rights: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide: http://www.un.org/millennium/law/iv-1.htm

Geneva Conventions: http://www.icrc.org/eng/war-and-law/treaties-customary-law/geneva-conventions/index.jsp

Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees: http://www.unhcr.org/3b66c2aa10.html

Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: http://untreaty.un.org/cod/icc/statute/romefra.htm

Responsibility to Protect: http://www.responsibilitytoprotect.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=398

Other Relevant Human Rights Treaties:

Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons:
http://www.unhcr.org/3bbb25729.html

Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness:
http://www.unhcr.org/3bbb286d8.html

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cerd.htm

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:
http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cpr.html

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights:
http://www.hrweb.org/legal/escr.html

Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment: http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cat.html

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women:
http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cdw.html

Convention on the Rights of the Child:
http://www.hrweb.org/legal/child.html

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/disabilities-convention.htm

Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/disappearance-convention.htm

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