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ambassador_lee_testimony_at_lantos_hearing_april_15_2021.pdf(118.10KB)
Smith chairs hearing on restriction of freedoms in South Korea.jpg(120.20KB)
US Congressman Chris Smith Main Homepage | 이인호 前 주러시아 대사
입력 2021.04.15
[Main Article]
At a human rights hearing on Capitol Hill today, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) warned against infringements on freedoms of expression in South Korea and urged the U.S. ally to prioritize a vision of universally-binding human rights at this critical and historical inflection point for the peninsula and the world.
“This hearing comes at a critical time when the Biden Administration is faced with a number of policy choices that impact the peninsula,” said Smith, who chaired the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing entitled “Civil and Political Rights in the Republic of Korea: Implications for Human Rights on the Peninsula.”
중략
기사 원문 출처: https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=409316
[Statement of Inho Lee]
Congressman Chris Smith, Congressman James McGovern, and other members and staff of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, I would like to begin by expressing my sincere appreciation for your decision to address the issue of civil and political rights in the Republic of Korea, and for inviting me to testify.
As a citizen of the Republic of Korea, I feel deeply pained and ashamed that my own country has again emerged as the subject of friendly concern in the United States, Korea’s foremost ally. This hearing is a continued expression of the same spirit of human solidarity and determination to safeguard the cause of freedom that inspired Americans some seventy years ago to sacrifice their lives to save a newly born liberal democratic country and continues to cement our alliance.
Testifying against my government in a foreign setting, I run the risk of being branded an “American stooge” by some vociferous critics. I accepted the invitation because I recognize with alarm that the state of civil and political rights in my country is not what it appears to be on the surface. Without timely attention and strategic assistance from friendly neighbors sharing a commitment to freedom and democracy, the 50 million people living in South Korea may be lulled by the tempting slogan of “peace with North Korea at any cost.” This would set us on a path certain to bring about a sudden decimation of South Koreans’ human rights through an unprepared merging with the nuclear-armed but oppressed and starving North Koreans.
중략
기사 원문 출처: 첨부파일 확인 부탁드립니다.
