Human Rights and Denuclearization of Equal Importance
LFNKR Statement on Historic Singapore Summit between US President and North Korean Leader
June 15, 2018
On June 12, 2018, the world watched as a historic US-North Korea summit was held, and a written agreement was signed by the two leaders. Contrary to the hopes of the majority of people, no one knows whether the signed agreement will really bring peace and stability to East Asia.
Although President Trump claims to have obtained a promise of “complete denuclearization” from the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the written agreement shows no guaranteed specifics.
Meanwhile, it is widely known that the Commission of Inquiry (COI) of the UN Human Rights Commission has investigated the systematic, widespread and grave violations of human rights in North Korea, with a view to ensuring full accountability, specifically for violations which may amount to crimes against humanity. Further, the UN Security Council has passed a resolution appealing to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for prosecution and punishment of the North Korean leader.
Despite the above, the written agreement carries absolutely no mention of “human rights.” This bitterly disappoints us at LFNKR.
Last November, President Trump referred in a speech to the 100,000 people being detained and mistreated in political concentration camps. Further, in February this year, he invited female former North Korean defectors to the White House and stated that he intended to stop the human trafficking of North Korean women.
Based on this and other remarks by President Trump related to the human rights of North Korean people, more than 300 NGO groups working with human rights issues were expecting to find something, some clue, pointing to a resolution of the human rights issue. But there was no such clue, which leaves us extremely frustrated.
As a member of ICNK (The International Coalition to Stop Crimes against Humanity in North Korea), LFNKR, early this month, also jointly sent a cosigned letter to Kim Jong Un, urging him to improve the human rights situation. Our letter, however, probably never even caught his attention.
Back in May, North Korea invited journalists from South Korea, the United States, China, England and Russia to witness the shutting down of its Punggye-ri nuclear test site in North Hamgyong Province.
To build the nuclear test site, more than 2,000 detainees from Kwan-li-so (political prison camp) Nos. 16 and 22 were mobilized. Mr. Ahn Myong-chol, who was working as a prison guard at Kwan-li-so No. 22 and who defected from North Korea in 1995 said “Political detainees were mobilized from Kwan-li-so (political prison camps) Nos. 16 and 22 to work to construct the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, but none of them returned because of security reasons, that is, so that the secrets were kept. This means that those 2,000 detainee bodies were destroyed and buried with the secrets.
We at LFNKR deeply regret that none of media that broadcast the “explosion show” referred to the human rights abuse of those 2,000 victims.
North Korean regime obviously believes their nuclear weapons secure the continuance of their regime. As the complete, verifiable, irreversible dismantlement (CVID) proceeds, the human rights situation in North Korea may improve. However, it is said that completing the CVID could take up to 15 years.
Judging from the recent joint statement issued at the US-North Korea summit, it appears that top priority will continue to be placed on denuclearization. This omission of human rights completely ignores the plight of the North Korean people.
Instead of depending upon the summit talks alone, we should further strengthen the coalition in the international community, including NGOs, to ensure that the human rights issue is clearly recognized as vitally important and is to be included as an inseparable part of any further discussions.