Message from the joint representative

I hope that someday
　　　　the sites will return to ...

 

OZAWA, Mokuri
Joint Representative
NO FENCE
(Association for the abolition of concentration camps in North Korea)

 

No one knocks on their doors. They are never able to step out of the place. In such a completely isolated world, about 200,000 prisoners are said to be confined in concentration camps in North Korea, whose lives are endangered even today.

• I cannot be certain whether such situation truly exists since I have not been to the place and witnessed it myself. Have you seen it personally?
• There are so many other unfortunate people all around the world.
• Japan may have to suffer economic consequences if you take action without due consideration.
• Such action will stimulate the Japanese people and encourage them to accept the use of armed force.
• Bashing North Korea and interfering in its domestic affairs should be avoided.
• Considering the history, Japan is not qualified to become involved. An apology and compensation should be the first priority.
• I would rather not be interested in matters other than my own life.

 

......I hear these voices from many people.

 

The issues concerning North Korea, especially its concentration camps, are thought to have a direct effect on Japanese people themselves, and they have often pretended not to know about them.

 

On the other hand, there are accounts written by people who have spent time in the camps and those who have miraculously escaped from there. Satellite pictures and testimonies of the refugees to prove the existence of the camps are also available.

 

Although there are people who still deny the reality of the camps, I do not wish that they would be imprisoned and experience the life there so that they would understand. The only ones who can rescue the people under the absolute control of the authority are us who are on the outside, and I even believe that the rescue is the mission of people with freedom. Protecting the human rights of one another among the common people can be achieved because each of us who has the right to control the state power is an ordinary citizen.

 

If we were thrown into an environment completely separated from society and controlled by state power, where absolutely no information and external influences of the general public can reach, the severe conditions could never be reduced or eliminated, but may only worsen. I am certain that the human rights of ordinary citizens cannot be protected from politics and power in the end unless we, who are also ordinary citizens, protect the rights of one another.

 

*********************

 

Flowers blossom, dragonflies fly and soft, warm sunlight shines at the sites where the North Korean concentration camps used to stand... I hope that someday the sites will return to such gentle nature, and I wish to sincerely mourn for the numerous victims of the camps. With such earnest hope in mind, I request that you join and support us. Every bit of power comes together and grows into powerful might.

 

Would you turn just a little bit of your caring thoughts into action?