| Under the Juche ideology of self-reliance,
the North Korean state has maintained a totalitarian system of economic
and political control since the 1950s, making it the most isolated
country since 1990, following the withdrawal of Soviet subsidies
and as the result of an accumulation of structural inefficiencies. |
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Devastating floods in 1995 brought prolonged famine
conditions to the countryside,
forcing the government to appeal for international aid. The narrow
opening to the outside world has yielded scant additional data or
contacts, and outside experts’ ability to analyze the situation
in the country is still extremely circumscribed. The closed nature
of the regime and the paucity rights, remain obstacles to the stimulation
of greater interest, concern, and concrete activities that could
aid in promoting peaceful change.
Although the food crisis has drawn global attention to the suffering
of the people, any direct discussion of political change or democratization
remains non-existent inside North Korea and still quite limited
in south Korea in connection with North-South relations, and are
not exposed to information or analysis of the internal situation
or the prospects for realization of human rights and democracy there.
There is consequently a vital need to expose the public to the plight
of the North Korean people. There is also still considerable resistance
to discussion of the issues of human rights or democracy in North
Korea, for a variety of reasons, ranging from the feeling that the
situation is hopeless, to lingering habits of thinking of North
Korea as a special case.
In the face of this reluctance to discuss publicly what the South
should do to prepare the way for democratization in the North, there
is also a vital need to promote the idea that North Korean people
deserve the same attention and assistance due to all people, as
part of the universal values of freedom and human rights.
The Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights, NKnet,
a Seoul-based nonprofit organization, was formed by a group of citizens
who wish to alleviate the suffering of the people of North Korea
and to realize universal values by promoting human rights and democracy
in North Korea. we, NKnet, are all veterans of the pro-democracy
campaign against military dictatorship in South Korea, some of us
served years in prison for our leadership roles in activist student
groups. While taking pride in the achievement of that struggle to
establish democratic institutions in South Korea, we have publicly
stated our regret for our mistaken view during the 1980s that North
Korea represented the better economic and political system.
After the dramatic changes in Easters Europe and the food crisis
in North Korea, we reassessed our fiercely held views and concluded
that socialism is not viable alternative ? and that the North Korean
idea of socialism is an even more reactionary regime. NKnet, therefore,
strongly supports modem achievements of mankind, namely individual
human rights, democracy and the free market system. |
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