Defectors ‘welcome’ in South

SEOUL: South Korean President Park Geun-hye criticised North Korea’s regime for trampling on the human rights of its citizens and said she wants people fleeing the North to come to “the free soil of South Korea anytime”.

“The universal values of freedom, democracy, human rights and welfare are the precious rights you [North Koreans] should also enjoy,” she said in a speech delivered at the Gyeryongdae military headquarters in South Chungcheong Province to mark Armed Forces Day on Saturday.

Ms Park said that as the North seeks to advance its nuclear programme it will not renounce its nuclear tests and missile provocations. Therefore, pressure would continue to be applied to Pyongyang, she said.

Having judged the possibility of North Korea turning away from the path of provocation to be low, Ms Park’s comments indicate that Seoul is shifting its emphasis toward inducing the collapse of the North’s regime.

Her call to people fleeing the country is apparently part of psychological warfare aimed at destabilising the North.

She also instructed that preparations be made envisaging a sudden turn of events in the North such as because of a coup.

“We must make all possible preparations so as to be able to systematically cope with a chance occurrence that could come about in the North.”

After a speech she gave in August, Ms Park has stressed the stance of not viewing North Koreans as enemies while criticising the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un.

She stressed that that her government would do its best to keep North Korean citizens informed of the truth and ensure their rights are protected in order to put a stop to the military provocations and the regime’s rights abuses.