[imText1]On the 9th, the DailyNK received a photo of Kim Jong Il’s brother Kim Pyong Il (54), the North Korean Ambassador in Poland, participating in an exchange economic cultural event organized by the “Korean Friendship Association.”
The Korean Friendship Association acts as the intermediary for foreign relations between North Korea and Eastern European countries such as Poland and Czechoslovakia, though many assume that North Korea’s focus lies in winning more friendly pro-North Korea forces.
In March 2004, Joanna Hosaniak, a Polish North Korea human rights advocate received a telephone call from the North Korean Embassy in Poland who said, “Contact us, if you want to meet Kim Jong Il.” The following day, an international conference was held in Poland regarding North Korean human rights and the refugee issue.
Hosaniak, currently the international cooperation manager for the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights said on the 17th, “At the time, it seemed like they were trying to drag me into the Korean Friendship Association” and added, “In the past, North Korean authorities have been rather courteous to people interested in their country.”
The Korean Friendship Association officially works in partnership with the “Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” a movement which supports the Juche ideology.
However, there are a few regulations that must be passed before a foreigner is accepted as an official member of the Korean Friendship Association. The pre-member must display ardent respect for North Korea and its leader, agree to all the rules and purposes of the association as well as respect other members. In addition, if any member is found denouncing North Korea or any of the regulations of the association or act in a manner outside its league, that member will be expelled from the association.
The main role of the association is the protection of the North Korean government and funding North Korea. There is even a seminar which lectures on “Benevolence for Kim Jong Il’s rule.”
Regarding the nuclear test last October, the association said, “We executed the test for peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and the outside world,” yet denies the violations of human rights occurring in North Korea and raises an objection against the existence of political concentration camps.
Alejandro Cao de Benos de Les y Perez founded the association in November 2000 and is currently known to be working full-time for the North Korean government since 2004 and is also known to have developed close relations with North Korea’s elite governmental officials.
In regards to the Korean Friendly Association, Kim Young Nam, Chairman of the Supreme People’s Assembly said, “Friendly North Korean alliances is like the engine of a train. Not only will this help you understand North Korea, it greatly contributes to the protection of our socialist regime.”
[imText2]On the one hand, North Korea and the Korean Friendship Association have made continuous attempts to hide criticisms made by European nations against human rights violations in North Korea. Furthermore, using the title, “friendship” some parts of Europe including Russia and other Middle Eastern countries have been permitting human rights violations against North Korean workers in their country.
In 2004, Hosaniak said that she felt the evil-eye on the “International North Korea Human Rights Conference Poland” at the time. She has even received an anonymous from Sweden which contained the message, “North Korea is aware of the international conference. Be careful.”
She said, “We think that a person closely affiliated with the Korean Friendship Association sent the email” and added, “That person knew from early on that an international conference was going to take place.”
At the time of the conference, the Citizens’ Alliance of North Korean Human Rights led a protest in front of the North Korean Embassy in Poland at which North Korean employees came out of the building and distributed propaganda arguing that the North Korean concentration camps were lies. In one corner of the embassy, you can see someone filming the protest.
There were even books like “Anthology of Kim Il Sung” piled up in the lobby tables of the hotel participants of the conference were staying at the time.
Regarding the Korean Friendship Association, one defector said, “This may be a strategy to allure more foreigners to the association as the official name “Korean Friendship Association” does not include either North Korea or the DPRK” and explained, “North Korea needs foreigners such as European spokespersons who will safeguard the North Korean government.”
Kim Duk Hong (former President for Yeokwang Trade Company) who defected with Hwang Jang Yop (former Secretary for the North Korean Workers’ Party) in `97 once said, “Whenever I was overseas, there were times I introduced myself as “Korean.” If you reveal that you are “North Korean,” foreigners look down on you” and commented, “Following the 1988 Seoul Olympics, if you said you were Korean, foreigners assumingly thought you meant South Korea.”
