Kang Chol Hwan Reception with Republicans & Democrats Abroad

I’ve been anticipating the Flying Yangban’s full report on this event, only to have Andy e-mail me and show that I’ve been looking in the wrong place. I’ll borrow just one quote before encouraging you to go off and read the whole thing yourself.

“[The South Korean Government] should have asked for transparency in return for the food aid,” Kang said in a speech to a crowd comprised largely of foreigners living in Seoul.

“That kind of attitude is extending the tyranny in North Korea and is extending the suffering of the North Korean people,” he said in his first major speech since returning to South Korea….

“The North Korea regime can say ‘no’ to international assistance because they can get all the help they need from South Korea,” Kang said through an interpreter….

To me, food distribution is starting to eclipse every other human rights issue, just as it is illustrative of, emblematic of every other human rights issue.