A prominent North Korean defector and former top aide to the communist country's leader said yesterday that anti-Americanism in South Korea was the result of North Korean propaganda. Mr Hwang Jang Yop, who defected to Seoul in 1997, made the remarks in a statement released before his appearance at a parliamentary forum on North Korean defectors and human rights. 'People in many countries, without knowing the true identity of the North Korean dictatorial leadership, are pitying it as a small country, an impoverished country,' said Mr Hwang, 81, who compared North Korea's leadership to the ousted Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. 'Even in South Korea... many people, fooled by the North's cunning strategy, are demanding national cooperation while rejecting the United States, the most trusted democratic ally,' he said.
| This is too subtle a concept for some people to grasp, implying as it does that some people would actually lie to them to advance their own interests... |
Mr Hwang, former chief of North Korea's legislature, called for continued inter-Korean exchanges, saying direct contact with North Koreans would help them recognise the superiority of democracy.
| No matter how determined they are not to... |
Known as the architect of North Korea's guiding philosophy - juche, or self-reliance - Mr Hwang served three times as legislature chairman, the Supreme People's Assembly, and once tutored leader Kim Jong Il. He also headed Kim Il Sung University. Under the protective custody of South Korea's intelligence agency, Mr Hwang rarely appears in public. He has accused the Seoul government of restricting his movements to muzzle him, but it says it is looking out for his safety. |