Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights (NKnet) made a statement on Tuesday, criticizing South Korean government’s instruction on NK human rights organizations not to distribute leaflets containing outside information at North Korea.
Ministry of Unification of South Korea asked Democracy Network against N. Korean Gulags and North Korean Christian Association to stop sending leaflets that criticize Kim Jong Il regime’s human rights abuse, since North Korea protested the activities as violation of June 4 agreement.
Thus NKnet, in the statement, points out that in South Korea every organization can act on its own free will unless violating law, and the Ministry’s instruction to stop distributing leaflet in North Korea is an obvious interference of private activity.
The Network denounces the Ministry of Unification for failing to convince North Korea of free-democratic characteristic of South Korean society, in which individual and organizational activities, unless illegal, shall not be obstructed by the government.
And NKnet argues that the North Korean regime is so fearful of infiltration of outside information into its people that it protests against even a sheet of leaflet.
The statement ends with a demand to the Ministry of Unification to apologize to the two human rights organizations, and a vow to fight against further governmental interference on the activities of North Korean democratization organizations.
Below is full text of the statement
