"Thank god N Korea is also a power."??? Youre trying to play at being a total idiot arent you, tell me you dont really believe it?.
If it wasnt for those nukes, you wouldnt be able to say what you say here you goose.
And you want to put sh!t on Israel and the US?
So much for the Workers Paradise.
Interview with Dr. Norbert Vollertsen
Broadcast: 1/5/2002 Reporter: Jennifer Byrne
When German-born Dr. Vollertsen volunteered for emergency work in North Korea in 1999, he had little idea about what he would encounter - but it didn't take long before he was able to witness at first hand the repression, starvation and torture that marks the world's last Stalinist regime. Jennifer Byrne talks to Dr. Vollertsen from the ABC Washington studios.
Synopsis: Byrne: North Korea of course is a by-word for secrecy – its refusal to allow foreigners entry. Can you explain briefly how it is you came to have this extraordinary access?
Vollertsen: I was an emergency doctor for the German relief organisation Cap Anamur – German emergency doctors – and I entered North Korea in July 1999 and I took care of ten different hospitals, ten orphanages and several dozen kindergartens all over the countryside of North Korea. Very early in my stay I gave my own skin to a burnt patient who suffered from serious burns there in North Korea, and I was so impressed that there were so many people who managed to do skin grafts, so I joined this operation and I gave my skin – I got a Friendship Medal from the North Korean authorities, and a V.I.P. passport and a private driving licence. And with those two passports I managed to go round the countryside and took some video images and took some photos of those secret places in the hospitals... of all those people who are starving and dying there. There’s nothing – no water, no medicine, no sanitation, nothing. And that was our main duty, and I was allowed to travel around all over the countryside.
Byrne: You’ve come out of it using pretty extreme descriptions like, ‘it’s a depraved country’ that ‘this is a mad place’ .... did you know what you were going to find, or was it a shock for you?
Vollertsen: It was a shock for me. I’m from Germany.... I knew about the conditions in former East Germany – we have relatives... our families have relatives in East Germany.... when I was thirteen years old I managed to visit our relatives, and I knew about the poor conditions in the East Germany countryside – but I never was aware of such misery in this country. Those people in North Korea are living so miserably.... there’s nothing, and they are starving... and I saw them at the roadside looking for some corn and maize.... and some rice... and they were picking up this rice from the roadside, and it was such a hardship to see them and to look in their eyes, and I thought I’ll have to do something. I was never aware of such misery in any other country on earth.
Byrne: You in fact have described.... as a doctor, you have almost diagnosed this country as suffering from society-wide depression and fear.... Is it really that frightful?
Vollertsen: I realised - the first time I went to all those children’s hospitals - there’s no more emotional reaction. Those children.... they can’t cry any more... they can’t laugh any more... there’s no emotional reaction when you offer some toys or some gifts or some food. They are depressed, and that was my main medical diagnosis. They are depressed because of the political situation. And nobody knows about North Korea, because they were so sophisticated in hiding all those dirty secrets. They are an upgraded version of Germany... of Nazi Germany... of Stalin... of Pinochet... Milosevic... - all those dictators on earth – they learn their lesson very well, and they’re so afraid of any publicity... of any journalist going into the countryside. So they are so reluctant, and they’ve succeeded – nobody knows about North Korea, so nobody can care, and nobody can intervene and change the situation for the children there.
Byrne: In fact another historical parallel I’ve had drawn is that of Cambodia – and in fact when the veil of secrecy is lifted, I’ve been told, from North Korea it will compare to what happened in 1979 with the revelation of the Killing Fields. This is going to be one of the world’s great tragedies.
Vollertsen: When I heard from all those refugees I met at the North Korean / Chinese border, I think it’s even worse. These are the real killing fields of the 21st century. All those refugees are talking about mass execution... baby killing... about rape, about torture, about biological experiments. They are using Christians and other people in the opposition... in those so-called reform institutions... in those concentration camps... they are using those human beings like guinea pigs.
Byrne: Did you actually see this? Did you see this with your own eyes?
Vollertsen: No, I never saw it personally because foreigners – even with my huge access – they will never be allowed to go to those north-eastern parts of the country. No foreigner, no foreign aid worker, no diplomat, no journalist is allowed to go to those parts of the country. So I must rely on what the refugees are telling me. But there are so many... there are seven-year-old boys, there are 70-year-old women... who are all talking about the same thing. And even if these are only rumours, I have to act. You know about our German history... we Germans... we were accused that we didn’t care about Nazis Hitler Germany – that we didn’t act – that we failed to act – that we kept silent when there were the first rumours about Nazi concentration camps. Nobody wanted to believe those people, and we failed to speak out.
Byrne: You’ve talked about a medical diagnosis... you’ve also made, well you’d have to call it political observation.... that ... you’re saying this famous famine is in fact a fake... it’s an artificial creation, not a natural disaster at all.
Vollertsen: It’s a man-made disaster.... There was one saying of a high-ranking North Korean diplomat – and he was very frankly open-minded – and he said, the only natural disaster, which is still going on in North Korea, is Kim Jong Il and his government – that’s the disaster for the whole country. Kim Jong Il and his government... they are starving their own opposition to death... they are using food as a political weapon against their own people. Complete regions of the country will not get any more food when there’s the danger of an uprising – when there’s the danger of any revolutionary activities. So he knows very well that the North Korean families will care for their children, and what hurts them the most is when they see their own children die. So you can punish them, and you can discipline them very easily when you use food as a weapon against them. So that’s what Kim Jong Il is doing, and therefore he’s responsible for genocide... what he’s doing is genocide – and I want to get him to justice.
Byrne: What makes you so confident though that the international community, which in some ways – including America – has been prepared to trade off.... you know... ‘you don’t set off your missiles – we won’t put our nose into your business’ is going to be galvanised by what you’re saying and by the sort of images that you can show us.
Vollertsen: A simple belief, and the moral power of the truth. When you speak out about something which is so cruel – what’s going on in North Korea is genocide – and when you speak out about this... I think a belief in the creation of a critical mass worldwide – that all those mothers and fathers who have their own children – they will see those children suffering in North Korea, and they will see and care when they know about this misery. When people are dying you can’t care about any diplomacy anymore... about any rules. I’m an emergency doctor, and there in North Korea there’s an emergency case and we have to act now. And I can’t care about any regulations.
Byrne: Norbert Vollertsen, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Thank you.
Vollertsen: Thank you so much for your interest. Thank you.
