Freedom House V: Thanks to Us, Peace Is Not at Hand

Two out of two Koreas agree–all of our disquieting talk about human rights is dashing the soaring hopes of fools on both sides of a great ocean that next week’s six-party talks will be different from all those held since 1993. If your reaction is “six party what?,” don’t feel ashamed. After all, North Korea forgot about them for thirteen months and suddenly agreed to return to them what, a week ago?

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea said Wednesday it expected little progress at revived nuclear disarmament talks next week, criticizing efforts to raise the issues of Pyongyang’s abductions of Japanese citizens and alleged human rights abuses.

Alleged? Admittedly, as a defense attorney, I’ve taken some steep liberties with that word, including one unfortunate case where my client felt that videotape was simply essential to preserving the experience. In retrospect, “alleged” probably didn’t help my credibility then, nor does it do much for this reporter’s. Who is credibily disputing that there are human rights abuses taking place in North Korea?

But the U.S. ambassador to Japan said the six-party talks starting Tuesday in Beijing should focus on the nuclear question, adding that Pyongyang must agree to give up its weapons programs before other disputes can be addressed.

“If that issue is not resolved, then it seems that nothing else is achievable,” Ambassador Thomas Schieffer told reporters at the Japan Press Club. “Nuclear weapons is not the end of the process, but it certainly is the beginning.”

The comments came a day after a Washington conference funded by the U.S. Congress focused on human rights abuses in the communist North and after Japanese officials said they wanted to discuss the abductions on the sidelines of the talks.

“Such disturbing actions as slandering … a dialogue partner cannot help the talks progress into a positive direction and will only bring conflict and a breakdown in the end,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said in a commentary.

There’s a common logical fallacy called post hoc ergo propter hoc, which means falsely assuming that if Event B happens after Event A, Event B must have occurred because of Event A. I’d argue that years of aid and bribes hadn’t substantially moved North Korea’s bargaining position, but Bush meeting with Kang Chol-Hwan may well have. Chung Dong-Young would undoubtedly see things differently. Here’s modern-day Lee Won-Yong himself:

South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said negotiating partners — the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia — should focus on resolving the international standoff over the North’s nuclear program and refrain from raising other issues at the table.

The goal of the negotiations is “denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and dismantling the North’s nuclear weapons program,” Chung said in an interview in Wednesday’s Hankyoreh newspaper. “Issues of North Korea’s human rights and Japanese abductions … should not be on the agenda.”

In the end, both arguments are equally vulnerable to same logical fallacy. Events at the bargaining table and elsewhere may ultimately reveal who wins the argument, but if Sharansky and I win, so will the North Korean people.

The United States, which appeared to be uncertain last week, now backs Japan’s demand to make the abductions of its citizens an issue. A recent congressional resolution condemning the abductions no doubt added pressure. That, in turn, strengthens the case for injecting human rights into the discussion as well.