Seoul Summit: Vershbow, Lefkowitz and post-conference fireworks
(by guest blogger Andy Jackson)
This a part of a series of posts on the Seoul Summit: Promoting Human Rights in North Korea and related events.
The opening session of the Seoul Summit started about about 9:40 with about 400 people in the room. Within an hour, that numbe had grown to about 700.
The early part of the session had a very American feel to it, with speeches by US Ambassador Alexander Vershbow and special envoy for North Korean human rights Jay Lefkowitz giving the opening statements.
Alexander Vershbow
In his introduction of Lefkowitz, Vershbow noted that the US and South Korea share many values, including a commitment to human rights and that human rights has long been a cornerstone to US foreign policy. He also said that the US has no ‘hidden agenda’ in raising human rights issues with North Korea.
Vershbow made news for calling the Kim Jong-il government a ‘criminal regime‘ while speaking to reporters later in the day:
Speaking to reporters in Seoul yesterday, the U.S. ambassador to Seoul, Alexander Vershbow, referred to Pyongyang as a “criminal regime,” adding, “We can’t somehow remove our sanctions as a political gesture when this regime is engaging in dangerous activities.”
Needless to say, the North Koreans were not assumed and said that the comments were a declaration of war. But don’t run to the bomb shelter just yet; they declare war every few weeks over one thing or another. They also called on Seoul to expel Vershbow. The spooky part is that there may be some in the Roh government who are thinking the same thing.
BTW, when Vershbow says that the KJI government is a criminal regime, that is not hyperbole. It is literally a criminal regime.
Jay Lefkowitz
Lefkowitz was also direct in addressing human rights in North Korea:
`We do not threaten the peace by challenging the status quo,’ Lefkowitz told several hundred activists, diplomats and officials gathered at the Shilla Hotel. `Indeed, failing to follow this path and take steps towards liberalization is a far greater risk to the long-term security and economic prosperity in the region.’
`I am aware that many in South Korea are wary that calling for greater human rights for North Korea is proxy for other aims, or an excuse to isolate and antagonize North Korea, ’ he said. But improving the humanitarian conditions in what Lefkowitz called a `deeply oppressive nation’ was the only way North Korea could rejoin the international community, he argued.
Lefkowitz directed his call to action at the South Korean people. `We want to work with you to address the shocking affront to human dignity that holds the North Korean people in bondage,’ he said.
There are a couple of other items of note from Lefkowitz’s speech. He made a bit of a dig at the South Korean government by calling for aid donorverifyarify where their aid was going. The US has had to suspend its own aid shipments to North Korea because the later is kicking out the World Food Program, which was monitoring the shipments to make sure they were reaching those in need:
Encouraged by promises of huge amounts of aid from China and improved harvests,
North Korea is poised to expel international aid agencies at the end of this
month and wind back its limited market reforms, officials have told diplomats.
While former president Kim Dae-jung continues to believe that the unmonitored aid shipments to North Korea will somehow, someday improve human rights conditions there. The North’s retrenchment at the first opportunity betrays that dream.
Lefkowitz took a more realistic stance that North Korea will not change without a concerted effort by other nations. At the Seoul summit he said, “We do seek conflict or confrontation, but we cannot avert our eyes from what is happening… in North Korea”