In the extreme northeast corner of North Korea, there is a small town called Onsong. What we know of the history of this town is horrifying. OneFreeKorea has the details.
Let me highlight the points:
- A man was executed by firing squad for stealing copper to sell for food. His corpse was left in the hills for the dogs to eat.
- The school grows emptier and emptier every day as students and teachers are unable to walk to class, or spend their time searching for scraps of food in the fields.
- A bridge that used to connect Korea with China was destroyed and never rebuilt. Trade would bring in valuable food and money to the people of Onsong.
- The North Korean regime installed high wire fences to keep the people from fleeing across the river without a bridge.
- Then they built traps—the same kind of traps they use around their concentration camps. Those caught in the traps fall on to spikes that either kill them or seriously wound them.
- Border guards murdered 15 women near the border there, accusing them of either trying to flee or spying for South Korea.
- In 1987, in a nearby concentration camp, the prisoners overthrew their guards. In response, they were machine-gunned to death and the camp closed. Over 5,000 people died that day.
When people talk about war bringing death, think about the cost of no war. Some wars are worth fighting because not fighting them is worse.
This is one of those wars.
Each day we wait before overthrowing the Kim regime means another day of starvation, torture, executions, and more. Innocent women, children, fathers, mothers, all held captive, forced to do unnatural things to provide the basic sustenance for their families, all because a sick regime believes the people are less than human, unworthy of pursuing their own interests.
Some say North Korea is strong. They may be strong, but we are stronger, and have been for a very long time. As Thomas Payne pointed out, the longer we wait, the more strong they become and the more damage we will cause ourselves. Now, with a nuclear North Korea, the time is up. It is now, or never.
