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TechnoratiWASHINGTON – The brother of the North Korean Christian man awaiting public execution for simply being a Christian pleaded with the world Thursday to press North Korea to release his elder brother while presidential candidate Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) demanded the man’s freedom.
(Photo: The Christian Post)Presidential candidate Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) spoke at a press conference urging world leaders and governments to press North Korea to release Son Jong Nam who is awaiting public execution simply for being a Christian on Thursday, July 12, 2007 in Washington, D.C.
Son Jong Hoon, the brother of the imprisoned North Korean Christian Son Jong Nam, traveled from his home in Seoul, South Korea to plead for the life of his brother. The younger Son was also born in North Korea but was able to escape to South Korea in 2002.
“Right now the purpose of my life is to save my brother,” said Son Jong Hoon. “Now I am also praying to God to save my brother.
“Please, please, please write letters to your senators and members in Congress,” he pleaded. “Please, please also write a letter to the United Nations. Also please write to government authorities in North Korea.”
North Korea is one of the most repressive regimes in the World and is ranked by the ministry Open Doors as the world’s worst persecutor of Christians. Citizens of the communist state are forced to adhere to a personality cult revolved around worshipping current dictator Kim Jong Il and his deceased father, Kim Il Sung.
Son was joined Thursday by Sen. Brownback who last week sent letters signed by Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.), and David Vitter (R-La.) to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asking them to work to secure the release of the Christian prisoner.
“This is a horrific case. The execution should not occur. It is wrong,” said Brownback. “I think the North Korean government, as part of the six-party talks and as a statement of good faith, should not execute this individual.
“I think this is also an indicator of the brutality of the North Korean government. This isn’t the first time this has happened.”
There were about 300,000 Christians in 1953 but the number has shot down to a few thousand who secretly practice their faith, according to VOM.
“The key thing that people need to know about North Korea is that 10 percent of the population has died over the past 15 years,” said Brownback. “You have a massive genocide that has happened because of the North Korean government. The weapon of mass destruction has already been deployed [and that] is the government of North Korea because of the gulag system and mass starvation by and at the hand of the government.
“People need to know that,” said the senator, who has long been an advocate of human rights and religious freedom in oppressive countries.
The Voice of the Martyrs, which is spearheading the campaign, explained that the case is special and seems more tragic and unfair than others because all Son is charged with is being a Christian.
The imprisoned Son had served in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Army and achieved the rank of captain before the government became suspicious of him and labeled him a traitor. Government officials went as far as kicking his then 8-month pregnant wife during an investigation and caused her to miscarry their baby.
A disillusioned Son along with his wife, son, and brother (Son Jong Hoon) escaped to China in 1998. However, his wife died within months of arriving in China due to complications from the miscarriage. Continue »
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