Park says N. Koreans fleeing their country are welcome in South

SEOUL. KAZINFORM - South Korean President Park Geun Hye on Saturday criticized North Korea's regime for trampling on the human rights of its citizens and said she wants people fleeing the North to come to "the free soil of South Korea anytime."

"The universal values of freedom, democracy, human rights and welfare are the precious rights you (North Koreans) should also enjoy," she said in a speech delivered at the Gyeryongdae military headquarters in South Chungcheong Province to mark the country's Armed Forces Day, Kyodo reports.

The president said that as the North seeks to advance its nuclear weapons capabilities, it will not renounce its nuclear tests and missile provocations.
Therefore, pressure would continue to be applied to Pyongyang, she said.

Having judged the possibility of North Korea turning away from the path of provocation to be low, Park's comments indicate that Seoul is shifting its emphasis toward inducing the collapse of the North's regime.

Her call to people fleeing the country is apparently part of psychological warfare aimed at destabilizing the North from within.

She also instructed that preparations be made envisaging a sudden turn of events in the North such as due to a coup. "We must make all possible preparations so as to be able to systematically cope with a chance occurrence that could come about in the North," said the commander in chief.

Since a speech she gave in August, Park has stressed the stance of not viewing North Koreans as enemies while criticizing the country's leader Kim Jong Un.

In Saturday's speech she said that South Korea is well aware of the gruesome realities faced by the North's soldiers and citizens.

The president stressed that that her government would do its best to keep North Korean citizens informed of the truth and ensure their rights are protected in order to put a stop to the military provocations and the regime's rights abuses.

Source: Kyodo