[USFK Forums] Divided Hallway [An input from Suzanne]

[C. Y. Lee]

[Uploaded by C. Y. Lee, Wednesday, November 2, 2005] Here is a terrible story received this morning from Suzanne Scholte:

FYI--
Suzanne

From Today's Washington Times

Inside the Beltway column

By John McCaslin
November 1, 2005

Divided hallway

An unexpected face-to-face encounter -- in the hallowed halls of Congress, no less -- turned downright ugly when North Korea's deputy chief to the United Nations, Ambassador Han Song-ryol, purportedly threatened the life of a North Korean defector, Kim Seung-min, director of Free North Korea Radio.

Our story begins last Thursday, when Republican Reps. Christopher H. Smith of New Jersey and Jim Leach of Iowa, the respective chairmen of the subcommittees on global human rights and Asia and the Pacific, were preparing to hear testimony from Mr. Kim and North Korean defectors Cha Kyeong-sook and Ma Soon-hee, both women.

Also in attendance was Suzanne Scholte, president of the Defense Forum Foundation that sponsored and arranged for the defectors' testimony. She tells Inside the Beltway that never, in their wildest dreams, did the trio of defectors expect to confront the enemy, who ironically was being feted at a congressional luncheon just across the hall hosted by Rep. Curt Weldon, Pennsylvania Republican, and attended by some 20 members of Congress.

"When [we] arrived for the hearing," Mrs. Scholte says, "we discovered that the ambassador ... was being honored by members of Congress ... across the hall from the hearing."

So, she continues, "The three North Korean defectors and I went into the room," where Mr. Kim held up a sign in Korean that read: "The Road to Peace on the Korean Peninsula is the Expulsion of [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-il."

"Kim then said these same words to Ambassador Han as he was walking across the room," Mrs. Scholte says, at which time she adds "Han then threatened Kim with, 'Do you want to die ... ?'?"

We rang the North Korean mission at the U.N. yesterday, but received no immediate response concerning Mr. Han's purported comments.

Mrs. Scholte, who is also the vice chairman of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, finds it disturbing that while some members of Congress are working to expose the suffering of the North Korean people, "other members seem intent on downplaying the atrocities by honoring the representatives of this brutal regime."

?? John McCaslin, whose column is nationally syndicated, can be reached at 202/636-3284 or jmccaslin@washingtontimes.com.

[Bear]

Wow, really bad timing on the part of Congress for scheduling the two events. But the better question is, why was a North Korean diplomat being honored at a party? It would be interesting to figure out just what that party was for...

[mike]

I would hope members of congress were not honoring a North Korean diplomat. I have a feeling they were holding an event to "butter up" North Korea before the next round of the 6 Party Talks. We all know that diplomats get excellent treatment in Washington no matter what country they are from. I have a feeling what was perceived as "honoring" was probably a standard diplomatic type function. It is also possible that this was a going away or some other type of lunch and maybe he was being presented a plaque or something.

I have no trouble believing that the death threat took place.

Mike

[Bear]

More info on this meeting can be found here. It looks not so much like a party, but definitely putting on a show to grease the Six-Party Talks. Unfortunately, diplomacy and activism don't usually mix. The Defense Forum President should have known better than to bring the defectors into the other meeting, though that certainly doesn't excuse the North Korean to make death threats.