Kang Cheol Hwan, the 44-year old director of the North Korea Strategy Center, Chosun Ilbo reporter and former political prison camp inmate in North Korea, has put himself forward as a proportional representation candidate for the ruling Saenuri Party at the upcoming legislative elections on April 11th.
As a former prisoner in the infamous Yodok Camp in South Hamkyung Province, Kang is distressingly familiar with the human rights abuses happening in North Korea. This naturally forms the backdrop to his decision to stand for election, about which he says, “As someone with experience of the repressive North Korean system, it is time for me to give something back for the human rights and freedom of the North Korean people.”
“By showing that a former North Korean defector can succeed in South Korea it will not only give the defectors settled here in South Korea a message of hope but also one for the people in North Korea,” he adds, continuing, “If a former defector becomes a South Korean lawmaker then it will be a symbolic gesture saying that South Korea’s liberal democratic system is superior to North Korea’s system.”
Hunting for causes of the surprising level of domestic apathy towards North Korean defectors in modern South Korea, Kang points out, “The disinterest and ignorance of the past Kim Dae Jung and Roh Moo Hyun administrations towards North Korean defectors made the Chinese government’s forced repatriations permanent.”
He believes, “Even while criticizing China, we simultaneously need to consult with them, prepare legal and institutional strategies and support individuals or organizations which help defectors.”
A conservative thinker, Kang believes the current administration is ‘doing well’ in not supporting North Korea, but adds that it is sad they have so far lacked the capacity to change it.
He notes, “The South Korean National Assembly not being able to pass the North Korean Human Rights Act is a shame and shows an absence of philosophy. The Saenuri Party and the government claim to have interest in human rights but they don’t do anything about it. They lack commitment and sincerity in sharing the suffering of the North Korean people.”
Kang was born in the late 60s in Pyongyang, but in 1977 when his grandfather, a former Chongryon member, was accused of treason, he and his family were sent to Yodok political prison camp for ten years. A few years after his release Kang defected to South Korea and has worked to spread the horrors of the political prison camps ever since.
His story was the subject of the 2002 book ‘Aquariums of Pyongyang’. In June 2005 he also met with former U.S. President Bush in Washington, DC.
