A North Korean friend and former roommate of Tucson missionary Robert Park is in Tucson to speak about human-rights abuses in his homeland.
Sung-Hyun Choi said he lived with Park in South Korea from the spring of 2009 until Park walked from China into North Korea on Christmas Day. Park carried with him letters calling on North Korean leader Kim Jong II to shut down the country's concentration camps and step down from power.
Park remained there 43 days before being released in a very weakened condition. He is now in Los Angeles, where his parents live. His father, Pyong Park, said two weeks ago that his son is under the care of "many doctors."
Choi, who defected from North Korea in 2005, said he discouraged Park and told him he might be killed there.
"Robert emphasized his death would not be in vain, that if he were killed, others would realize the oppression (of Kim Jong II) and it would bring more awareness to North Korea," Choi said with the help of a Korean translator, Pastor JungSook Kim of the Korean Presbyterian Church of Tucson.
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Choi, 28, changed his name after leaving North Korea in 2005 to protect family members still there. He has spoken out against Kim Jong II during radio interviews in Seoul.
While in Tucson, Choi is speaking at churches and civic gatherings. He wants people to recognize China's role in the plight of North Koreans and is calling for detention centers along the Chinese-North Korean border to be closed.
People held in the centers are often abused before being sent back to North Korea, he said, where the punishment for defecting is either death or detainment in a concentration camp. Choi said he also wants people here to know that food and medical supplies sent to help North Korean citizens do not reach the poor.
He said millions have starved since Kim Jong II came to power in the mid-1990s.
Choi's mother and younger brother left their country first and then sent for Choi. His father was beaten to death while trying to flee in 2006, Choi said, and his family has not heard from his younger sister, Ok-nan, since 2000.
Contact reporter Patty Machelor at 235-0308 or pmachelor@azstarnet.com
