Robert Park, the Christian activist who was jailed in North Korea for 43 days after crossing the border from China last December, broke his silence this week and revealed that he was beaten and sexually tortured while in custody.
“They have really thought about this: How can we kill these people, how can we starve these people, how can we enslave these people, how can we control these people,” Park said in an interview with South Korean broadcaster KBS on Wednesday.
Armed with a Bible and a letter for dictator Kim Jong-il, Park crossed the Tumen River into North Korea on Christmas Day of last year, with the hope of calling international attention to the suffering of the North’s people. As soon as he arrived in the North, the Korean American said he was arrested and beaten.
He also told KBS that security forces carried out humiliating sexual torture to keep him from revealing details of his detention. “The scars and wounds of the things that happened to me in North Korea are too intense,” the 29-year-old said. “As a result of what happened to me in North Korea, I’ve thrown away any kind of personal desire. I will never, you know, be able to have a marriage or any kind of relationship.”
The activist said he attempted suicide soon after returning to the United States.
Although Park read an apology on North Korean TV before his release, he told the South Korean news station that it was dictated to him. He pledged to devote the rest of his life to fighting for the human rights of North Korean citizens and for the collapse of the North’s regime.
