Kim Jong Un Impersonator Leads Anti-North Korea Protest In Hong Kong
2013-12-15 08:45 AM
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A professional impersonator of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, known only as Howard and by his stage-name of Kim Jong-um, holds a picture of the former at a protest near the North Korean consulate in Hong Kong on December 15, 2013. (aaron tam/AFP/Getty Images)
Hong Kong's Kim Jong Un lookalike led a small protest on Sunday (December 15) and called for the regime to improve human rights and abolish prison camps.
North Korea recently grabbed headlines after its state media announced the young leader had executed his uncle, Jang Song Thaek, who was considered the second most powerful man in the secretive state.
The protest also comes two days before the second anniversary of the death of Kim Jong Il, the father of North Korea's current ruler, on December 17.
After a fresh haircut and make-up session, Australian-Chinese "Howard" joined a few protesters from North Korean Defectors Concern, a non-government organisation that hired him for the appearance, and held up signs protesting against Pyongyang.
"This started as a joke, to dress up as Kim Jong Un, because of my likeness. But since I got the call a couple days ago I thought it was a good cause. I mean, you know, I should use my fame or infamy to help these people, I mean it's the least I could do. I live in Hong Kong, I'm well fed, I can basically do whatever I want, I can go out of the country, you know. Go on the internet and find out anything I want. Where the citizens in North Korea don't have those rights. And not only they do not have those rights, they probably have to be locked in a gulag, be a slave for the rest of their lives, be raped by guards and be tortured by this really destructive regime. Really an affront to humanity," said Howard, who did not want to give his last name to keep his music and impersonator careers separate.
Many passers-by snapped photos of Howard before the group marched to the building that hosts the North Korean consulate in Hong Kong.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Office of the Commissioner also operates in the same building, and a Chinese national emblem hangs above the entrance.
North Korean defectors usually escape via China then head to other countries, according to reports.
But China, North Korea's only ally, generally resists allowing defectors from the North to seek asylum elsewhere.
Last year, the number of defectors entering South Korea fell 44 percent to 1,509 from 2,706 in 2011, South Korean government data shows. In 2010, 2,402 defectors arrived and 2,900 in 2009.
The founder of the North Korean Defectors Concern, Owen Lau, urged the Chinese government to offer protection to North Korean defectors.
"Our group has a main objective, we want the Chinese government to stop repatriating the North Korean defectors. Because China is the only one country that will repatriate North Korean defectors in the world," Lau said.
North Korea has been run by the same family since 1948. Its economy, which was once larger than South Korea's, is now a fortieth the size of its prosperous neighbour. Its 24 million people regularly suffer food shortages, according to the United Nations.
