North Korean Defector Pens Letter to Trump, Lists 8 Tips For Handling Kim Regime
A North Korean defector and human rights activist has penned a letter to president-elect Donald Trump urging him to do eight key things when he gets into office to help North Korean defectors and pressure the totalitarian Kim regime to end its systematic human rights abuses against Christians and others political prisoners.
Jung Gwang Il, a former North Korean political prisoner and founder of a South Korean-based, defector-led association that smuggles information about the outside world into information-deprived North Korea, sent the billionaire real estate mogul and next president of the United States a letter on Monday reminding the thrice-married casino owner who promised to protect religious liberty that North Korea is one of the worst violators of freedom in the world.
Jung, who leads an organization called No Chain for North Korea, wrote that he was once a "loyal member" of the North Korean communist regime until the communist government accused him of being a spy and tortured him for seven months before imprisoned him in the Yodok political prison camp for over three "hellish" years.
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As No Chain works to help liberate North Koreans by sending in factual information about how the Kim regime is really oppressing its citizens, Jung tells Trump in his letter that "North Korea will continue to be a major issue for you and your administration to deal with."
Jung offers eight suggestions for how a Trump administration should deal with North Korea, the country that Open Doors USA ranks as the No. 1 persecutor of Christians in the world.
As tens of thousands of North Koreans languish in political prisons and labor camps because they either attended a house church, proselytized, got caught trying to flee the country or spoke out against the totalitarian regime, the first suggestion that Jung offered Trump is to make human rights not "just one of the issues to be discussed, but the main issue on which all other relevant issues related to North Korea should be discussed."
Jung's second suggestion is for the Trump administration to pressure China to stop repatriating North Korean refugees back to North Korea, where they are likely to be arrested, tortured and even killed for trying to defect from the country. Additionally, Jung calls on a Trump administration "to highlight the plight of the North Korean refugee women who are sold into human trafficking situations once they escape from North Korea."
Thirdly, Jung calls on Trump to "expand support for civil society groups, human rights organizations, and North Korean defector organizations [like No Choice] in their efforts to send outside information into North Korea."
Jung's fourth suggestion is that Trump lead an effort to pass enhanced and strengthened sanctions against the the North Korean regime.
Jung also calls on Trump to work with the United Nations and the Security Council to ensure that "recommendations in the UN's Commission of Inquiry report on North Korean human rights will be carried out." Specifically, Jung wants the Trump administration to ensure that the referral of dictator Kim Jong-un for prosecution by the International Criminal Court be carried out,
The sixth suggestion in Jung's letter calls on the Trump administration to pressure countries in Europe and Asia who host North Korea's overseas workers to "hold to account not only the North Korean regime, but also the governments that cooperate with them and profited from the slave-labor of the North Korean workers."
Jung also writes that a Trump administration must "expedite the interview and vetting process for North Korean refugees who are in [third-world] countries who express a desire to seek asylum in the United States."
The eighth and final suggestion that Jung made in his letter is for the Trump administration to organize a summit for North Korean defectors, human rights activists and other experts in Washington, D.C. to give the Trump administration an opportunity to learn the full scope of the dire human rights crisis in North Korea and receive advice from the activists who are actively working to oppose the Kim regime.
"Your efforts on behalf of the freedom for the North Korean people, and on working towards the eventual reunification of the two Koreas, will be a lasting legacy of not only your presidency as 'The Reunification President,' but will also be a gift to the future generation in leaving behind a peaceful region that will be a benefit to the United States," Jung wrote.
"The United States of America is a beacon of hope and freedom to many oppressed people in the world, and with the information revolution happening inside North Korea thanks to the work of activists and defectors in sending outside information to the people, many North Koreans are more aware than ever before of what America is really like, contrary to the brainwashing and propaganda they have been taught all their lives," he added. "News of the recent election, and the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another, will be sent into North Korea via radio broadcasts, balloon leaflets, helicopter drones, and other methods, by 'No Chain' and other human rights and defector organizations."
Jung's letter comes as Trump has expressed willingness in the past to meet and speak with Kim. Although Trump said that he is willing to have open discussion with the dictator, he stressed that he would not go to North Korea.
"What the hell is wrong with speaking? And you know what? It's called opening a dialogue. It's opening a dialogue," Trump said in June.
"If he came here, I'd accept him, but I wouldn't give him a state dinner like we do for China and all these other people that rip us off when we give them these big state dinners."
Additionally, North Korean state media seems to have favored Trump for president over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. In June, a North Korean propaganda piece was written that labeled Trump as "wise politician" and Clinton as "dull."
