Freedom House Conference Closes

With 10,000 reported to be in attendance at this Saturday vigil (curiously, the estimate is of 10,000 candles, not people–I’m going out on a very short limb, then) Seoul’s North Korean human rights conference closed with a sufficiently respectable turnout to claim real momentum. This despite frigid cold and the best efforts of the South Korean government to keep turnout down.

“Restrictions from the government were so tight that we chose the form of vigil, which does not require governmental permission, instead of a rally,” a council member said. “But the president’s secretary for civil affairs still found it necessary to visit all the large churches in Seoul and ask members to refrain from participating in the vigil.

The obvious question is whether the government has made similar efforts to depress turnout at anti-American rallies, even violent ones. I’m also pleased to hear that Jay Lefkowitz addressed the crowd:

The Christian Council of Korea sponsored the event, where speakers except for Jay Lefkowitz, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights, were all protestant ministers. Lefkowitz told demonstrators the reason that Moses led the exodus from Egypt was a thirst for the freedom of religion and belief, and said now was the time to speak up for the freedom of North Koreans.

That does it–I was wrong about Lefkowitz. The U.S. is now unquestionably and publicly challenging Seoul’s appeasement of the North on human rights, something as welcome as it is overdue. What this means is that the U.S. government has probably given up on the South Korean government and is reaching directly through to the South Korean people.

In semi-related news, the Nomad has a post on a pro-U.S. demonstration in Pyongtaek that turned out a respectable 4,000.