[imText1]With Lee Jae Jung’s, the Minister of Unification, affirmative comment in response to a North Korean proposal to view the Arirang Performance on the 18th, resistance of political powers and human rights organizations have been increasing.
Minister Lee said that “If we receive an invitation, we plan to follow up. The performance is one of a kind performance which North Korea highly takes pride in, so we will look at it from that perspective.”
The possibility of viewing the Arirang Performance has been proposed since the announcement of the Inter-Korea Summit Talks, but the government has avoided a response. Minister Lee, who came out to send-off the 1st-round delegation of the Summit, gave the response to reporters’ questions.
“Arirang,” a large-scale gymnastics performance, active since 2005, has mobilized several hundred children. Their months-long military-style training has been known throughout international society, of course, and voices of criticism from the South Korean human rights NGOs, academia, and politicians have been rising. Youth and Students Alliance for Human Rights in North Korea revealed their plan to hold a meeting denouncing Minister Lee’s speech on the 19th.
Huh Man Ho, Asia Human Rights Center’s Head, criticized, “Minister Lee is a priest who holds the utmost principle of ‘Love other human beings,’ but his agreement to view the Arirang Performance is a thoughtless act. This is an act of the Minister of Unification, who has done nothing regarding North Korean human rights in the last 10 years.”
Huh expressed, “In underdeveloped countries, vicious circus business and commerce are individually being cultivated, but the North Korean Arirang Performance, from a national and political perspective, is the prime example of a human rights violation which extracts out child labor. I am speechless when such a worst case scenario is promoted as a ‘worthy performance.'”
He stressed, “In particular, although South Korean government should to point out out North Korean inferior human rights situation at the Summit, viewing the Arirang Performance is not much different from trying to prolong the human rights violations and oppression of North Korean civilians.”
The Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights’ Secretary General Kim Yun Tae denounced, “North Korea has entered the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, but has mobilized 10,000s of children at the Arirang Performance every year. Agreeing to view Arirang, which is the site of this human rights violations, implies that they are sympathizing with Kim Jong Il’s human rights suppression.”
Kim also criticized, “At the upcoming Summit Talks, if President Roh and Minister Lee show themselves at the Arirang stadium, they will be confronted with civilian criticism.”
“Arirang is a masterpiece?” “A dangerous utterance.”
Kang Won Chul, representative of the Young Defectors’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, emphasized, “From the outside, the Arirang Performance looks impressive, but our brothers who prepare for the event shed tears of blood. They are forced to practice for several months and are being deprived of rights of children who should be running around and playing.”
The experts on North Korea and the Grand National Party criticized that the Summit have not even begun yet, so there is no need to take on a “benevolent” attitude.
Grand National Party member Chun Yu Ok, in a phone conversation with DailyNK, roared, “North Korea’s Arirang uses humans as tools. How is using that as a ‘such and such’ masterpiece different from calling the North Korean regime as a ‘democratic government?'”
Jun criticized, “The Minister of Unification review of whether or not to watch the Arirang Performance crosses the line of denying South Korea’s identity and is a very dangerous act.”
Kim Tae Hyo, a Professor at Sungkyunkwan University, observed, “The Arirang has a stronger political aim than an artistic one. With the upcoming Summit Talks led by North Korea, an actively-responsive speech is an inappropriate act as the Minister.”
Professor Kim said, “The possibility is low that the decision to review watching the performance will raise the pre-atmosphere of the Summit or will make the talks more harmonious. It could just be a gesture which shows that we like what the North Korean authorities like.”
