[imText1]“Spring Never Comes in the North”, a new exhibition of images related to North Korean human rights is on now in a gallery space under a bridge across Cheongyecheon, a stream running through central Seoul.
Organized by NKnet and H.A.N.A., a Sookmyung Women’s University students’ group dedicated to North Korean human rights issues, the exhibition sets out to contrast the hunger and deprivation of the North Korean people with the luxurious lifestyle of the Kim Jong Il regime elite, and also focuses on egregious examples of human rights violations in the country, including public executions and political prison camps.
Fourth-year student of management and H.A.N.A. representative Yoo So Hee explained, “There are many cases of people who would ordinarily have no interest in North Korean human rights being surprised by this exhibition as they pass through Cheongyecheon.”
“I think it is a good chance to widen popular interest in North Korean human rights,” she added.
As with another recent, very popular exhibition in nearby Samcheongdong, the organizers of “Spring Never Comes in the North” have arranged for defectors to speak of their experiences of North Korea and its violations of human rights at 12 o’clock every lunch time.
On the 22nd, Kim Young Sun, the writer of “I was Song Hye Rim’s friend”, offered testimony to her time in the No. 15 Camp, otherwise known as Yoduk.
Members of H.A.N.A. also offer descriptions of the images in the exhibition to visitors. One such member, third-year political science student Kim Yeon Ju said of his role, “I want to inform people who are repelled by just the words ‘North Korea’ and ‘North Korean human rights’ of the seriousness and importance of the North Korean human rights problem.”
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