Doctor says disabled newborns are killed in North Korea

Seoul, Mar. 23, 2006 (CNA) - North Korea has no people with physical disabilities because they are killed soon after they are born, according to Dr. Ri Kwang-chol, who fled the communist country to South Korea last year. He shared his shocking tales yesterday with a forum of human rights activists in Soeul.

Dr. Kwang-chol said the practice of killing newborns with disabilities is encouraged by the state as a way of purifying the masses and eliminating people who might be considered "different,” reported Reuters.

He told members of the New Right Union, who were gathered at the forum, that babies born with physical disabilities were killed in infancy in hospitals or in homes and were quickly buried, reported Reuters. He said he never took part in the practice.

The group issued a statement, urging the South Korean government to stop its “silent diplomacy” with its northern neighbor and to take immediate action. But the South Korean government has refused to join international condemnation of North Korea’s human rights abuses for fear that it could put off relations with Pyongyang.

Pro-life activists in the West fear that the prevalence of abortion in the Western world will eventually lead Western countries down the slippery slope toward this practice as well.