International North Korean Defectors’ Alliance Leaders, Including Americas Representative Ma Young-ae, Announce ‘Brussels Declaration’
On the 20th, Representative Ma Young-ae held a press conference in Flushing, New York, USA, to announce the ‘World Congress of North Korean Defectors and International Conference of World North Korean Defector Leaders’ and shared her sentiments on participating for the first time as the Americas representative.
Representative Ma stated, ‘Leaders of North Korean defector organizations from around the world will gather today to expose the tragic reality of human rights in North Korea and demand accountability and condemnation for Kim Jong Un before the international community.’ She added, ‘By representing the voices of all North Korean residents, this will be the first step in preparing alternatives for the North Korean people.’
This World Congress of North Korean Defectors and International Conference of Defector Leaders will be attended by representatives of North Korean defectors from around the world and over 200 human rights officials. It is organized by the International North Korean Alliance for Human Rights and Democracy (INKAHRD), which is headquartered in the UK.
The International North Korean Defectors’ Alliance, launched in London on October 10, 2013, with the participation of 11 organizations from 6 countries, has carried out its activities for three years under the banner of ‘North Korean Defectors Worldwide, Unite!’ and with the goal of ‘reconstruction and reform, not destruction, of North Korean society.’ Notably, in the Americas, an inauguration ceremony for the Americas representative was held in New York on November 16 last year.
Participating organizations in the alliance include the Association of North Koreans in the UK (UK), the General Association of North Korean Defectors in Europe (Belgium), the North Korean Defectors’ Human Rights Association in the Americas (USA), the Association of North Korean Exiles in the Netherlands (Netherlands), the Association of North Korean Defectors in Germany (Germany), the Association of North Korean Refugees in France (France), the General Association of North Korean Defectors in Canada, the Committee for the Democratization of North Korea (South Korea), and the Kanto North Korean Defectors’ Cooperation Association (Japan). Currently, over 20 organizations from 11 countries are participating.
Kim Joo-il, Secretary-General of the International North Korean Defectors’ Alliance, stated in a written press release, ‘Despite the concerns of the international community, the Kim Jong Un regime’s human rights violations have not diminished; instead, their cruelty and methods continue to reach extremes.’ He further claimed, ‘Kim Jong Nam, who was assassinated at Malaysia’s airport on February 13, was a test subject for North Korea’s chemical weapon, VX nerve agent.’
Secretary-General Kim also stated, ‘The Kim Jong Un regime, with no regard for the hardships of the North Korean people, is pouring vast sums of dollars into nuclear and missile tests, threatening global peace and Northeast Asian security as if it were a game.’ He added, ‘North Korean defector leaders worldwide, who risked their lives to resist the North Korean regime, have decided to hold the ‘World Congress of North Korean Defectors’ in Brussels, the capital of Belgium, to lodge a complaint against Kim Jong Un, the perpetrator of North Korean human rights violations, with the International Criminal Court (ICC), and to seek ways to improve North Korean human rights and realize democracy.’
He continued, stating, ‘The ‘Jasmine Revolution,’ the wave of democratization in the Middle East, was not simply a ‘spring’ that arrived naturally. Just as one must overcome a winter of ‘hardship’ to welcome ‘spring,’ North Korean defectors who risked their lives to experience ‘freedom’ are the most precious assets for ‘North Korea’s reform and opening’ and the main agents of ‘North Korean democratization.’ He further declared, ‘We will prepare step by step for the resolution of human rights issues and the ultimate liberation of the North Korean people.’
Meanwhile, the International North Korean Defectors’ Alliance is scheduled to announce the ‘Brussels Declaration for the 25 Million Korean People’ at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Belgium on the 25th.
The draft declaration includes
△Human rights are universal rights and freedoms that all human beings should enjoy, regardless of ethnicity, nationality, or race.
△The right to life stems from food. △Democracy is an inherent characteristic of human society. △Nuclear weapons are not a symbol of sovereignty.
△Forced repatriation, political prison camps, exploitation of overseas laborers, terrorism, human trafficking, abduction, drugs, counterfeit currency, forced begging by disabled persons, and biochemical weapons experiments are ways for North Korea to admit its own crimes as a state that violates human rights.
△The inflow of external information into North Korea is spiritual sustenance sent by the international community to make the North Korean people, suffering in the most closed hell on Earth and in the ignorance of an idol, realize what justice and truth are.
The declaration outlines seven main points, including that North Korean defectors, who risked their lives to escape and first found freedom, democracy, and human rights, will work with the international community to awaken the North Korean people and prepare for the ‘Spring of Pyongyang’.
