President Park Geun-hye made remarks about the pro-North Korea forum held by Shin Eun-mi, a Korean-American woman who is holding a series of talk shows in Korean cities, directly criticizing it. Park said in a senior secretaries meeting on December 15, "Recently the so-called pro-North concert and social conflict surrounding it are at a worrisome level. It is problem for some people who visited North Korea to talk about the regime in a positive light while turning their eyes away from miserable living conditions and abject human rights situation there."
"Even though it is certainly necessary for us to make efforts to understand North Korea in seeking to unify the peninsula in a peaceful manner, all these must be done in ways to retain our identity and maintain the constitutional value. In a situation where all other nations in the world condemn the North's human rights violations and the United Nations passed a human rights resolution last month against North Korea, hearing contrary voices within Korea now is quite lamentable," she added. On the previous day, meanwhile, Shin Eun-mi, a Korean-American woman in her early 50s, appeared in a police questioning after being accused of violating the National Security Law by conservative civic groups.
In an interview held before the police questioning on the 14th, she said to the reporters, "I feel like I was suddenly betrayed by a long-time lover. I don't want this to happen again in my life." She also expressed bafflement to the terrorist act committed by a high school student at a forum held by her, "I deliver almost identical lectures in churches and colleges based on the book I published. I don't understand why some people stick a label on my talk forums North Korean running dog talk show."
By Chun Go-eun
