EPICANTHUS

SEOUL—A U.S. Christian activist trying to raise global attention about the suffering of the North Korean people has crossed into the reclusive state, other activists and South Korean media said on Saturday.

According to Reuters, Christian evangelicals who accompanied Robert Park, a 28-year-old American who lives in Arizona, to the border as shouting: “I am an American citizen. I am bringing God’s love. God loves you,” as he crossed into North Korea.

“Until the concentration camps are liberated, I do not want to come out. If I have to die with them, I will. (For) these innocent men, women and children, as Christians, we need to take the cross for them. The cross means that we sacrifice our lives for the redemption of others,” Agence France-Presse, quoted Park as saying.

The Washington Post reports that Park, a Korean-American, has joined various campaigns calling on North Korea to improve its rights record and said he would carry a message calling for leader Kim Jong-il to step down, the closure of prison camps and compensation paid to victims.

Park said he wanted to be arrested in order to pressure governments including the United States, South Korea and Japan to address the suffering of the North Korean people.

“Through the media and through sacrifice we are looking for the global leaders to be forced to give an account. There is no excuse,” he said.

Park told to Reuters in Seoul earlier this week that he saw it as his duty as a Christian to make the journey and did not want the U.S. government to try to free him.

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