A house divided against itself cannot stand: The human rights crisis in South Korea today

Key Chapter Titles

1. The Prophecy of the Divided House: The Indivisibility of Human Rights on the Korean Peninsula
2. A Comparative Examination: Similarities and Differences Between North Korea's Juche Rule and American Slavery
3. South Korea's Silence: Indifference and Avoidance Regarding the Human Rights Crisis in the North
4. The Pathology of the Left: Cognitive Distortions in South Korea's Perception of North Korean Human Rights Issues
5. Pyongyang's Fear: The Regime's Defense Against Human Rights Concepts and Policy Shifts
6. The Internal Threat: Challenges to South Korean Freedom from the Domestic Left
7. Policy Performance Under Leftist Governance: From Forced Haircuts to Suppressing Criticism
8. Abuse of Legal Weapons: Defamation Lawsuits and the Constriction of Free Speech
9. The Risk of Constitutional Crisis: Special Prosecutor Investigations and the Possibility of a One-Party State
10. Controversy Over Presidential Term Limits: Constitutional Amendment Proposals and Attempts to Extend Power
11. The Essence of Human Rights: As Inalienable Natural Rights
12. South Korea's Future Choice: Complete Freedom or Universal Servitude

Document Introduction

This report is based on the text of a video speech delivered by Nicholas Eberstadt, the Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute, to the World Congress on North Korean Human Rights in Seoul on October 23, 2025. The core argument of the report is: The three-generation-long division of the Korean Peninsula—with the South enjoying freedom while the North is in a state of comprehensive servitude—constitutes a profound and urgent human rights and strategic crisis. The author warns that the widespread indifference in South Korean society to the human rights suffering of their northern compatriots is not only a moral failure but, from a purely pragmatic and self-interested perspective, is endangering South Korea's own human rights and freedom.

The report begins by invoking Abraham Lincoln's famous assertion that a house divided against itself cannot stand, drawing an analogy to the pre-Civil War divisions over slavery in the United States. It points out that South Korea's current state of being half-free and half-enslaved is an unstable equilibrium. The author emphasizes that South Korea's freedom is an indivisible whole; if perceived as a privilege enjoyed only by some, it becomes inherently fragile. Neglecting to defend the fundamental principles of human rights for their northern compatriots will ultimately endanger the South's own freedom.

The second part of the report provides a detailed comparative analysis, arguing that the human rights situation in today's North Korea under Juche rule is, in many aspects, worse than historical slavery in the United States. Despite some superficial differences (e.g., North Korea allows literacy), in areas such as freedom of belief, the rigidification of social hierarchy (e.g., the songbun system), the state's systematic disregard for life (e.g., the Great Famine of the 1990s), the industrial scale of mass imprisonment and execution, and the extremely low proportion of defectors due to collective punishment, the oppressive mechanisms of the North Korean regime exhibit more extreme and sophisticated characteristics.

The third and fourth parts shift the focus to South Korea's domestic sphere. The report points out that the greatest weakness of the international North Korean human rights movement is the lack of support from South Koreans themselves. South Korean society, particularly its radical left, influenced by Marxist-Leninist ideology, has developed a pathological perception of North Korean human rights issues: they theoretically deny the possibility of human rights violations in socialist North Korea, view discussions on this topic as illegal provocations, and their proposed solutions often consist solely of providing food and financial aid to the North Korean government. This perception directly influences South Korean government policy, manifesting in repeated abstentions in relevant UN votes and the domestic suppression of criticism against North Korea.

The fifth and sixth parts delve into the North Korean regime's fear of human rights concepts and how this fear drives its recent policy shifts, including abandoning the idea of unification, labeling South Koreans as a different ethnic group, and enacting harsh laws to combat the influence of South Korean culture. The report argues this indicates the regime's acute awareness that its people yearn for the Southern way of life.

Parts seven through ten elaborate in detail on how the narrow understanding of human rights held by South Korea's leftist forces, when in power domestically, translates into concrete policy actions that pose an internal threat to South Korea's own freedom. Examples include using broad defamation laws for legal warfare to suppress critics, suppressing protest activities such as flag-burning under the guise of hate speech laws, leveraging martial law farces to push for special prosecutor investigations aimed at outlawing opposition parties, and promoting constitutional amendments to abolish presidential term limits. The report warns that if left unchecked, these actions could steer South Korea towards a de facto one-party state, undermining its constitutional democratic foundations.

The report concludes by reaffirming the essence of human rights as inalienable natural rights endowed by the Creator. It calls upon the free people of South Korea to recognize that advocating for the human rights of their northern compatriots is a crucial opportunity to defend their own rights. The future narrative for South Korea—progressing towards complete freedom or universal servitude—depends on the choices and actions of South Koreans today. This report aims to provide policymakers, scholars, and professionals concerned with human rights and geopolitical stability on the Korean Peninsula with a sharp assessment based on historical comparison and political-economic analysis.