North Korean defector and Chosun Ilbo journalist Kang Chol-hwan, the author of the very powerful “Aquariums of Pyongyang,” got to throw the bull with U.S. President George W. Bush for 40 minutes today. Kang was invited to the White House after President Bush read the author’s memoirs of his childhood growing up in North Korea’s Yodok Prison Camp. From the WaPo:
President Bush met privately yesterday with a well-known North Korean defector who spent 10 years in a prison camp and has since become an outspoken critic of his homeland’s government, a move that could provoke Pyongyang just as it was reviving stalled nuclear talks.
Bush invited Kang Chol Hwan, a journalist and director of the Democracy Network Against North Korean Gulag, to visit with him in the Oval Office and recount his tale of suffering in North Korea, where he was arrested in 1977 at age 9 and had to eat rats, cockroaches and snakes to survive. The White House did not list the meeting on the president’s public schedule, but a spokesman later confirmed it.
According to aides, Bush has been fascinated with Kang’s story ever since he began reading the former prisoner’s book, “The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in a North Korean Gulag,” published in English in 2001. Bush has recommended the book to senior White House and Bush administration officials, who have been poring through it lately as well.
“He found the book compelling and wanted to talk to the author,” said spokesman Frederick L. Jones II. “These are issues that are of great interest to the president — freedom and democracy.”
Kang wrote his own account of the meeting for the Chosun Ilbo (Korean). Definitely feel-good material for Bush supporters, but also interesting to get a defector’s view on the North Korea issue. I’ve translated the meat of the account below.
President Bush’s first question was, “If you were the President of the U.S., what would you do about North Korea?” When I thought about it later, he had asked the most important question first, and I was surprised by it. I told him the opinions of several high-ranking North Korean defectors I had met and my own opinions. “If I were U.S. president, I would first convince China - as difficult as it may be - to stop forcefully repatriating North Korean defectors, and secondly, I would cooperate with the international community to work to close North Korea’s prison camps. I would resolve the nuclear issue after solving these two issues first.” After I had said this, I explained, “This is because the North Korean nuclear issue is an important issue in international relations, but from the position of residents in North Korea, the human rights issue is more important than the nuclear issue.”
President Bush said, “I sympathize [with that position]… I will work to improve human rights in North Korea, and in order to do this, I will have many people read you books.” He said, “I think the North Korean human rights issue is very important, but it appears people around me are still unfamiliar with the situation.”
What left a deep impression from our conversation was President Bush’s frank expressions of deep interest in North Korean citizens. He said, “What crimes have the citizens of North Korea committed? The pregnant women and children suffering from starvation are too pitiable. So we aren’t linking humanitarian aid with political issues, and we have sent much rice aid to the North.” He also asked, “Do the South Korean people know of the realities in North Korea? Why are they not furious about human rights abuses in North Korea?”
During our 40-minute conversation, I got the strong feeling that President Bush views the North Korean system and its leader separate from the North Korean people. Toward the North Korean citizens, he felt compassion and sympathy, and he had the strong intention to provide humanitarian aid, while on the other hand, his views of the North Korean regime and its leader were as firm as they were in the past. And about the nuclear issue, one could detect from time to time his resolve.
When the interview was about to end, President Bush - expressing interest in my family - asked if anyone in my family was still in North Korea. Seeing the wedding band on my finger, he asked if I was married. When I told him my wife was pregnant, he asked God to bless my child to be. I don’t remember exactly what he said, but the president talked about his ideas about “righteousness” and “faith,” and he once again praised my courage for informing people of the situation in North Korea. He said, “I want all Americans to read this book and learn about the real situation in North Korea.”
Before I left the Oval Office, President Bush brought over his copy of my book and asked that I sign it. I wrote, “I thank you for showing interest in North Korean human rights.” Finally, we took one more photo together and he said, “I look forward to meeting you again and don’t lose courage.”
I believe that President Bush’s sympathy and interest in North Korean human rights alone has given great hope to the 200,000 political prisoners locked up inside North Korea’s prison camps. I’m most glad that I was able to make the realities of the prison camps known worldwide, having defected to South Korea with that goal. Meeting with President Bush, I hoped that the countless, nameless souls who wrongly perished inside the camps were consoled, if even just a little.
Here’s to hope.
22 Comments
Perhaps I’m reading too much into this, but I found the timing interesting, given Roh’s recent visit and the Roh Administration’s stance towards defectors. A subtle jab?
I was wondering about that, too….
This is a fascinating story. It seems as if W really does take a personal interest in what’s happening in NK.
Between this post and the Marmot’s next “Must Read,” here’s a scenario:
Might the day come when a democratic North Korealed by former dissidents who recall the lack of support they received from the Southis in a strong alliance with the US, while South Korea is toe-to-toeing it with China?
Two Must Reads at Marmots
Two must read articles at the Marmot’s Hole.
First, President Bush meets a North Korean defector for a private, 40 minute discussion…
There is also an important tangential connection here to W’s personal beliefs.
Up until the end of the Japanese colonial period, Pyongyang was known as the “Jerusalem of the East,” due to its having the largest concentration of Protestant Christians in Korea.
Today, according to various online articles (by Andrei Lankov and others), Christians both inside and outside of North Korea play a pivotal role in, among other things, aiding defectors.
More generally, Christians were disproportionately overrepresented in, for example, the March 1st and overseas independence movements during the Japanese colonial period.
Indeed, the role that Christianity has historically played in Korea stands in stark contrast to many other non-European countries. In Korea, it has long been a source for liberation and positive social transformation.
…Okay, okay, one more historical note. Christianity in Korea has never had the baggage that weighed it down in some former European colonies, not least because its first inroad into Korea was completely initiated by Koreans themselves.
A group of Chosn-dynasty scholars who were disaffected with contemporary Confucian life sent one of their number to China to learn what he could about this new religion that had been brought there by the Jesuits. When we returned, the result was the development of Ch’#335njugyo, a spontaneous, indigenous form of Catholicism that sowed the seeds of the religion’s at times turbulent growth over the next several centuries.
What can I say? It’s an interesting topic.
…Make that “Ch’njugyo….”
Two “Must Reads”
I agree; both this post and this one over at The Marmot’s Hole are must reads if you have even the slightest interest in what happens in this part of the world.
[...] day, but here is a roundup of news and views that caught my eye: President Bush had a chat with a North Korean gulag survivor In ot [...]
Ch?€™??njugyo has a 200 year history here in Korea and despite the fact that it was banned and people caught practicing it were put to death, it was successfully spread by the hangari peddlers that traveled from city to city and village to village selling their wares, pots and salvation. I think the introduction of Protestantism via missionaries like the Underwoods in the late 19th century is an equally interesting part of Korean history. There is a book that I read titled ?€?So I Married a Korean?€™ about an American woman that married a Korean minister that came to the US to study in the 1930s and how she returned to Korea during the time of the Japanese occupation to live.
I am not going to say that I am impressed with W, that would be far too generous but I will say that it is about time he present a side of America that I would think most Americans hope others would see. I will say that I thought it beyond his capability to even comprehend that there are people in the world other than Americans and terrorists, let alone to read a personal account of the suffering that takes place in NK. I also think that it is noteworthy that he was so touched that he invited this guy all the way to the Whitehouse and took time out of his busy day to meet with him and ask his opinion on matters. If it had been better published, I would have applauded the PR agency that put it all together because it does make him look much better than he normally does-it would have been a very nice image booster for him, particularly here in Asia.
I think Mr. Kang?€™s ideas on how to handle the issue are very telling. Certainly, they are not what most people think about when it comes to handling the NK nuke issue and its possible repercussions. They would be difficult, however, for anyone on the outside to effective implement any changes. The book sounds interesting, I may read it myself.
this is the bomb-or literally could be.
bush has always been a “liberator.” unfortunately, he often jumps at liberation before it being prudent…
this could be more telling than anything else in terms of showing us his resolve to bring kim down. although portrayed as a deeply religious crackpot, w is also known to those around him as a deeply concerned, sensitive and compassionate man trying to do “what’s right.” if it comes down to liberating “the good people of korea” because it’s “right”, w will do it.
the christians were not only overrepresented in the march first movement. the christians were chiefly responsible for organizing, funding and implementing the resistance-the foreign christian community here playing a major role.
What I also find telling is the first question that was posed by Bush ?€œIf you were the President of the U.S., what would you do about North Korea??€?. Just the fact that he had the sense to ask such a question indicates that the man may have a little more wisdom than one think.
Agree with R. Elgin.
First reaction to the post was, “Bush read the book!?” I commend him for it and meeting with the author. Its a great read. I also agree with the author’s sentiments about what to do–even though the Chinese probably won’t listen.
This whole fascinating story reveals a side of W that is not publicly highly visible. There seems to be a depth and sensitivity here that the media (or W’s handlers?) do a pretty good job of hiding, for the most part.
Curious wrote:This whole fascinating story reveals a side of W that is not publicly highly visible. You mean that he’s not illiterate? (It wouldn’t be his fault, really, if he were illiterate, not since Dan Quayle tried to stamp out literacy.
)
Dubya’s sensitive side about North Korean refugees is not exactly unknown… witness his comment about having a visceral dislike of Kim Jong-il.
Well, that’s one thing (saying he personally loathes KJI). But summoning Mr. Kang for a private discussion, earnestly asking for and listening to his opinions, and confiding in him his own views? That’s something else entirely.
jab not so subtle
Tony,
You got it. This is a clear rebuke to Roh Moo-Hyun. Also consider the statements that Christopher Hill other U.S. negotiators made at Congress early this week.
The Bush-Roh summit was a photo-op; there was no substantive meeting of minds.
Typically for the Roh administration, Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon blows off the importance of Bush reading that book, and by extension the importance of the book’s claims:
http://english.chosun.com/w21d.....50022.html
I’m sure people in Washington will be pleased to hear that the S.K. gov’t “downplayed” the significance of Bush’s meeting with Kang Chol-hwan….
Has the world gone mad? Bush seems to be truly concerned about the plight of the North Korean people (as evidenced by the fact he took 40 minutes out of an incredibly packed schedule to meet Kang Chol Hwan). But here in Korea the self-proclaimed human rights lawyer, and now President of South Korea, would rather not discuss the atrocities afflicting his fellow Koreans up north.
What next? Will Dick Cheney join GreenPeace? Will President Roh will resign and start working as a Fox News commentator?
Will Kim Jong-il don a leather miniskirt and a Hooter’s T-shirt?
Isn’t that ironic? In Guantanamo Bay, the United States allow themselves to deny basic rights to foreign nationals (guilty or innocent) that even the worst criminals at home have. I’ve had the unfortunate pleasure to experience the social impact of Timothy McVeigh (Oklahoma City bombing) during my highschool years. The prisoners kept in Guantanamo Bay are more dangerous than Richard Steve Goldberg, Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic, Charles Manson, James Earl Ray and many others? Says who? They all get their trial, but not the ones at Guantanamo Bay. And even if they are more dangerous (you are free to argue with that) why does that circumstance make them outlaws? President George W. Bush should first address human right abuses like Gitmo first since this is hurting the United States credibility in the world more than anything else.