Editor’s note: We’re hearing from so many enthusiastic members of The Daily Signal’s audience that we decided to begin running some of your correspondence. Here is a batch on issues overseas. You’ll find our address below. —Ken McIntyre
Dear Daily Signal: I’m writing to express my concern about human rights violations in North Korea and to respond to the commentary by Olivia Enos, “North Korean Women Live Desperate Lives, Even After Escape.”
I am a South Korean student who has translated the testimony of a North Korean defector. Since I was a girl, I have been very interested in North Korean human rights, and wanted to provide a small help for those people.
While I was translating testimony, I tried to put myself in the defector’s shoes. I was able to develop a sense of sympathy naturally. Your article said that more than 100,000 North Korean defectors are in China, and women are sold as wives to Chinese men. This was repeated in the testimony I worked on. It said that lots of women were sold to old Chinese bachelors.
I would like to add my voice to the international community in increasing awareness of the desperate lives of North Koreans. I hope my small contribution will help the defectors. —Ruth Uhm, Seoul, South Korea
Identifying Malcontents at State
Dear Daily Signal: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will have his hands full getting the many lifelong progressives in the State Department to comply with his and President Trump’s agenda (“It’s Time to Reel in the Obama-Appointed Ambassador Who Meddled in Macedonian Politics”).
The “digging in and waiting” of the new administration has begun. It’s like digging a post hole and putting the post in place. You can shake hell out of the top and the bottom doesn’t move. You need to fill in the hole to achieve stability.
A superb way to identify the malcontents is using the 1,000 signatures on the document opposing Trump’s travel ban. You must identify an enemy before you can defeat them. Identification is nearly complete at the State Department.—Tom Subler
Islamists Intend to Destroy Israel
Dear Daily Signal: As secretary of state, John Kerry continued to favor the Islamist attitude toward the existence of Israel (“Kerry Takes Parting Shot at Israel in Middle East Speech”). He kowtowed to the machinations of the America-hating, Marxist-loving progressives.
The Muslims who live in Israel are much better off than their counterparts in Islamist-controlled areas. This is especially true for the women. Many Muslim women in other countries don’t know how badly they are treated because they have lived only under Sharia law since birth.
Girls who wish to go to school are shot; a woman who causes the disrespecting of family can be killed, most often by family males; women can’t drive in Saudi Arabia. Women can’t leave the house for any reason unless they have a male escort, even if only a young son; women can’t report rape unless they have three men to verify it, otherwise they can be jailed. Women who talk back to their husbands can be severely beaten, and it’s not called spouse abuse; it’s more like adjusting attitude.
Today, under the Islamists, ancient cites are being destroyed and archeologists may never recover the history that is being lost. It reminds one of the idiocy of the Spanish priest who had the Mayan books burned; such a vast amount of human knowledge lost.
Israel was attacked by Islamists with the obvious intent of extermination of the Jews. Their intent was to complete what Hitler started. The Islamists lost the fight and lost much territory in the process. That territory now belongs to tiny Israel; it is not occupied territory. It was Israel before Islam and is once again Israel. And it is the price that is paid when you attack Israel and lose. If Israel had lost, they no longer would exist as a nation or as a people.
The Jewish people have been prosecuted for 3,000 years. It’s time to stop this nonsense. It is simple: There would be peace if the Islamists stopped trying to eliminate Israel and acknowledged its right to exist. —Edward G. Ogle Sr., Orange Park, Florida
NATO: What Do We Get in Return?
Dear Daily Signal: It’s the American taxpayer who enables these European socialist democracies to be “socialist” democracies (“Are NATO Members Carrying Their Weight?”). Instead of spending their tax money on defense, they get to spend it on socialist programs.
The U.S. contributed more than three times the amount of all other NATO countries combined to support NATO. And what do we get in return? Demands for more funding to fight “global warming” from countries that won’t pay up their fair share, and criticism from from some of these countries that we aren’t doing enough to support “human rights.” —Jerry Zacny
What the British Showed the World
Dear Daily Signal: The British people have my deepest respect for having the courage to stand up to the European Union and say, “You are no longer going to dictate to our country and take away our freedom” (“On Brexit, So Much Winning”). The British showed the world that the perpetuation of a lie when it is repeated continually will not always convince the naive listener that it is indeed true.
The United States always will “cover your back” under Donald Trump. You helped to inspire the people in the USA to stand up and assert our own rights on Nov. 8, when we elected a man named Trump who said, “Enough! No more of this liberal crap that Obama forced the USA to tolerate.” —Dick Tyler
End Notes
Dear Daily Signal: I live in the United Kingdom and love what you are doing at The Daily Signal. I appreciate your U.S. focus, and it’s very interesting for us. Any chance of a little more international news coverage, particularly of the U.K. and Brexit? We are with you guys. —Paul Ingram
Dear Daily Signal: These Cabinet delays are an insult and affront to the American voters who elected President Trump. —Mary Gayhart
Dear Daily Signal: I love The Daily Signal because it is a fair and concise reporting of the things that concern most Americans today. Thank you. —Randall Watson
