Dear Suzanne

[국가]

Dear Suzanne,

This mail is intended to update you on the actions that, acting on behalf of Mr. Hwang Jang Yop, I and my colleagues here have been taking over a period of time to make preparations, as necessary, to ensure that the '2010 North Korea Freedom Week (Seoul)' will be coordinated successfully.

A Planning Committee is now in being and operation, meeting regularly every Monday morning, attended by the following members [listed in alphabetic orders]:

󰋼 Gab Je Cho [President, Chogabje,com]
󰋼 Sung Yong Choi [President, Assembly of the Families of
  Abductees]
󰋼 Chang In Chung [North Korea Democratization Forum]
󰋼 Ki Hong Hahn [President, North Korea Democratization
  Network]
󰋼 Soon Kyung Hong [Vice President, Committee for
  Democratization of North Korea/Preisdnt, Association of the          North Korea Defectors]
󰋼 Sung Ho Jeh [Professor, Joongang Univ./Special Envoy on
  Human Rights in North Korea] 
󰋼 Hee Yoon Doh [President, Coalition for Human Rights of
  Abductees & North Korean Defectors]
󰋼 Heung Kwang Kim [President, Coalition of North Korean
  Intellectuals]
󰋼 Hyun Wook Kim [Former National Assemblyman/President,   
  International Forum for Foreign Policy & National                     Security/President, Catholic Prayer Vigid for Human Rights &         Democratization of North Korea]
󰋼 Seok Woo Kim [formerly Vice Minister of National Unification]
󰋼 Sung Min Kim [President, Radio Free North Korea/Vice   
  Chairman, Committee for Democratization of North Korea] 
󰋼 Tae Jin Kim [President, Crusade for Democratization of North         Korea]
󰋼 Tae Hoon Kim [Lawyer/Korean Bar Association/National
  Human Rights Commission of Korea]
󰋼 Young Hwan Kang [Institute on Campaign Strategies]
󰋼 Young Il Kim [President, PSCORE]
󰋼 Young Soon Kim, Ms. [President, Women's Division,
  Committee for Democratization of North Korea]
󰋼 Dong Bok Lee [Former National Assemblyman/President,
  North Korea Democratization Forum]
󰋼 Seok Bok Lee [Brig. Gen. (Ret)/Korea Veterans'
  Association/General Assembly of Buddhists for the Defense of         the Republic of Korea]
󰋼 Beom Jin Park [Former National Assemlyman/Advisor,    
  Citizens' Coalition for Human Rights in North Korea]
󰋼 Jae Pyung Suh [Secretary General, Coalition of North Korean
  Intellectuals]
󰋼 Joo Yong Yoon [President, Student & Youth Coalition for
  Human Rights in North Korea]

Deliberations so far at meetings of the Planning Committee have yielded the following outcome:

▢ [Naming of the Event] Questions were raised as to the wisdom of naming the Korean event as 'North Korea Freedom Week,' for reasons that the vocabulary 'freedom' might provoke a negative reaction from certain quarters of the South Korean population, let alone North Korea, due to the vocabulary's obvious political connotation of agitating the overthrow of the North Korean regime. It was the consensus of the Planning Committee that the Korean event be renamed as 'North Korea Human Rights Week,' at the expense of 'freedom', on the ground that, as a vocabulary, 'human rights' connoted a greater amount of universality, not without a greater amount of appeal to the South Korean audiences in general. It is thus the Committee's recommendation that the North Korea Freedom Coalition approve this modified name for the Korean event.

▢ [Timing of the Event] Year 2010 in the Republic of Korea is a heavily political year abounding with 'anniversaries,' that include, among others, the 50th anniversary of a student uprising on April 19, 1960, the 30th anniversary of the Kwangju incident on May 18, 1980, the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the three-year Korean War provoked by an unprovoked, undeclared all-out invasion of the South by North Korea on June 25, 1950, and a centennial of Korea's forced annexation by Imperial Japan on August 29, 1910.

In addition, a landmark general local election is scheduled to take place on June 2, making it a matter of highly charged political sensitivity to choose a right time frame for an event like the projected 'North Korea Freedom Week'. Assuming that the event would take place in April, it was suggested that we avoid allowing it to overlap with the 50th anniversary of the student uprising on April. 19. As a consequence, it was the consensus of the  Committee that we recommend the week of April 25 (Sunday) through May 1 (Saturday) for your approval as the time frame for the Korean event.

▢ [Programs] The Planning Committee has been spending much of its time selecting programs for the Korean event and is till hard at work trying to finalize its deliberations on the programs to be incorporated into the event. The outcome, albeit tentative, as of now has the following:

▣ Programs that should continue to last throughout the week:

◎ 'North Korea Human Rights Holocaust Exhibition'

   - Create an outdoor  exhibition site either at the Seoul City              Hall Plaza or at the Cheonggyechon Plaza
   - Set up 50-60 display booths for both local and foreign                 NGOs on North Korean human rights
   - Create a stage and an area for the audience for a variety              of programs that would include seminars, musical and                 artistic performances, lectures, prayer vigils and a mock               ICC (International Criminal Court) trial

◎ Billboards around the City Hall Plaza (or on the outside of
   the wall of the adjacent Ducksoo Palace) displaying the                names of the South Koreans abducted by North Korea both            during and after the Korean War as well as the South                 Korean prisoners-of-war that North Korea has retained after          the 1953 armistice without repatriation. 

◎ Recurrent showing of audio-visuals as well as performances

   - Artistic performances by North Korean defectors
   - Showing of the movie version of the Musical 'Yoduk Story'
   - Showing of the Movie, 'Crossing'
   - Showing of the documentary films on the human rights
     situations in North Korea as well as the plight of the                  North Korean defectors obtained from such world TV                 stations as the CNN, the BBC and other Japanese media

▣ Non-recurring programs [tentative]:

◎ Sunday, April 25 (the first day):

   ◈ A parade participated in massively both by North Korean              defectors and the South Korean citizens from the Seoul               City Hall plaza to the National Assembly on Yoido as a                show of the strength of the North Korean defectors in the             South who now number more than 18,000 altogether and              also the state of fusion between the two communities

◎ Monday, April 26 (the second day):

   ◈ Visits by the hosts of the event to the Prime Minister and             the Minister of Unification of the Republic of Korea

   ◈ Visits by hosts of the event to the 'North Korea Human
      Rights Exhibition'

   ◈ An academic symposium on the North Korean defectors

      - Review of the policies of the Republic of Korea and the
        People's Republic of China on North Korean defectors in               China
      - Review of problems that the defectors confront during
        resettlement in the South
      - Forced repatriation of defectors back to North Korea by
        Chinese authorities

◎ Tuesday, April 27 (the third day):

   ◈ A nationally held essay contest for middle/high school
      kids on human rights in North Korea and separated                    Korean families

   ◈ Symphony orchestra performances

   ◈ A mock ICC trial performed by law college students to try             Kim Jong Il on charges of 'crimes against humanity'●'war              crimes' and 'genocide' 

◎ Wednesday, April 28 (the fourth day):

   ◈ An international solidarity program to be hosted by the                North Korea Freedom Coalition to mark the 6th
      anniversary of the proclamation of the 'North Korea                   Freedom Day' in 2004

   ◈ A program to create fosterhood relationship between k ids
      of select families of the North Korean defectors and South             Korean families 

   ◈ An event to be organized by the Association of the
      Families of the Japanese Abducted by North Korea [with              the possibility of a special appearance of Kim Hyun Hee,              the survivor of the two North Korean agents who caused              a mid-air explosion of the Korean Air KE858 passenger               aircraft in 1987]

◎ Thursday, April 29 (the fifth day):

   ◈ Visit by hosts of the event to the National Assembly
    
      - Speaker of the National Assembly, Leaders of the ruling               Hannara Party and the opposition Democratic Parties
 
   ◈ A speaking event in the grand auditorium inside the                    National Assembly complex to urge the legislature to                  expedite the legislation of a  'North Korea Human Rigjhts              Law'

◎ Friday, April 30 (the sixth day):

   ◈ A speaking event for select North Korean defectors to
      expose the brutalities of North Korea's political                        suppression

      - Mass starvation + Genocide
      - Crimes against humanity
      - Life in political prison camps
      - Tortures and executions
   
   ◈ Visits to, and picketing at, the embassies in Seoul of the
      countries represented in the Beijing Six-party Talks (the              U.S., China,  Japan and Russia) by hosts of the event to               request the inclusion of North Korea's human rights in                 the agenda of the talks

   ◈ Visits by hosts of the event to the National Human
      Rights Commission of Korea  

◎ Saturday, May 1 (the seventh and last day):

   ◈ A massive flying of balloons containing leaflets, miniature             radio receivers and foodstuffs such as rice into North                 Korea from multiple sites in the South to mark the                   closing of the '2010 North Korea Human Rights Week                (Seoul)'

▣ [Churches] The Planning Committee is in the course of                discussions with such Korean church leaders as Revs.                 Chang Ho Im (Koryo Theological University, Busan), Chul              Shin Lee (Youngrak Presbyterian Church), Jong Yoon Lee              (Seoul Presbyterian Church), Soo Young Lee (Saemoonan              Presbyterian Church), Ki Sung Sohn (Jungdong Methodist              Church) and Pastor Peter Sohn (International Representative,           KCC, Los Angeles, U.S.A.) on ways for Churches to play a            major participatory role in the course of the '2010 North              Korea Human Rights Week (Seoul)>.

    I am expecting such major Christian organizations as the              Christian Council of Korea (Rev. Kwang Seon Lee), the                Council of Presbyterian Churches in Korea (Rev. Jong Yoon           Lee) in addition to such large-scale churches as the                   Keumran Church (Rev. Hong Do Kim), the Full Gospel                 Church (Rev. Young Hoon Lee) and the Baptist Church                (Rev. Billy Janghwan Kim) to join in the event shortly.  

It is the hope now shared by the Planning Committee that we put together a grand pan-national body of organizations and individuals who encompass those of all religions and social backgrounds who want to be represented in the body to be nominally responsible for the whole event, perhaps in the name of a 'Coalition for 2010 North Korea Human Rights Week (Seoul)', and, at the same time, create an executive committee to be in charge of all of the business aspects of the Korean event, with you, Suzanne, and Dr. Hwang Jang Yop co-chairing it. There is a suggestion, too, that a third co-chairperson be considered for one of the Church leaders to be added to the chairmanship of the executive body.   

Now, I think I must close. May I solicit your response to what I have described in the above relative to what have transpired so far within the context of the Planning Committee? It is unquestionably our understanding that, since the ‘2010 North Korea Human Rights Week (Seoul) is supposed to be but an extension of the annual event of the ‘North Korea Freedom Week’ farmed out to Seoul for the year, nothing can move ahead without your approval to whatever actions considered by us here. It is in that vein that I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible before we take any further steps.

Year 2010 began in Korea with a heavy snowfall, said to be the first of its kind in a hundred years in terms of the volume of the snowfall and, in this country, it is widely believed that an early snowfall in a year portends many good things in that year.  I truly wish that it would certainly be that way this year in all respects. We are also told that there was even heavier snowfall in your part of the U.S. during the past few days.            

   I wish you a very happy New Year and look forward to seeing you again soon.

Sincerely yours.
Dong Bok (DB) Lee
January 6, 2010