I give you a break from the beef deal (which everyone here in the ROK is obsessing about) with a post on North Korean refugees (whom few folks here seem to care about).
My latest Korea Times piece is up. The conclusion:
It is still early in Lee’s term and it remains to be seen if Seoul will be part of the solution for North Korean human rights and refugees, but at least it is no longer part of the problem.
I wish I could say the same of the US State Department.
You can read the rest to see why.
Since I submitted that piece, I found out that the Lee administration is also picking up the pace on admitting NK refugees from Thailand. That is certainly good.
10 Comments
“Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who told reporters “[Lefkowitz is] the human rights envoy. He doesn’t know what’s going on in the six-party talks and he certainly has no say in the six-party talks.””
This is not exactly a shock coming from Rice or the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government in general. One just has to look at past and present examples such as:
-Guantanamo Bay
-Abu Ghraib
-extraordinary rendition (aka “torture by proxy”)
-Dick Cheney
-Alberto Gonzales
-John Yoo
…to see the persistent and dim view the Executive Branch has on “Human Rights”. I don’t expect things to change significantly until the next administration. Fortunately, I believe either Obama or McCain would appoint people who will place a higher priority on human suffering than the current administration…but the bar is already so low it would be hard NOT to.
Good to know that Lee will probably be a little more interested in North Korean human rights than the last guy. Hope that the continued hysteria over an obscure disease that no Korean is likely to ever get won’t continue to impede Lee’s efforts in important areas.
It is unfortunate that the events of the last seven years have hurt the credibility of the United States in the area of human rights. Hopefully Obama or McCain will be able to correct this somewhat.
Re: #2
“Hopefully Obama or McCain will be able to correct this somewhat.”
That’s my hope, too. I don’t like McCain’s seemingly “politics and diplomacy by military first and only” and “never met a war he didn’t like (recently)” way of thinking, nor his very conservative social views, but I do have a lot of respect for the man in many other areas, including torture and human rights in general.
Here’s to hoping Gitmo will be closed down sometime in 2009 and human rights will be paid more than lip-service in the highest diplomatic ranks.
Thanks for post Andy. I’m sure many a North Korean would give anything for a stew with fresh rice and even American beef.
This issue for me is much great magnitude than beef imports.
Why aren’t South Koreas holding candle light vigils for their fellow Koreans suffering in detention camps, gulags, and re-education centres??
It amazes me.
Because South Koreans never show their anger toward countries they aren’t afraid of.
CORRECTION: South Koreans ONLY show their anger toward countries they aren’t afraid of.
I am so tired of hearing about beef, my wife hardly ever eats beef but it is all she can talk about. When will the angus err anger subside?
Thanks for the good article.
What cruel irony that as North Korea starves South Korea is distracted by a movement to keep foreign food out of the country.
I hope the US is willing to accept large numbers of NK refugees. It’s our duty as participants on the Peninsula and we always seem to need more immigrants anyway.
NK refugees in the States might tilt US policy toward human rights. Making people in the DPRK gov’t focus on human rights is a shift of mental attitude that could be a key to the whole thing.
There are some claiming that China has raised the bounty on NK refugees to a year’s average Chinese salary. It’s on Hoju Saram’s blog.
@6: Quite so. It’s similar to the way children will test adults to find their limits.
@8: You should not imply any U.S. unwillingness, as the U.S. has already shown that abundantly. Rather, it is the discomfort of the South Korean gov’t. that is the obstacle.
@9, I agree wholeheartedly about SK unwillingness. I’m also not trying to imply that the US has been remiss toward NK refugees, just that I hope we will accept a lot more of them. I largely see the US as the good guys here, but think we’re making a mistake by not pushing human rights to the top of the agenda. In fact that’s my beef with the whole Sunshine Policy, that the South Koreans downplayed human rights when it should have been front and center. They should have engaged while demanding verifiable human rights improvements every step of the way. I also think the US should strongly consider negotiating a peace treaty (in exchange for serious concessions, esp regarding human rights) so we get rid of the regime’s main excuse for its criminal policies and actions: “the enemy.” The idea in a human rights-focused policy is both to help the people and plant the seeds for change in the gov’t. It seems like this is LMB’s goal, so it’s frustrating to see him get burned in the ridiculous beef broiler going on.