North Korea Freedom Day Rally Statements (Transcribed)

April 28, 2006

Washington, D.C., USA

North Korea Freedom Coalition Chairman Suzanne Scholte, Opening Remarks: I welcome you all and I thank the Lord for listening to the cries of our hearts for the suffering of the North Korean people.  As many of you know this whole week has been devoted to North Korea Human Rights.  We have tried to accomplish two things in addition to standing up for the freedom, human rights and dignity of the North Korean people, and that was to expose for the first time in a Congressional hearing the criminal activity of the Kim Jong Il regime and how this regime not only abuses the North Korean people but is also a drug trafficker and a counterfeiter and a rogue regime.  In a second hearing we wanted to accomplish for the first time a hearing that focused on the fact that Kim Jong Il does not just abuse the people of North Korea he also abuses the people of other countries including kidnapping Japanese citizens, South Korean citizens and citizens of other nations.  We were able to accomplish that yesterday during a congressional hearing.  This morning I am very pleased to let you all know that President Bush met with several defectors from North Korea as well as Sakie Yokota. He met this morning with the Han Mee family, he met with Kim Seung Min, the director of Free North Korea Radio and he met with Sakie Yokota, mother of Megume Yokota.

We are very encouraged by the responses that we have had from our government in raising the banner of the North Korea human rights issues.  As we have been saying repeatedly about the six party talks: “If Kim Jong Il will not allow the World Food Program to monitor our food aid, why do you think he will ever allow you to inspect his nuclear programs?”  Therefore, the cry must be human rights!  It must be the first thing on our agenda, on any agenda, in any discussion with North Korea.  That is what we are calling for today, as one voice, the voice of people of many faiths and many nationalities.

Pastor Joshua “Gill” Chung, Opening Prayer: [02:19] Shall we pray? Let’s bow our heads together. Almighty God, our beloved Heavenly Father, today we gather before You, with the heartfelt desire and burden for the restoration of human rights and freedom in North Korea. We thank you Lord for the freedom and prosperous life we enjoy today. Especially the unlimited freedom to worship You. We pray for North Koreans, who are being persecuted and being tortured to death, because of their religious and political beliefs. Thousands of them, including the children and elderly are starving to death now, because of the evil Kim Jung Il dictatorship. Many young women are being sold as sex slaves. How long oh Lord will you wait for this tragedy to end? We remember when the Israelites suffered under the Pharaoh of Egypt. You heard their cry and delivered them from slavery. Have mercy oh Lord on our brothers and sisters in North Korea. At this very moment, thousands of North Korean defectors don’t know where to go. We pray that those defectors be granted refugee status in the United States. Remove the evil regime in North Korea quickly oh Lord. Restore the country as one with freedom and your overflowing righteousness. So every soul in North Korea can worship you without any fear. Bless our country our Lord and our leaders. Especially our president, senators, and representatives, and advisors. Grant them your wisdom and understanding. May America continue to be your instrument to bring peace and justice. We also ask you bless South Korea, Japan, and other many nations, for they also can be your instruments to bring your justice. Bless each and every speaker today and may their messages be that of hope and encouragement to the North Koreans and a wake up call to the world. We thank you Lord for the North Korean Freedom Coalition and North Korea Exile Committee, those who prepared for this rally, also those supporters for this human rights matter. We thank you for their diligent endeavors and their compassion to the North Koreans. We ask you to continue to bless them. Bless everyone who is here today. May we sense your presence and power here today. We pray in the name of the Lord. Amen.

Congressman Ed Royce: [05:45] Thank you Suzanne, thank you it’s good to be with you. As Suzanne has shared with you I chaired the inter-parliamentary exchange between the United States and the government of South Korea and I have over a number of years and in the trips that we have taken to South Korea we have had an opportunity to sit down and meet with those who have survived the gulags and who have survived the camps in North Korea and have escaped; and they have shared with us the torture, the killings, just what their daily existence was like in that regime. We also and I have to thank Young Kim whose with us here today. Young Kim helped us organize these trips. Thank you Young. We also had an opportunity to sit down with a former Minister of Propaganda from North Korea and he shared with us his observations having both served the father and the son, Kim Jung Il and Kim Il Sung and he told us about how the leader had made the decision not to feed the population but instead put the money into armaments, particularly into developing atomic weapons, and how over a period over several years in the 90’s the situation got so dire, well we now know that close to two million human beings starve to death in North Korea during that period of time. Now the question that we have to ask ourselves and this is why this rally is occurring today is “What are we going to do as part of the international community to call attention to this?” My father was with the seventh army when they went into Dachau and he took photographs of what he saw in the death camps there and those photographs are not too different than some of the photographs that I’ve seen of the camps on North Korea and one of the questions my father asked me is “I wonder why on the radio we never told people in the west about what was going on inside those camps while Jews and others were being exterminated by the Nazi leadership, what kind of responsibility did those of us have on our shoulders that knew or suspected what was going on? Well in this case we do know. We know what is happening in North Korea and so we have a responsibility and because of that we have sat down and formed the International Parliamentarians Coalition on North Korean Refugees and Human Rights. We have met several meetings now. In Korea we have met, in Japan we have met, in Mongolia there’s been a meeting. Representatives from the EU, from Japan, from South Korea, from the United States and we have begun to say “Alright, what was done in the past to confront this type of totalitarian regime and change it.” And the conclusions we reached was that we need to do several things. One, hold rallies like this one today so the public understands the enormity of the loss of life that’s going on in North Korea, understands what it’s like for mothers who have their children abducted, what it’s like for people who have tried to escape from the north only to be repatriated because China turned them back and they’ve watched their brother be shot and then sent to a camp. We need people to understand and once the public understands, then we need to do something else. We need to broadcast into North Korea in the same way that we broadcasted into Poland, in Hungary and the former Soviet Union. Why? Because the leaders of those countries, today, Lech Walesa and Vaclev Havel, those who came to change the countries tell us that’s the most effective thing we can do, get information in so they people really knew what was happening inside their country and around the rest of the world. Will you help us do this? Will you help us mobilize members of Congress? And we are delighted that the President met today with some of those who have escaped and with the parents of some of those who have been abducted. We are delighted but we all need to do more and each of you have on your shoulders the responsibility of making certain that years from now that you don’t sit back and wonder when the camps are finally open and the numbers are shown to us in terms of the number of human beings that perished. You don’t have to ask yourselves, “Why did I sit on the couch watching television. You’ll know that you were out fighting for change and there’s very real interest in the world in terms of seeing this change in North Korea, because leaving it in the hands of a man that would do this to his own people, the ability to develop atomic weapons, is not a wise course of action. Lets start the momentum to change society in North Korea by giving the people in that country access for information and by mobilizing the rest of the world to put pressure on China to end it’s unconscionable position of not of repatriation back to North Korea. Let’s put pressure on North Korea to change and let’s do it together. Suzanne, thank you for your leadership on this.

Council Woman Eriko Yamatani (Japan) Liberal Democratic Party, Parliamentary Secretary: [11:50] Thank you. I would like to say a few words. Our objection is the horrible breach of human rights. We must rescue the victims. They should be returned. We believe they are still alive in North Korea. Some have pointed out that victims abducted by North Korea include not only Japanese nationals, but citizens from many other nations. Some claim that there may be victims of up to twelve different nationalities. In the past few days, I have talked to members of the US Government and Congress. Throughout these meetings, I have found great interest among both the US Government and Congress, as well as immense support toward the Japanese government….. Well, I will read my favorite poem:

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand. One belonging to him and the other to the Lord.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times of his life.

This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it. Lord you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me.

The Lord replied, my precious son, my precious child, I Love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.

Justice, fairness, and love. We must rescue them…..God bless and thank you.

Vice Minister of the Japan Foreign Ministry Akiko Yamanaka: [15:15] Friends and colleagues, I am Akiko Yamanaka. As not only as Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs for Japan, but as a mother of two sons, let me add a few words. Of the fifteenth of November, 1977, a girl disappeared from her hometown in Japan. She was 13 and her name was Megumi. It was a sunny morning like today, but her mother said, “Put on a coat, it will be cold when you come back home.” She was a member of her school sport team. She was supposed to spend a couple of hours after school practicing in the gym. She said, “That’s ok for today Mom. I will leave it home.” That’s what her mother, Mrs. Yokota heard from her loved daughter the last time. She never came back home, at least until now. My friends, I said that was what Megumi Yokota said the last time. Can you really make it Megumi’s last time? Can we really? Tens of more from Japan, from South Korea and other parts of the world, Pyongyang kidnapped and took to the North. We shall take back home all of them. So join me again everyone. We shall take back home all of them. We shall take back home all of them. One more time please. We shall take back home all of them. Thank you very much. Thank you all. We have a lot left to do. Let’s walk and let’s work together.

Congressman Shu Watanabe (Japan) Democratic Party of Japan: [18:11] Good afternoon everyone I am Shu Watanabe of Japanese Parliamentary, belonging to the Democratic Party of Japan. I have asked you to give your support behind the force to release those Japanese students, who have been abducted by the North Koreans and who have still not returned home. The families of the victims have spent decades of sleepless nights worrying about the whereabouts of their loved ones. Innocent Japanese students going about their everyday, lives on Japanese soil, were suddenly speeded away by North Korea agents and they are still being held today. This is a violation of Japan’s national sovereignty and moral world. The kidnapping of students of one nation by another nation to be used in the training of intelligence operatives is a despicable act that offends the universal human balance of human rights. Can we afford to turn a blind eye to such behavior? In 2002, when Prime Minister Koizumi visited North Korea, North Korean leader, Kim Jung Il admitted that five of the alleged abductees were alive in North Korea and finally permitted them to return home for a visit. When the abductees refused to return to North Korea and expressed their desire to remain in their native land, North Korea accused Japan of breaking promises. Their argument amounted to saying that freed hostages should be returned to their kidnappers. In what country? On earth, what such laws could be understood? This is a that the fall of North Korea dictator, Kim Jung Il and that the people who live, who live there have no freedom at all…..shoot North Korean students have to risk their lives crossing the river that forms their countries’ border in order to seek asylum in the neighboring country. To the freedoms of thought, political belief, and speech permitted in a democracy are not possible in North Korea….Let’s giving a helping hand to his people, who are living under a regime that forces its own students to flee for their lives. We need to resolve the all abduction cases not just those Japanese students and put pressure on Kim Jung Il, so that North Korea can develop into a country that protects human rights and freedom that are accepted throughout the world. Let’s continue to work, determinely throughout this course along with likeminded people from around the world. We have to change the leader of North Korea. We have to change the North Korean regime. I call on you to fight for the people suffering under the current North Korean regime. Thank you very much.

Congressman Keiji Furuya: [23:26] Good afternoon. It is my honor to speak on this historical day to fight on the North Korean abduction issue, because Ms. Yakota the representative of family abductees and defectors from North Korea, were honored to meet President Bush this morning at the White House on this issue. Let me introduce myself, I am Keiji Furuya, a member of the Japanese House of Representatives, serving as a Secretary General of the Parliamentary League on the North Korean abduction issue. I am visiting Washington this time as a representative of the Parliamentary League, which consist of 212 members from Japan’s Parliament. The members of this parliament league are banded together to take the standpoint of abduction victims and their families and fully resolve the abduction issue and state sponsored terrorism by North Korea, rather by Kim Jung Il himself. You must realize that North Korea is the one and only nation with no democracy, no human rights, no freedom of information, no proper government. Another fact that I would like all of you to realize that the abduction victims are not only from Japan and South Korea, but also from Thailand, Lebanon, France, etcetera, etcetera. Even possibly from the United States, spreading to twelve nations throughout the world. While diplomacy requires the combination of dialogue and pressure. The issue remains far from resolution, despite the repatriation of some abduction victims following Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visit to North Korea about three years ago. Since then North Korea has failed to show any sincerity to Japanese efforts for dialogue. Providing the cremated remains of unrelated persons as those of already deceased Japanese abduction victims and refuting the result of DNA testing as a complete fabrication. This action taken by North Korea can not be forgiven in any sense whatsoever politically and also from the views of human rights. The Parliamentary indeed has companied on the belief that the issue can not be resolved without applying pressure, more specifically economic sanctions. Japan has already passed a bill for banning the entry space byte ships to Japanese ports and revive the foreign exchange and foreign trade….exercising provisions of these laws would undoubtedly yield a tremendous impact. Yet Prime Minister Koizumi has yet to make this decision. The US financial sanction on North Korea’s money laundering route has been a serious blow to North Korea as evident when Kim Jung Il personally sought assistance from China. Ladies and gentlemen, the abduction issue is as just important to the United States, Japan, Korea, and other nations as the national security is. Through this visit, I wish to spark a strong interest among the US government and of course its citizens in the issue of North Korea’s abductions. I trust that the meeting with President Bush and the testimony yesterday representing the families at the Congress will make great assistance to recognize the abduction issue among US citizens and throughout the world as well. In concluding my speech, let me express my sincere hope that the United States, Japan, and all the people wrestling with human rights issues will work together in applying pressure on North Korea, so as to bring full revolution, which mean returning all the refugees to their home country, to the abduction issue and to bring the end of Kim Jung Il’s tyranny over North Korea. Thank you.

National Endowment for Democracy President Carl Gershman: [28:49] Thank you so much. I want to begin first of all by congratulating Ed Royce, Congressman Ed Royce, whose really one of the leaders for human rights in the US Congress. In fact that he’s gotten involved on the issues of human rights in North Korea, I think not only speaks well of him, but he represents his district in this and he really represents the entire US Congress in speaking for human rights in North Korea and I also want to congratulate Suzanne Scholte. When I first met defectors from the North Korean gulags I think it was ten years ago, it was Suzanne, who brought these people into our office that is in my mind when the movement really began for human rights in North Korea. Suzanne was a founding member of that through all her work and I hope that after North Korea is liberated there will be a monument, a memorial in North Korea to the victims of the Holocaust, just as there is in Jerusalem for the victims of the Holocaust and one of the honored places in that monument will be to recognize the contributions of Suzanne Shulte who is our leader here today. Thank you Suzanne. The problem that we have always confronted in North Korea is that the North Korean people, have been a hidden people, it’s been hidden, they’ve been hidden for many reasons. In the beginning it was hidden, because North Korean was so closed. Nobody could even find out what was going on there and the country was divided and the people didn’t want to deal with the political divisions between North Korea and South Korea. Today it continues that North Korean people continue to be hidden and their hidden because of the nuclear issue. People in South Korea don’t want to touch the issue, because they fear that this might lead to a conflict and the powers, the great powers, the Six Parties want to deal with the nuclear issue before they deal with the human rights issue, so it is our responsibility to keep pressing and raising the human rights issue, which can not be neglected simply because nuclear negotiations are going on to try to deprive North Korea of a nuclear capacity, which could be very dangerous. We have to continue press for human rights during this entire period. So far we’ve been very successful in raising the issue and making it an international issue and having UN special rapporteur and spreading information around the world about North Korea, but the new priority, the key priority I think for the future has to be to get information into North Korea and there’s a special reason for that. The North Korean regime relies upon closing off any access to information. They must close off access to information to their own people because they tell their people that North Korea is a paradise and that South Korea is hell. And if the people in North Korea ever find out that it is exactly the opposite that the people of South Korea have a better life, have freedom, have economic development, whereas, the people in North Korea are suffering in a hellish life. If they ever find that out it will destabilize the government in North Korea and so they’re trying to prevent any information whatsoever from getting into North Korea, but the system is breaking down. People in North Korea are coming out because of the famine, there coming into South Korea. North Korean defectors are beginning to establish NGO’s which can begin to not only to tell about what is happening in North Korea, but also begin to broadcast back into North Korea about what life is like outside and when that happens I have no doubt whatsoever that when it dawns on the people of North Korea that they have been lied to that their government puts on their currency on North Korea the words, “We don’t envy anybody in the World,’ because they’re told that they live in paradise when it becomes clear that the truth is exactly the opposite, I believe that the North Korean regime will not survive and so we’ve got to continue to support freedom of information, access to information for the people of North Korea and if we do I have complete confidence that before long we shall see the liberation of the people of North Korea. Thank you.

Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Jay Lefkowitz: [34:50] Thank you Suzanne and welcome to all of you. I just came from the most remarkable meeting in the office, where President Bush met with Japanese families, whose children have been abducted by the North Korean regime and with very brave and heroic defectors from North Korean, including one gentleman, a man who had been in the military in North Korea, who told the President that he was encouraged by listening to South Korean radio broadcasts to seek freedom and to escape from the North Korean regime. He said it was through those broadcasts that he realized by listening to those broadcasts that he wasn’t living a socialist paradise that there was a whole world of freedom and liberty beyond the walls. He left, he escaped into China and then he was sent back, he was repatriated by the Chinese government to North Korea, just as very recently Kim Chung-Hee was repatriated as well a brave young woman, whom we know today we know nothing of her whereabouts, because of the Chinese flagrant disregard for their international obligations. It was a very moving meeting. It was also an opportunity for those of us who do live in freedom, who have liberty, to worship, liberty to travel, the freedom to listen, to get news about the world we live in, indeed even the freedom to criticize our governments, could appreciate here what we have in the United States and appreciate the struggle of what that lies before us for North Koreans is. In my role as Special Envoy, I am focusing on three principle objectives. First and foremost I am trying to raise international consciousness, to broaden the appeal of this important work that we are all engaged in here. There have been many wonderful demonstrations in front of these capital steps. Fifteen, twenty years ago, I stood amidst a throng of Americans protesting to help Soviet Jews escape from bondage in the Soviet Union and today those Jews are free and the Soviet Union is no more. With the help of other foreign governments and in particular with the help of governments in the region in North East Asia, we can show the people of North Korea that there is a much brighter future for them and we can help give them the tools to take responsibility for their lives and to ultimately bring about their own from of self-government. In addition to raising consciousness, we are working throughout the international organizations at the United Nations. Last year we had a strong resolution at the General Assembly, but significantly some of the important countries, who have a role to play in this struggle, did not join in the resolution condemning North Korea. When we go back to New York in the fall, we will call on all countries to join us in condemning the atrocious human rights behavior of the North Korea regime. In addition, we need to do more to empower North Koreans and we need to do more in particular in the area of broadcasting. Only by shining a ray of light into that regime will the people of North Korea learn about the blessing of freedom and liberty and learn what miracles have taken place literally only about a hundred miles or so to their South. Where a nation not that long ago lived under a tyrannical regime, today boasts a vibrant democracy and the twelfth largest economy of the world. Someday the peninsula of Korea will be united in peace, in prosperity and in democracy. And finally the human toll, we need to do more. We need to do more internationally and we need to do more as a nation to help the tens of thousands of refugees who have bravely escaped from North Korea. Most of whom are living in danger, in secret in Northeastern China. Eight thousand North Koreans have been able successfully to immigrate and come to South Korea, but far, far, far more live in danger in China and as we saw just a few weeks ago the Chinese government thinks nothing of sending these individuals back to North Korea, where they face certain punishment and perhaps torture and death. Here in the United States we have a long and venerable tradition of being a place of refugee for people fleeing tyrannical regimes. We can and will do more to help and protect North Korean refugees and I hope that some day soon, very soon I hope we will be able to welcome some North Korean refugees here to the United States, but the principle work needs to be done to protect these refugees in Asia, to help reunite them with their families in South Korea and to that end we all must stand together and make it clear to all of the governments in the region and in particular to the government of China that they are required to honor their international commitments, to protect these refugees and to help bring them to freedom. I thank all of you for your efforts today. I thank Suzanne Scholte and the other organizers of this event. May God bless all of you, may God bless the people of North Korea, and may God bless the United States.

Congressman Trent Franks: [41:43] Well, I can’t tell you what an honor it is to be with all of you today. You know as I look out on a day like this and I see we all have the precious privilege of basking in the sunlight of freedom, of standing on the freest soil that any people have ever stood upon and it is something to celebrate, something to be grateful for, something to recognize our responsibility as we stand in this freedom that we absolutely have the calling of God to make sure that this sunlight of freedom that we stand under falls across the faces of all people across the world and it’s important that we recognize that is not the case in North Korea. In North Korea, it’s one of the countries that our nation has deemed a sponsor of terrorism. It is a country that has hundreds of thousands of political prisoners. It is a country that has forced labor camps. It is a country that has forced education camps. It is a country that exports narcotics to Russia, to and to China, and Japan, and elsewhere. It is a country that tells its children lies about the people of freedom. It is a country that tries to instill a hatred of the West in its coming generations. It is a country that counterfeits to prop up its government. It is a country that has demonstrated its willingness to have no regard whatsoever for innocent human life and ladies and gentleman that is a country that when they face the world with nuclear weapons that all of us need to recognize that a free people can not stand by and let that continue. Let me just say something to the dissidents and to the defectors of North Korea. I can’t imagine some of the challenges that you’ve gone through to do what you’ve done, but I want you to know that because of your courage that there others that will walk in this sunlight of freedom because of your courage the of freedom across the world will accelerate. There is something about the truth. It has a way of driving out every other fallacy that man would try to bring upon man and I want you to know that your efforts are not lost here. Some how what you’ve done will lead to the day when North Korea will be free. That is the way of freedom. We have seen when it landed here at this country at Jamestown many years ago that the march of freedom has continued across the globe and we need to take hope from the past for the future and I just want you to know that no matter what happens in this world that the God of the ages is also a God of freedom and he sees what all happens to the people of your country and I pray that you take great courage in knowing that no matter what men might do that God himself will deliver every last person on this earth. There’s a quote by Winston Churchill that I think says it best, he says that “One thing I do know that it may seem that many of these atrocities happened out of view, but it is not out of the view of God, the God of the universe and he knows each little one by name, and every single one of the suffering he knows and loves and he will repay.” This is a day of hope, this is a day that we stand here and recognize that freedom is alive in the world. This is a day that we recognize that the God who made everything sees every heart and someday His deliverance will come to each and everyone of his children so I encourage you. I am grateful as I said to be with you and I encourage you to march on, because freedom will prevail. Thank you.

Simon Wiesenthal Center Association Dean Rabbi Abraham Cooper/ & Reads statement from Ambassador John Bolton: [46:10] Thank you Suzanne and the people of Korea our indeed blessed to have a guardian angel like you. In a moment I’m going to have the privilege to read a letter from Ambassador Bolton to the United Nations. Permit me just a few short words of perspective on behalf of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. October 6, 1943, four hundred desperate refugees mounted the steps of this capitol to awaken the conscious of a world for a people forsaken and forgotten. Four hundred escapees, who spoke no English were drawn here to the center of American democracy against the advice of too timid American Jewish leaders to cry out in pain. Four hundred Jewish European Rabbis, who had seen and experienced all the violence, starvation, and mass murder. A quarter of a century later, young Americans like Jay Lefkowitz mounted these same steps to speak for Jews of silence in the Soviet Union. For the dissidents who dared to speak up for the virtual…rights and democratic values. Today, we gathered in our Capitol with a message, a message to the long suffering of innocence of North Korea. You are no longer forgotten, you are no longer forsaken and with a clear message to Kim Il Sung. He delve the lessons of history. You, who like Hitler, murders innocence in gas chambers, whose scientists treat humans as disposable guinea pigs. You, who like Stalin created a vast gulags, who manipulates food supplies to starve real and imaginary enemies, remember our people lives on. Remember the Soviet Union is no more. Kim Jong Il your days are numbered. You will soon join Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot in the dustbin of history and on that day we will return to these steps to offer our prayers of Thanksgiving, but on this day we gather to declare, never, never, never again.

[49:10]Those of you who caught the coverage this morning on the way of international breaking news understand full well why Ambassador Bolton is not here. Permit me to read his brief letter.

Dear Friends,

Initially, let me thank you for the warm invitation to attend your rally here today. I regret not being able to attend to stand together in solidarity for a cause we all believe so much in. Unfortunately, another founding member of the "Axis of Evil" requires my attention here in New York with the just released report by the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran. Rest assured, though, my commitment to human rights not just in North Korea, but across the globe remains unwavering.

Through the courageous work of organizations like the Defense Forum Foundation, the world is becoming increasingly aware of the tragedy that is unfolding in North Korea. North Korea may be one of the most isolated countries, but that does not mean the world should care any less about the people of North Korea who live under the tyrannical hand of one of the most repressive regimes on the planet. We must all work together to keep the spotlight on regimes like North Korea which places their own people in concentration camps for crimes no greater than an aspiration to live freely.

The Defense Forum Foundation has given voice to many of the defectors who managed to escape North Korea. I encourage you to listen to their chilling stories of torture and abuse perpetrated by the current regime. As difficult and painful as it may be to hear those stories, we must do all we can to amplify the voices who know first hand the horrors of being a political prisoner in one of North Korea's death camps.

Please know that while I am not with in person today, I am certainly with you in spirit. Iran, like North Korea, has defied the will of the international community and violated their international obligations by pursuing an illicit nuclear weapons program. It is no small coincidence that these two rogue states also happen to be two of the world's most notorious abusers of human rights. And while I work today to help bring about an end to the threat to international peace and security posed by Iran, know that it is part of my broader mission to promote freedom and democracy everywhere, including North Korea.

I look forward to standing with you soon, hopefully at a rally celebrating the freedom of the people of North Korea after they have broken free from the chains of oppression and the reign of terror they currently live under.

Sincerely,

John R. Bolton

Mr. Shigeo Iizuka, Vice Chairman, AFVKN: [52:13] Hello everybody. I am the brother of Yaeko Tacguchi who was abducted by North Korea. Thank you for inviting me. I have come all over from Japan to participate in this event. I came here today to ask for your support to bring back all the people who have been kidnapped by North Korea. As you all know in the year 2002, September 17 Kim Jung Il himself has admitted that he had abducted thirteen Japanese civilians. He has lied to us that although five of them are alive all of the rest, the eight people have passed away. After Kim Jung Il admitting the abduction and the death of eight victims, we have asked and demanded for the proof and they have given materials back to show us they have passed away, but after thorough research and scientific research we have found that these evidence they have submitted proven to be fraud. We have continued to ask North Korea to submit and to be honest on this issue and we have continued to hold bilateral negotiations, but they continue to despise us. My sister Yaeko, who is seventeen years younger than me, she is alleged to have taught the operatives, who have bombed the Korean airlines thirty years ago and North Korea continues to claim that they have no knowledge on this issue and they claim that they have not bombed or used this operative to bomb the Korean airlines. Please understand my sister, younger sister, was abducted when she was only twenty-two, leaving both of her sons, one-year-old and two-year-old. This is an outrageous issue she had to leave; she had to be abducted leaving her two children, who were only one and two years old at that time. It’s been twenty-eight years after she’s been kidnapped and the children have never experienced the love from their mother and the warmth of their mother and I strongly hope that you will give us the support to bring my sister back and finally let them live as normal families, normal and happy and cherishing families. It is not just only us. It is also other countries, nationals that have been abducted and took as captives in that cold and secluded nation. Kim Jung Il is responsible for all these inhumane acts and until we bring back our loved ones and condemn and to condemn, as the many people today, as your country and your leadership has mentioned, we have to join hands, and we have to united and someday we will continue to fight and someday bring back our loved ones. Thank you very much.