A crusade for North Korean human rights
Published: 21 Oct. 2024, 19:39
Updated: 21 Oct. 2024, 19:41
Chang Se-jeong
The author is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo.
The Berlin Wall, a symbol of the division between East and West Germany, came down on Nov. 9, 1989. In March 1990, the first and last free election took place in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). On Aug. 31 of that year, the Unification Treaty was signed between the German Democratic Republic and Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), and Germany was officially reunited on Oct. 3. It was a historic event that took place 34 years ago.
The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin symbolized the oppression and control of the communist regime during the period of German division. About one kilometer (0.62 mile) south of the gate is the North Korean Embassy in Germany. A spontaneous gathering of Berliners calling for human rights improvement in North Korea has been held in front of the embassy every week since Sept. 11, 2009. It started with just two people, but now there are as few as five and as many as 10 protesters at the hour-long rally every Thursday from 2 p.m. onward.
Most of them are men and women aged between their 50s and 80s, and they have various vocations, including former and current social workers, doctors, teachers, economists, singers, architects and pastors. The rallies later led to protests demanding Pyongyang to release three South Korean pastors following their abductions starting with Kim Jung-wook in October 2013 and Kim Kook-kie and Choi Chun-gil in 2014, who had been accused of espionage.
The rally begins with a joint reading of the Bible’s Proverbs 31:8 — “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.” Then the participants chant slogans.
“Freedom for North Korean Christians! Rice for North Koreans instead of nukes! Plenty of food for all the people in the North! Dismantle all concentration camps! Freedom of speech for North Koreans! Freedom to travel for North Koreans! Human rights for North Koreans! Freedom for Kim Jung-wook! Freedom for Kim Kook-kie! Freedom for Choi Chun-gil! Kim Il Sung is not a god! Kim Jong-un must stop developing nuclear bombs and missiles!” The participants carry pickets and megaphones and shout slogans in German and English repeatedly. Each time, they conclude the rally after singing a hymn.
I was able to contact Gerda Ehrlich, an 85-year-old woman who has been organizing the rally for 16 years. A native of East Germany who lived about 400 meters away from the Berlin Wall, she said she decided to take action after hearing a lecture exposing North Korea’s religious repression. Remembering the horrific concentration camps of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime, she became interested in human rights in North Korea after hearing testimonies from North Korean defectors about concentration camps in the country.
North Korean embassy members threatened her that her actions are meaningless, took photos of the rallies and complained to the German Foreign Ministry, but she never wavered in her commitment to continue rallies in accordance with the law. “We are just doing what we can do with our Christian charity and sense of justice,” she said humbly.
Lee Myeong-suk, a 75-year-old former nurse who had been dispatched to Germany in 1972, is the only Korean to join the rally. She has been living in Berlin for 14 years and said she was moved by the German people’s faithfulness to promote human rights in the North with the belief that it was a God-given mission for other people. According to Lee, Ehrlich was diagnosed with cancer last year and underwent surgery, but she has since recovered well and is still leading the rally.
Kim Jung-sam, 63, the elder brother of the abducted missionary Kim Jung-wook, expressed his gratitude. “I am greatly comforted by the love and grace of the people of Berlin who are still working to confirm my brother’s life and repatriate him even though 11 years have passed since his abduction,” he said.
It is deeply moving to see the courageous actions of Berliners for the kidnapped Korean missionaries and the North Koreans under oppression. It is also shameful to see the National Assembly, which enacted the North Korea Human Rights Act in 2016 but has yet to launch the North Korean Human Rights Foundation.
In his letter to Erlich November last year, Unification Minister Kim Young-ho wrote, “I express my deepest respect and gratitude to all of you for demonstrating the spirit of German Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who said, ‘Silence in the face of evil is itself evil.’” Kim sent each of the 13 protesters scarves personalized with their names as Christmas gifts last year.
After hearing the news that a dark cloud was cast over Korean reunification because the North declared that the two Koreas are “two hostile nations at war,” Erlich responded as following.
“If you look back at the reunification of Germany, Erich Honecker, then-head of state of East Germany, said on Jan. 19, 1989 that the Berlin Wall would stand for another 100 years. But contrary to his expectation, the Berlin Wall came down in less than 10 months and Germany was reunified. The unpredictable happened according to God’s words. We are praying for Korean unification under the democratic government [of the South]. Please don’t give up your efforts for reunification using non-violent struggles and all other possible methods. And if you believe in God, pray.”
Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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