The Marmot’s Hole

Yoduk Story, a musical about life in a North Korean political prison, is about to start its two-city run in the United States with the support of Freedom House:

Directed by Jung Sung San, survivor of a North Korean gulag, Yoduk Story is based on real events that took place at the Yoduk prison camp in North Korea. The musical captures graphically the arbitrariness and cruelty of mankind, yet also speaks of universal hope, love and redemption, and tells the world that North Korean citizens–like the rest of humanity–yearn for freedom. Freedom House played an instrumental role in supporting the production of Yoduk Story in the United States…. 

“Based on real events, Yoduk Story embodies the hopes of the North Korean people,” said Jae Ku, director of Freedom House’s North Korea program. “This show will give Americans a sense of the hell that many North Koreans live in, and yet it also tells an inspiring story about the incredible determination of the human spirit.”

Yoduk Story is part of a wider effort on the part of Freedom House to educate the public about the situation in North Korea.  In order to raise awareness of the egregious human rights condition in North Korea and to galvanize world opinion into action, Freedom House launched an international, year-long advocacy campaign in 2005 which included four international conferences in Washington, D.C.; Seoul, Korea; Brussels, Belgium; and Rome, Italy.

(BTW, I was at the Freedom House conference in Seoul.  You can read my reports here.)

The Wall Street Journal mentions that the usually suspects are the main backers of the play during its run in the States:

The machinery behind the play’s U.S. run is in many ways a microcosm of the human-rights and faith-based organizations that are increasingly seeking to drive American foreign policy. Many of the cast’s 30 members are boarding at parishes in the Washington area for the East Coast run. And a national network of Korean-American churches, the Korean Church Coalition for North Korean Freedom, is calling on its members to buy a sizable block of the 6,000 seats currently on sale for the play’s four-night run in Los Angeles next month.

Of course, I am pretty sure that Jung would gladly accept support from liberal groups if they would offer.  After all, North Korea is one of the world’s worst human rights violators on the planet. 

Apparently nobody told Amnesty International.  They have eleven reports on South Korea so far this year (Including 3 related to the expansion of the US Army base near Pyeongtek).

So, how many reports have they done on North Korea this year?    If you said a big goose egg, you would be right.  I realize that getting access to North Korea is a problem, but nothing for almost a year?  Didn’t anyone think to interview North Korea refugees or defectors?  Couldn’t they call the Seoul office and ask them to get an intern to cobble something together?  Geez.

You can’t do nothing on North Korean human rights and then turn around and complain that the issue is dominated by Christians and right-wingers.