North Korean Defectors Announce New Alliance at DFF Forum During North Korea Freedom Week
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As part of the events for North Korea Freedom Week, defectors from North Korea were featured at DFF’s Capitol Hill forum to announce the formation of the Exile Committee for North Korea Democracy (ECNKD). The ECNKD is an umbrella organization of all the defectors organizations formed to unite to work for regime change in North Korea, to serve as a key link to the reform-minded members still in the regime, and to transform North Korea into a free, democratic and prosperous nation once Kim Jong-il is gone. The forum featured a special video message from North Korea’s highest ranking defector and Honorary Chairman Hwang Jang-yop and presentations by Soon-Kyung Hong, who heads the ECNKD, Kim Seung-Min who is the director of Free North Korea Radio, and Kwang-Il Hu, who heads the committee preparing for the transformation of North Korea into a democracy.
Excerpts from the declaration by the ECNKD, representing the nearly 8,000 defectors that have escaped from North Korea, follow:
“First, we are North Korean defectors who staked our lives to escape from Kim’s cruel dictatorship. We will cooperate with those who are of one mind with us wherever they may be, whether in the north, in the south, or in a foreign land. We will, to our utmost, expand the anti-Kim Jong Il force within North Korea and form a united front with those in North Korea.
“Second, the most important task for the ECNKD is to enlighten the North Korean people with the spread of human rights and democracy against the blind loyalty to Kim and idolatry of the dictator. For this purpose we will make our best efforts to distribute radios and transmit broadcasts for North Koreans.
“Third, the collapse of Kim Jong Il’s dictatorship is inevitable. Preparing for the collapse with strategies and tactics is our first priority in order to prevent any possible disorder and to reestablish North Korea as a democratic nation. Therefore, the ECNKD will not neglect our duties in planning for a new North Korea as a free and democratic nation. Our organization will do its best to strengthen the over 7,000 North Korean defectors in South Korea to be a central force in rebuilding North Korea.
“Fourth, today in North Korea there is no freedom of speech and no freedom of assembly but only brutal torture and public executions. Some insist that only limited options are available against North Korea...the ECNKD will initiate a systematic movement to protest against Kim Jong Il and carefully consider ways to work with the United States and the rest of the international community...to establish an international united front against Kim Jong Il.”
In the special message Honorary Committee Chairman Hwang thanked the Defense Forum Foundation for its efforts for the North Korean people. Hwang said the key is China: “If we can eliminate the support from China towards North Korea and if we sever the relationship between China and North Korea, then we have a solution to the problem.” He also pointed out that the North Korean problem is not a problem limited to the Korean Peninsula; it is a problem for the world.