Press Conference on NK Human Rights Several Hours Before Obama’s Arrival in Seoul

Updated below with videos, etc.

The Association of North Korean Human Rights Organizations (ANKHRO / 북한인권단체얰합회) held a press conference today at 2 p.m. near the US Embassy in Seoul. Member groups Helping Hands Korea, Justice for North Korea, Unify Korea 2009 (which also held another event in the evening -Update: BBC–), and Christians for Social Responsibility all participated. Several North Korean defectors joined the other activists, though I wasn’t sure which individual organization(s) they came with or represented.

The occasion of course was to remind President Obama, who would be arriving in the evening for his first visit to Korea, that human rights must be on the agenda regarding North Korea.

The photo above is of a performance depicting a repatriated North Korean and her guard.

Below are a few more shots I took, and then I’ll leave you with several links to coverage I’ve found.

I took some simple videos with my little point-and-shoot camera and a couple turned out ok. I really wanted to post a snippet of Tim Peters of Helping Hands Korea reading a letter to President Obama, but when I tried to upload my little video (using my seldom used account), I got this message: “We have voluntarily disabled this functionality on kr.youtube.com because of the Korean real-name verification law.” (!) Maybe I can update this post later with video (time permitting).

Begin Update —

A video of a powerful passage of Tim’s speech (thanks usinkorea for the simple advice, I simply changed my location preference to ‘worldwide’).

Also, MBC coverage (IE only) of several demonstrations yesterday. Our press conference is from approximately 1:26-1:41. They brand us as conservative — perhaps they’re throwing us in together with a completely unrelated event that happened half an hour or an hour later on the same spot? But really, in South Korea, the knee-jerk reaction to not being “sunny” to NK is still that you must be conservative, hard-line, GNP, etc. As usual, everything is completely all-or-nothing here, and no going off the script or writing a new one. No room for making a distinction between the NK people and the NK government.

Begin Add’l Update —

Video footage from the Chosun Ilbo website. The first 1:35 is our event, then they cover the group of older Korean men who demonstrated later in the same spot who came to support Obama and the US-ROK alliance. The legitimately can be labeled conservative.

— End Updates

First, photos from Western media outlets:

– Two defectors holding signs (REUTERS/Choi Bu-Seok)

– The performance (REUTERS/Choi Bu-Seok)

– The performance (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Articles and photos from Korean outlets:

– 북한동포 위한 불 밝히자! – The third photo is of yours truly before the event (it’s a shame — my sign makes no sense to non-Americans) and the fourth is of Tim reading his letter.
– “오ë°”마, 북한인권 위해 행동하라” – The last photo shows Tim and the leader of ANKHRO, Pastor Kim Gyu-ho, delivering the letter to the US embassy.

– Defectors holding sign (NEWSIS)

– Great photo of Tim (NEWSIS)

Incidentally, one way to “get involved” from afar is simply by providing fresh, clever ideas for signs, banners, t-shirts, etc. And, of course, if more than just text is needed, doing related design work. This always comes to mind the night before an event when one inevitably will get writer’s block! Adam Cathcart provided a great idea along these lines one time to me in a comment somewhere. If anyone has any ideas they’re willing to share, please leave a comment (or email me). Thanks. Update: I should add that, while I certainly welcome English ideas, catchy Korean ideas are at a premium!