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China-Japan-Koreas
Obama urged to address human rights iwith Norks
2009-05-06
Like Bambi cares about that ...
WASHINGTON, May 5 (Yonhap) -- A U.S. congressman urged the Obama administration to address human rights in North Korea in future nuclear and other negotiations with the reclusive communist state. Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) was discussing a lack of concrete steps by U.S. President Barack Obama since taking office in January to address North Korea's "dismal" human rights record.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in February that human rights violations should not serve as a hurdle to improvements in relations with China, triggering concerns the new U.S. president might follow his predecessor in skipping over the thorny issue to avoid provoking either Pyongyang or Beijing, key players in the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear disarmament.

The U.S. State Department issued an annual human rights report in February expressing concerns about human trafficking and repatriation of North Korean refugees, and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom last week again listed North Korea among 12 nations where freedoms are squashed.

In a statement last week to mark North Korea Freedom Week, sponsored by human rights groups based in Washington, the State Department pledged to make efforts to improve human rights conditions in North Korea and help North Korean defectors settle in the United States. The statement denounced the North for continued human rights violations, but stopped short of raising China's repatriation of North Korean refugees under a secret agreement with North Korea.

"Injecting human rights can't make the six-party talks go any worse than they are now," Royce said in a forum sponsored by the Heritage Foundation on Thursday. "After all, this morning we read that North Korea is threatening more nuclear and missile tests. The transcript of his remarks were posted on Tuesday."

"But that misses the larger point. North Korea will keep or rid itself of its nuclear weapons based upon a reading of its own interests -- not how loudly or softly we protest how it mistreats its people," Royce said. "But why not shake up negotiations? The human rights plank is untested. Several versions of the 1994 Agreed Framework model have failed to produce results."
All versions have failed.
Royce deplored Obama's appointment of Stephen Bosworth as part-time representative to North Korea. Bosworth concurrently serves as the dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Boston. "A part-time Special Envoy for North Korea doesn't signal a willingness to confront Pyongyang in a meaningful way," he said. "It tells me they are looking to simply keep the lid on North Korea for as long as possible, hoping it doesn't get worse."

The congressman also expressed displeasure with Obama's failure to appoint someone to replace Jay Lefkowitz, the U.S. special envoy for human rights in North Korea. In his final report wrapping up a four-year term, Lefkowitz in January urged Obama to emphasize human rights in the multilateral nuclear talks and proposed that the U.S. and its allies link any aid with human rights improvements.

"Given the link between security and human rights, many members of Congress have endorsed pursuing a Helsinki Process for Pyongyang," Royce said. "Lefkowitz endorsed this approach. Key to the Helsinki model was the linkage between security, economic and human rights issues, with progress on all three as a condition for aid and recognition."

The congressman said that the Helsinki process "forced the Soviets to deal with these issues, and the fine cracks in the vase became bigger."

He noted similar cracks in North Korea. "The North Korean state may not be as ironclad as it once was," he said. "Defectors tell us of a functioning black market and smuggling ... an explosion of corruption and an erosion of the state's ability to control information and an increasing tendency to blame the government for their plight."

"Given these fine cracks in the vase, now seems like the time to have a coordinated human rights push on North Korea," he said. "Doing so is not only a moral imperative, but it's fundamentally linked to our security."
Add this to the list that we recently noted from The Weekly Standard:
1) rebuild alliance with Japan
2) shift our military focus in South Korea to counter-battery systems
3) thwart Nork proliferation (Operation Lemony Snickett)
4) target Nork finances
5) remind the world that China isn't cooperating
6) go after Nork nuclear partners
7) push more information to Nork people

Add to that --

8) push human rights
9) re-arm Taiwan, and let China know why
10) stop all food aid to the Norks -- it's just stolen by their military
Posted by:Steve White

#5  Obambi is the typical perpetual teenager. He has no gravitas, because he's never felt any pressure or faced any true tests of character. He's like the extremely rich 55-YO rap singer that can't balance his checkbook. No wonder the Donks want direct elections of the President - it helps getting such idiots elected.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2009-05-06 16:07  

#4  "Defectors tell us of a functioning black market and smuggling ... an explosion of corruption and an erosion of the state's ability to control information and an increasing tendency to blame the government for their plight."

AHAH, CounterThuggery raises it's head or "PEOPLE GOTTA EAT" REGARDLESS OF LAWS AGAINST IT.
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2009-05-06 14:35  

#3  So are the North Korean Gulag Guards.

Just saying...
Posted by: CrazyFool   2009-05-06 11:45  

#2  Obama never claimed to be a warrior, he was/is a community organizer.
Posted by: bman   2009-05-06 11:03  

#1  As if. They will continue now to bare babies to eat in NORK, and feed people poisened cabbage in their concentration camps. Cabbage.

You may see the camp on google. Nevermind Darfur. CINC mentions nothing about that yet that may be tomorrow.

I AM angry. Very angry.

What is better than having a hard stance is having no stance. You suck as a warrior obama.
Posted by: newc   2009-05-06 05:32  

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