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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels August 14, 2004 Attorney finds North Korea visit an education By Amanda Bolsinger Tidings Correspondent Local attorney Eric Sirotkin has traveled the world for different peace efforts. He recently returned from such a trip to North Korea with a delegation of other attorneys from around the country. Sirotkin and his group visited North Korea on invitation from a group of North Korean lawyers. Sirotkin went to North Korea to build relationships and help to create bonds with North Koreans civilians in an attempt to bridge the separation between North Korea and the United States. "We have been led to believe that North Korea is a militaristic place where people are severely oppressed," Sirotkin says. But what Sirotkin saw led him to think otherwise. "We met with people in parks, traveled through the demilitarized zones, and in the countrysides. We saw crops growing, people were friendly, we didn't see the starvation and oppression," Sirotkin said. Sirotkin and the other lawyers also met with government officials and North Korean lawyers while they were there to build relationships and open up discussions about current situations. "I believe that you cannot have discussions about nuclear weapons and human rights without relationships," Sirotkin says. "And we don't have diplomatic relationships with them. We have maintained a state of high alert for over 50 years and there has never been a peace treaty since the war." While in North Korea, Sirotkin and the other lawyers found that the people of North Korea were genuinely seeking relationships and peace with the United States. The success of Biotin's trip led him to plan a second, similar trip for October. Sirotkin plans to meet with judges and members of South Korean parliament and talk with younger generations, who are interested in normalized relations. "I want to go and carry the message that there are millions of peace-loving Americans who don't want war with North Korea, don't want a stand off, and want peace," Sirotkin said. "That's the message we carried last trip to the park, to farms and to government officials. We want to spread the message that many want peace." Sirotkin also emphasizes the importance of questioning the motivations of government and wants people to recognize that they can do more besides sit back and focus on problems. "We can all find our own way to become part of a solution," Sirotkin says. "Peace is a message we can all carry in a democracy. Name-calling and despairing and pessimism just add to the problem. Share a positive example." DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams