No one left to speak for me

I am sure that you all heard of the statement, “No one left to speak for me,” although you may not be aware of the story behind the statement. The statement was made by Pastor Martin Niemoller.

Pastor Niemoller was born in Germany on Jan. 14, 1892. In 1910 when he was 18 years old, he became a cadet in the Imperial German Navy. During World War I that began in 1914, Niemoller was assigned to a U-boat and promoted to commander.

Under the stipulations of Nov. 11, 1918, that effectively ended World War I, Niemoller and other commanders were ordered to turn over their U-boats to England. Along with many others, Niemoller refused to obey this order, and was discharged from the Navy.

You can see that Martin Niemoller was a loyal soldier to Germany.

In 1920, Niemoller decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a priest, and began his training at the University of Munster. As a national conservative, he openly opposed the Weimar Republic and welcomed Adolf Hitler’s 1933 rise to power.

In 1934, Niemoller and two Protestant bishops met Hitler to discuss state pressure on churches. Later it was found that not only Niemoller’s phone, but also the Pastors Emergency League, which Niemoller helped found, was under state surveillance. Niemoller began to oppose Hitler’s dictatorship.

The famous quotation from Niemoller that most of you know is worth repeating here.

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.”

What that quotation tells us is that sometimes what appears to be a small, trivial event can be the first of a chain of events that eventually leads to total destruction of an entity.

Lately, I have been thinking of whether there is such a small event in the two Koreas’ relations that foretells a destructive future, and what it could be if there were one.

If we agree on the premise that ultimate unification has to be under the free, democratic system of South Korea, not the brutal dictatorship prevailing in North Korea, I can think of several that may be playing the role of a small event equivalent to “First they came for the socialists.”

The direct negotiation between North Korea (Kim Jong-un) and the U.S. (Donald Trump) which excludes South Korea (Moon Jaein) is one. Negotiation for freezing, instead of eliminating, the North’s nuclear weapons would be another.

Another could be to put in prison so many leaders of the pre-Moon administration, including President Park Geun-hye, for what appears to be purely political, not criminal, reasons. Still another could be the trade war between Japan and South Korea over an issue that should be resolved politically, not judicially.

On top of my list, however, is the treatment of refugees from North Korea who settled in South Korea. According to the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK), almost 33,000 North Korean escapees, about 80 percent of them women, have settled in South Korea.

Defection continues. According to NK News, the number of North Koreans who defected to South Korea during the first half of this year totaled 546, up from 487 recorded during the same period last year.

One recent incident is a group of four North Korean fishermen who left North Korea June 9 in a 1.8-ton wooden boat with a 28-horsepower engine, crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) unchecked, and arrived at a South Korean port June 15.

What should South Korea do if North Korea demands the return of some of these refugees, especially the outspoken ones, suggesting that their return to the North is necessary to continue negotiation for denuclearization or peaceful unification?

My answer is simple. The status of North Korean refugees in South Korea should never be on the negotiating table between the two Koreas. They should always be protected and treated well.

Further, South Korea should work hard to protect North Korean refugees in China as well, reminding China of the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Additional Protocol.

If South Korea gives in to North Korea’s demand for return of some refugees from the South, the next demand may well be to quiet all voices in South Korea that are critical of the North.

The final steps of this chain will likely include unification under the North Korean system of total dictatorship. Freedom, and good life that everyone enjoys now, will be gone forever in South Korea, and, yes, there will be no one left to speak for me.