Complete disclaimer - this was sent to me from a fairly respectable source that claims it is “The first direct email from Robert Park.” I can not verify if it is real or not – but I am posting it because some of you might find it of interest.
Am very sorry to you. This is my first direct email — I have been tormented and I apologize for my insane behaviour lately. A friend has been managing my email account.
I don’t call people easily because of my spiritual condition — I’ve had bouts of rage and intense temptations to kill myself (because of inner torture) since leaving DPRK.
Here is what I need by tomorrow evening, if you can help me:
DPRK flag, lighter
A notebook of picture evidence of the North Korean Human Rights Crisis and Genocide (I will be going through the pages while speaking in the interview)
Two Signs:
“CHINA – INTERNATIONAL LAWBREAKER”
“CHINA – STOP MURDERING REFUGEES”
Hmmm, it seems that Tom Coyner and Kushibo have also blogged about it….Tom and I seem to be on the same mailing list….lol.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
With all due respect, he seems to be a bit of a nutter.
Just a bit.
It sounds like he has something to say about his time spent in DPRK. I guess being tortured in North Korea (if he was) would affect anybody. He must have been brave/foolish/crazy for entering in the first place, but I would still like to hear how the North Koreans convinced him to leave while apologising for being “taken in by the false rumours spread by the West…” (Not in too much detail).
@ 1 & 2
I think the “nutter” comments miss the point. If there were indications that he was unstable before he left for NK (and judging from the extended video interviews it certainly seems that there were) then there was some responsibility for those around him, and even those interviewing him, to try to keep him out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzXRnFHqS0k
I support the view that people have the right to make their own choices in life, perhaps even life ending choices, but it must be clear that it is actually a free and well-considered choice. And just as crucial, where that choice will significantly affect others (as was clearly the case here despite Park’s zealous readiness to take all sufferings on himself), the duty to examine the choice and its consequences is higher than ever.
It’s clear that he was longing to sacrifice himself for the good of others as a Christian. But I’d like to know whether his Christian brethren sufficiently challenged his view that crossing over would be confined to an act of self-immolation. The belief that Park would be able to control the outcome and significance of his actions was beyond naive. I’d say we are lucky that things turned out as they did, they could have gone very badly. Park was able to accomplish to a certain extent his goal of raising consciousness but the risk to others was too high for him to roll the dice on his own.
The way I see it, Park’s passion and care for the well-being of the North Korean people is laudable, as is his effort to raise awareness of the DPRK human rights record. When his identification with the suffering of those in prison camps led him to voluntarily cross the border, I did not consider it to be a brave act to confront Kim Jong Il, but a pathetic effort to get attention. Finally, when he appeared grand volte face in a press conference “repenting” of insinuating that the DPRK had anything less than full freedom of religion, I was dismayed that many commentators struggled to make sense of his actions and quickly wrote him off as a *confirmed* lunatic. I guess that was inevitable in this supposedly post-communist world at a time when many people have no living memory of how these iron curtain press conferences work. What people should be asking is what kind of pressure did they put on this pathetic self-styled missionary? My guess, they showed fresh photos of the children of his family members and made some pretty unambiguous threats. (Side note: one of the first things DPRK interrogators ask is for the accused to draw their family tree and list their addresses).
By the way, this month’s issue of 統一評論 (the pro-North Zainichi political journal published in Japan by Chongryun) has its official explanation of what supposedly happened in an article titled “The Repentance of Robert Park and Christianity in the North” (「ロバート・パーク氏の反省と以北のキリスト教」). It also contains a Japanese translation of his full confession (i.e., the staged press conference where he denounced those who had spread the “lies” about the existence of concentration camps and persecution of Christians in the DPRK). The author (洪晶子) was quick to point out that ruthless “Christian brokers” are enticing most of the “alleged escapees” (“脱北者”) and suggests that it serves their interest to concoct stories aimed at garnering sympathy from hoodwinked donors.
The real question is whether Park is going to hold another press conference to renounce his first one. It doesn’t look like Larry King has called him…
Perhaps his nuttiness was mistaken for religious fanaticism…
“DPRK flag, lighter” I really don’t know why I bursted out laughing after reading that. Perhaps im a bit of a nutter to.
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