Core North Korean Democratization Movement Holds Its Annual Rally

[imText1]North Korean human rights civil organizations and related student members gathered for a rally for North Korean democratization.

Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights, Democracy Network Against North Korean Gulag, and University Student’s Alliance for North Korean Democracy held their fourth “The Rally for North Korean Democratization,” in which more than three hundred activisits and student members participated.

As the rally was took place in the crucial time where North Korean nuclear problem is seriously aggravated and the world’s attention is focused on North Korea, the participants’ determination for the North Korean democratization was ever more renewed.

The rally was proceeded in the order of visual presentation on human rights situation in North Korea, student performances, and reading of statement.
In his speech, Han Ki Hong, the director of Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights, stated, “When we first set our hearts for North Korean democratization, we were only a minority, but now the demand for the realization of North Korean human rights and democratization is continuously rising from many parts of the world.”

He also added, “We must be assured of the fact that the realization of democracy in the land of North Korea is the true path to the progress and peace of the present era and thus we must gather more strength and determination.”

Kim Young Hwan, the chief editor of Zeitgeist stated in his speech, “For the last twenty years Kim Jong Il continued the nuclear development for his system and regime maintenance, but it will only lead to his regime collapse.”

Kim added, “The current time is the most dangerous yet precious period for the history of the Korean peninsula of five decades.” He further urged, “We must have a firm belief and flaming love for the victory of democracy and justice and walk the path to the North Korean democracy and human rights realization.”

The participants adopted together a statement at the end of the rally, which was read out by Commissioner Kim Tae Jin of “The Special Commission for the Dismantlement of North Korean Gulags,” a branch organ of “Democracy Network Against North Korean Gulag.”