Talking the Talk on Human Rights
After nearly four years of near-complete silence about North Korea’s human rights atrocities, Hillary Clinton is speaking truth to power:
Clinton called on North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons and related programs and put the welfare of its people first.
“Only under these circumstances will North Korea be able to end its isolation from the international community and alleviate the suffering of its people,” she said.
A coalition of 40 human rights organizations and activists in April submitted a petition to the U.N. Human Rights Council calling for action to shut down the country’s forced labor system. [UPI]
And this:
“Because at some point, people cannot live under such oppressive conditions – starving to death, being put into gulags and having their basic human rights denied,” she said.
“So we are hoping that (Kim) will chart a different course for his people.” [Reuters]
So I take it not even Mrs. Clinton thinks there’s a strong prospect of getting North Korea back to the six-party talks before November. Might as well buy herself some protection against the charge that she and her administration are completely deaf to the world’s worst ongoing human rights crisis.
Even Robert King, our Special Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea (whose usual function is to go to conferences, strike a sagacious pose, and say things that John Foster Dulles could just as well have said) is suggesting that he has affirmative policy proposals:
The United States will work to increase the flow of information into North Korea amid signs of change in the repressive state’s media landscape, a U.S. human rights envoy said Thursday.
“In the North Korean context, small but significant changes are underway, and the United States remains committed to increasing information into the DPRK,” Robert King, U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, told a forum in Seoul. “Breaking the information blockade is the key to positive change in North Korea.” [Korea Times]
King speculated that North Korea admitted the failure of its recent missile test because it was no longer capable of hiding the truth from the North Korean people. But what exactly is King proposing here? Broadcasting a new cell signal into the North? Flooding its markets with iPhone knockoffs? Leveraging some magical new app that will hack into the Orascom network?
Broadcasting from abroad including the state-sponsored US station will help break down the “information blockade” and contribute to “more conscious North Korean citizens”, said King.
He said Washington remains committed to increasing information to the North. “This is a fundamental component of our commitment to improving human rights in North Korea.”
Several groups based in Seoul or elsewhere beam radio broadcasts into the North. [AFP]
Right. The same things we’re doing now, only not enough. And which North Korean defectors are probably doing more effectively anyway.
Information about the outside world also comes in via CDs, DVDs or memory sticks, or through smuggled mobile phones which connect to Chinese networks near the border.
King criticised China’s policy of repatriating refugees from the North as job-seekers rather than treating them as potential refugees.
He said he was “deeply concerned” by such reports and urged Beijing to honour international treaties it has signed on protecting refugees.
No word, of course, on what if any policy proposals King will offer to deal with this long-standing abuse. If there’s one thing that the experience of living through the Bush Administration taught me, it’s that words alone mean nothing without the will and the vision to implement practical and effective policies to deter the abuses.
Nice words, though. Now let’s see what policies this administration offers to address what it has, so belatedly, recognized.
Update: Really? The North Koreans are Republicans now?
The North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said: “…how foolish and ridiculous the US was in its attempt to meddle in the internal affairs of the DPRK (North Korea) over its ‘human rights issue’ and ‘people’s living’ and hurt its single-minded unity.
“Hillary would be well advised to pay more attention to the issues of economic crisis and huge hordes of jobless people, which have become so serious that they may dash the hope of the administration of the Democratic Party for stay in power.”
… the consequence of which would be John Bolton having a say in North Korea policy? So I take it North Korea won’t be endorsing Obama this year, but this confounds even me.