Thank You Father Kim Il Sung: Eyewitness Accounts of Severe Violations of Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion in North Korea

摘要

Thank you, Father Kim Il Sung reports on the forceful suppression of North Koreas once vibrant religious and intellectual life, the establishment of a quasi-religious cult of personality centered on Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il, and the survival of very limited religious activity in North Korea. The former North Koreans offer trenchant testimony on the role and character of the Kim Jong Il government and the extent to which it controls the thoughts and beliefs of the North Korean people. The international community is growing accustomed to stories of government imposed excess and horror from North Korea. Kwang Chol Hwans memoir, Aquariums of Pyongyang, provides information on the extensive prison camps, the arbitrary detention of dissidents extending to three and four generations of their families, forced abortions, and people beaten down by constant suspicion, propaganda, and violence. The thick veil of secrecy that has shrouded the hermit kingdom is thus gradually being pulled back by the testimony of former North Koreans. Numerous witnesses have provided evidence of a massive gulag system, drowning out those who objected that such claims were exaggerated or constituted anti-North Korean propaganda.