From the introduction, the tone is set. “Comrades, have you thought about why you are in the Kursk region, thousands of kilometers from your homeland, wearing the military uniform of the Russian forces, commanded by Russian officers? While several thousand North Koreans are currently filling the ranks of the Russian army, seven South Korean NGOs defending human rights have decided to write to them.
This letter, which Franceinfo obtained in its entirety Tuesday November 19wishes to make the soldiers of Pyongyang face their responsibilities: “Pwhy are you pointing your guns at the innocent Ukrainian people, who are fighting to defend their homeland and nation against foreign domination? What harm have the Ukrainian people done to the Korean people?”
“North Korean soldiers deployed on the Kursk front do not really know why they are fighting there, Ethan Hee-Seok Shin, spokesperson for the collective behind the initiative, tells franceinfo. They risk suffering horrible losses in Putin's war of aggression. Kim Jong-un cynically decided to use them as cannon fodder in exchange for advanced military technologies.”
NGOs remind soldiers of the commonalities between their country and the nation they are attacking. “The Ukrainian people, like the Korean people, suffered centuries of foreign domination, including from the Russian Empire, and finally became an independent state with the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1991.”
NGOs do not know if this letter will reach neighboring North Korea, the most closed country in the world, where information is controlled. But Ethan Hee-Seok Shin recalls that the soldiers made available by the dictatorial regime in Pyongyang undoubtedly benefit from a “relatively freer space for access to information in Russia than in North Korea”. “We hope that the contents of the letter will reach the North Korean soldiers who will be able to come to their senses by reading it”continues the man who is also a legal analyst for the Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG), one of the NGOs signing the letter.
“I would like to give these North Korean soldiers a chance. If this mail can lead to a mass defection, it will also help the Ukrainian people repel the Russian offensive.”
Ethan Hee-Seok Shin, spokesperson for the collective behind the letterat franceinfo
These potential readers have two choices, the NGOs tell them. “Become lonely spirits, without any descendants to care for your grave, so far from home, in mountains and foreign waters (…). Or side with the Ukrainian people who sacrifice everything in the face of the Russian invaders .” The letter ends with a note of hope addressed to young North Korean recruits: “It is not yet too late, lay down your arms and stand on the side of justice.”
