Moon smiles, but Kim is Korea’s ‘comedian with a guillotine’
Pyongyang’s posturing about peace may have gone down well in the South, but those who fled his regime warn the heads are still rolling
The September Declaration signed by both leaders on Wednesday addressed denuclearisation, demilitarisation, as well as economic and cultural collaborations. Speaking to a North Korean audience of 150,000 spectators hours after the signing, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said: “We affirmed our pledge to turn our beautiful territory from Baekdusan Mountain to Hallasan Mountain into a land of permanent peace, free from nuclear weapons and nuclear threats, and to bequeath it to our future generations.”
Ji, however, says such words are meaningless to her and those they stand to affect the most. “Besides the North Korean government, who are these agreements for?” she said. “Talks of peace [and disarmament] – they’re nice words, but they carry no meaning for regular people in the North.”
Ji, who grew up in a rural village in the North, said she was subjected to abuses by the regime, including a forced abortion, before she fled the country. She cites the lack of food, freedom and human rights as her main reasons for escaping the dictatorship.