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Succession is 'chance for reform'

Third generation of secretive leaders could seize opportunity to change direction, say activists
Succession is 'chance for reform'
Published: December 20, 2011 03:08 AM GMT
Updated: December 20, 2011 03:11 AM GMT

Rights activists have joined diplomats and statesmen in urging the North Korean regime to use the death of Kim Jong-il as an opportunity to reverse decades of isolation and oppression. Kim’s successor, Kim Jong-un, and his military backers have an “unprecedented opportunity” to “turn a new page on the human rights situation in the country,” the International Coalition to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea (ICNK) said in a statement released yesterday in London. Kim died of an apparent massive heart attack last weekend and his third son has already been anointed with the title ‘Great Successor’ in the poverty-stricken pariah state. “North Korea remains a closed country and access is therefore urgently needed for independent and neutral human rights monitors,” added Souhayr Belhassen, president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), a member of the ICNK coalition. “There is now a real opportunity for North Korea to change direction, end its isolation, stop the brutal oppression of its own people and open up to the world,” said Mervyn King, chief executive of Christian Solidarity worldwide (CSW). “The international community should seize the moment to press for these changes.”

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