Laurie Ferguson (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I congratulate the mover of this motion, the member for Reid, who has noted heavy Korean settlement in suburbs such as Lidcombe, and also, more particularly, the member for Melbourne, who has fought for this issue on a broader front, making sure that outside this House there was a conference that discussed this issue some years ago.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are organisations which, as gadflies, are often unpopular with many countries because they are critical of those countries on so many fronts. But they are no strangers to human rights abuses. Amnesty International has said of North Korea that it is 'in a category of its own'. As I say, they are no strangers to these issues. Human Rights Watch has spoken of it as 'a nation that continues to impose totalitarian rule with systematic denial of basic freedoms'. As other speakers have said, this is a country in a category of its own. Quite clearly, the level of abuse is by any standard horrific. It has been mentioned that the average size of North Korean citizens is far lower than that of South Koreans—27 per cent of children are born underweight. Obviously, there is malnutrition throughout the land; often it is state instigated—whether by seizure of crops or by policies that lead in that direction. I do not want to get into controversies about World War II, but former Justice Kirby said that he wished the definition of genocide was not as narrow as it is, because it was not wide enough to find genocide in the case of North Korea. That is how horrific he found the situation there.

As the member for Melbourne Ports says, in the arcane procedures and the self-interested support of nations for each other, it is very difficult to get Security Council activity around any one country. To accomplish this shows both the international disrespect for North Korea's regime and the work that Kirby has done on this issue. It is difficult. To have accomplished that resolution with all the self-interest and playing off of issues—you protect me, and I protect you and I will not interfere here—really does say something. We have a situation here where there are reports of women being raped within detention centres and prisons and then they are murdered to make sure the crime never comes to light. There is clear evidence not of a reduction, but an expansion in the numbers of prisoners since 2010. Clearly, we are not advancing under the new leader. The United Nations and private charities are not allowed in to monitor food or the circumstances of those in need. North Korea negotiates for food with the Western world and for tentative agreements over weapons, but there is no monitoring of how that is delivered. Whatever the rest of the world gives is seen as a gift to the state. Ji Hyunah, a person who fled in the 1990s, claimed in the UK Telegraph on 16 February that prisoners were given no food whatsoever, forcing them to eat frogs and grasshoppers to survive. She also claimed they forced an abortion on her without anaesthetic, leaving her bleeding heavily long after.

In a country which has very strong geopolitical interests in the region—and where an aunt of former Prime Minister Menzies was an early Christian missionary—it is quite appropriate that we take an interest. It is a situation which is beyond the pale. People are actually persecuted for knowing about the rest of the world. All means for getting information are supressed—if you are found to be watching DVDs or having access to any technology that informs you, there is trouble. Pressure must continue to be maintained on China because of its policy of sending back people who clearly have claims for asylum to North Korea. I commend the movers and the other people who are supporting this resolution.

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