No Illusions - Only Hope

Dear readers, some might say that making light of the situation on the Korean peninsula and making fun of the speech patterns of its residents is in bad taste. But, we humans tend to do such things from time to time - we look for humor in tragedy and we like to pick on each other. Go figure.

Nonetheless, "fun" and "humor" are not the first things that should come to mind when we ponder North Korea and the horrors that its people face every day. The original caption beneath that picture of Little Dictator Kim Jong-il in the last post read:

A Korean War veteran holds a defamed portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during a rally in Seoul, December 14, 2004. South Koreans protested against the North's nuclear weapons program and the South Korean government's plan to abolish the National Security Law. North Korea will find it difficult to return to nuclear talks if the United States keeps insisting Pyongyang renounce all its peaceful and military atomic activities, the North's main newspaper said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

The South Korean war veteran in that photo knows all too well the evils that have been perpetrated on his kinsmen to the north by Kim Jong-il and his father Kim il-Sung. Today, North Korea is a place where dissent is not tolerated, where refugees tell tales of resorting to cannibalism because of a lack of food, where forced abortion and infanticide are conducted in order to maintain ethnic purity, and where a 50-year-old coach was designated to bear the "unified" Korean flag in the Olympic opening ceremony because North Korean athletes weren't tall enough - their growth had been stunted by years of famine. No, there's nothing "fun" about North Korea.

One only needs to look to the south to see what "could be" for all the Korean people. South Korea is a full-fledged democracy with a bustling economy and a proud people who are never reluctant to air their opinions, as evidenced by the veteran in that photo. He was protesting his own government's policy of accomodation with the Little Dictator to the north. Chances are, he has family members in North Korea who would be imprisoned or executed for such an egregious affront.

No, the man holding that sign harbors no illusions. He knows that there can be no accomodation with a man like Kim Jong-il. He knows that his brothers and sisters who have suffered immeasurable agonies under Kim's dictatorship still possess a longing for the same freedom that he enjoys - even if that longing has been numbed by years upon years of oppression and hardship. That man with the sign harbors no illusions, but he harbors a hope that grows stronger with every life-affirming heartbeat.

Will we stand with him?

A Korean War veteran holds a defamed portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during a rally in Seoul, December 14, 2004. South Koreans protested against the North's nuclear weapons program and the South Korean government's plan to abolish the National Security Law. North Korea will find it difficult to return to nuclear talks if the United States keeps insisting Pyongyang renounce all its peaceful and military atomic activities, the North's main newspaper said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon