by DMC
By doing so,we hope to bring more attention to the inhumane conditions in North Korea and, specifically, to the plight of two American journalists who have been sentenced to 12 years in a North Korean labor prison. Beginning July 17th, Jacquelline Marshall and I will embark on a 30-day sympathy campaign and will restrict our food intake to that given to the more fortunate prisoners in North Korean labor camps. We've chosen the date July 17th because it marks the four-month anniversary of the arrests of Euna Lee and Laura Ling.
We will eat only one cup of rice, beans, and cornmeal (combined) each day. Because the food rations in North Korea are so poor that many people die of starvation, we're following a "best case" scenario (we are not restricting ourselves to mere cornmeal and cabbage soup, as many prisoners are forced to endure). In addition, we may substitute Quinoa for rice, and we are not restricting our water intake. We estimate our daily caloric intake will be no more than 350 calories per day. We want to emphasize that we'll live off about 350 calories a day while leading a relatively sedentary lifestyle. The prisoners in the camps work long days filled with hard, physical labor and are exposed to extreme temperatures and other physical abuses.
We call on our government and the world to take a firm stand against North Korea and to do everything possible to secure the release of Euna Lee and Laura Ling. These two women were arrested on March 17th while filming a documentary in China near the North Korean border. They intended their documentary to expose North Korea's trafficking of women.
North Korea claims the women illegally crossed the border into North Korea. Other sources, such as a South Korean television station, claim North Korean guards crossed the border into China to kidnap and arrest the two women. In fact, North Korean border guards have frequently crossed into China to kidnap dissidents and prevent the spread of information critical of Kim Jong-il or North Korea.
North Korean labor camps are notorious for their horrific conditions. The kyo-hwa-so are long-term prison-labor camps where prisoners are supposedly "re-educated through labor." In reality, North Korean labor camps represented the worst human rights violation of any nation on earth.
Prisoners are kept on the verge of starvation, receiving only a small cup of cornmeal and cabbage soup a day. In the best conditions, mostly in the pre-famine days of the 1990s, prisoners were allotted a small palm-sized portion of rice and beans with the cornmeal, but the guards usually stole the rice and beans, leaving prisoners with only the corn meal and a tiny amount of cabbage soup.
Many prisoners die of starvation or illnesses associated with malnutrition. In fact, prisoners are so starved, they risk execution to steal food from livestock. Many eat whatever they can find -- rats, bugs, frogs and grass. Some have been known to steal leather belts, soak them in water, and eat the animal hide.
Prisoners are frequently tortured -- beaten, electrocuted, or confined for weeks in small "punishment cells" where they can neither sit nor stand, among other abuses. Prisoners are sometimes publicly executed to deter others from trying to escape or stealing food. Women are subject to sexual assaults, and those who become pregnant (especially those repatriated from China) are often forced to watch as their newborn babies are killed.
The world should not tolerate North Korea's human rights abuses. By embarking on our 30 day sympathy diet, Jackie and I hope to remind the United States -- and, hopefully, the rest of the world -- of the two American women, and the many other human beings, imprisoned in North Korea's harsh labor camps.
To learn more about North Korean labor camps, visit http://www.hrnk.org/hiddengulag/part1.html
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