Two strange scenes indeed.

Scene 1. North Korean human rights activists Kim Young Hwan, Yoo Jae Kil, Kang Sin Sam and Lee Sang Yong are being detained in Dandong. Just across the river is North Korea. The Chinese have not yet said a word about the reason why these South Korean men are being detained. Without any specific reason they have been suffering for 80 days now. Just a short interview with a consul; they have not been allowed to meet a lawyer or their family members.

These South Korean men sacrificed themselves for the better lives of 24,000,000 North Koreans, but were arrested by the Chinese police. What did they do wrong?

Scene 2. A South Korean lawmaker who seems short on intelligence calls defectors ‘turncoats’ for risking their lives to get away from one of the worst dictatorships in history.

Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il’s followers (the United Progressive Party) are now South Korean lawmakers. This ‘infiltration’ has become the ‘legislation’ itself. South Korean law cannot see them put in custody. There is no way to block people who seem to need psychological assistance from acting as lawmakers in South Korea. Republic of Korea, what on earth is wrong with you?

South Korea is faced with a huge contradiction today. I wonder what historians will record about this bizarre scene 20 to 30 years from now.

Even though it is too late, I still want to confirm. How did those who advocated for freedom, human rights and democracy end up calling defectors ‘turncoats’ for escaping North Korea?

Who will reveal the truth?

I think that the truth will only be revealed by the countless defectors now coming to South Korea. When a defector is around, pro-North people tend to keep their voices low. They are afraid that the defectors will reveal the truth. The people who are most afraid of the truth on the Korean Peninsula are the North Korean leader, the privileged Pyongyang people who still desperately safeguard the Kim Jong Eun dictatorship, and also North Korea’s followers in South Korea.

The truth as told by defectors marks the end of the political lives of these people. Indeed it is very frightening to them. North Korean defectors are a scary predator for these people. 50 million South Koreans and most of the 24 million North Koreans wish to reveal the truth. They have no fear of the truth.

What is freedom? It is to think of the way situations and objects are and speak the truth of that! That is what freedom is. This does not exist in North Korea, only in South Korea. It is the difference between the two.

North Korean defectors surely must represent the 24 million brethren they left behind. If they speak the truth and have the courage to act then it will give hope to the brothers whom they left behind. It is also a way of showing respect to other human beings living in the same era. Isn’t that the exact reason why they risked their lives to cross the Yalu and the Tumen?