'Flower of unification' in hot seat

Rep. Lim Su-kyung

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Rep. Lim Su-kyung of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) is facing mounting pressure from North Korean defectors here and abroad to resign after revealing her hatred of them earlier this month.

She was once called the "flower of unification" by North Koreans after she flew to Pyongyang from Germany to attend the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students there in June 1989 and met the late North Korean leader Kim Il-sung during her stay. After returning to Seoul in August 1989, she served a jail term for violating the National Security Law.

On Friday, a former North Korean diplomat, who defected to the South in 2000, voiced deep concern about what he called the North Korean sympathizer's undesirable effect on politics here.

Hong Soon-kyung, now chairman of the Seoul-based non-profit Committee for the Democratization of North Korea, urged Lim to step down to take responsibility for her controversial remarks about the defectors.

"She doesn't deserve the job. She has to resign right away", the North Korean defector said when asked what message he delivered during a roundtable meeting with lawmakers of the ruling Saenuri Party at the National Assembly Friday.

Hong voiced deep concern about North Korean sympathizers and pressed the ruling party to act on the "grave" issue.

"Rep. Lim painted North Korean defectors (as traitors), and even sided with the North Korean regime. During the meeting, I urged her fellow lawmakers to take punitive measures against her. It is hard to imagine that a lawmaker made such abusive remarks".

Hong is one of some 50 non-profit group leaders who were invited by Rep. Cho Myung-chul of the Saenuri Party for the meeting. Cho, the first North Korean defector-turned-lawmaker, organized the meeting to listen to their concerns on how he could best meet their demands through legislation.

Lim has been under fire after her unedited remarks against North Korean defectors were made public through social media.

During a conversation with a 28-year-old defector, now a university student, Lim revealed she felt "extremely uncomfortable" with those who have fled the North. She released a tirade of abuse, calling them and activists fighting for North Korean human rights "traitors".

She even scolded the student attending Korea University of Foreign Studies, asking how could a North Korean defector dared behave as he did before a lawmaker, referring to herself. She called defectors "nonsensical".

The prickly conversation took place at a bar in downtown Seoul earlier this month when Lim and the student accidently met.

The legislator has since made a public apology saying she didn't have any intention to humiliate defectors and that she was quoted out of context.

Fellow DUP lawmakers, including Rep. Choi Jae-sung, have tried to defend her, saying the conservative media and right-wing politicians exaggerated her remarks to fan the antagonistic atmosphere against the liberal party as a campaign tactic.

In an interview, Choi alleged defectors released "garbage-like" information regarding what's going on inside the North "to make money" and for power.

His remarks also drew the ire of defectors here. On Monday, a group of them held a rally in front of the National Assembly building in Seoul to protest Choi's scathing remarks. Nearly 2,000 defectors have signed a petition demanding Choi and Lim quit to take responsibility for their controversial remarks.

North Korean defectors overseas have joined the campaign. They launched a separate petition to press Lim to step down.

They plan to submit the document calling for her resignation to the North Korean Human Rights Committee.

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