The US envoy for human rights in North Korea argued yesterday that the lack of basic liberties in the communist nation was an international issue and called on the world to press Pyongyang to reform.
Jay Lefkowitz, speaking at a US-supported international conference on the issue in the South Korean capital, said a campaign to improve human rights in North Korea -- which he labeled a "deeply oppressive nation" -- would serve to boost regional stability, not shake it.
"The contrast could not be more stark. While South Korea has grown fully into a proud democracy with the rule of law, North Korea is a deeply repressive nation," Lefkowitz said.
He described a trip he took to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a heavily fortified frontier that divides the two Koreas.
"Only a short distance from here, beyond the thicket of barbed wire which I saw yesterday when I travelled up to the DMZ, lies a hidden world of hopelessness and terror," he said.
"Countries that don't give their own citizens the basic fundamental freedoms that are required under international law are very hard to trust in any capacity," he said.
"We do not threaten the peace by challenging the status quo," Lefkowitz said in his first public appearance in South Korea. "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."
Lefkowitz's remarks appeared to be have been aimed at the Seoul government, which has pursued a path of reconciliation with the North and refrained from openly criticizing the human-rights situation there. South Korean officials say their policy of maintaining stability on the divided peninsula takes precedence over public demands for improving human rights.
Chung Eui-yong, chairman of the National Assembly's foreign relations committee and a member of the governing Uri party, said the government already connected economic aid with human rights.
"Human rights and economic aid are linked, but the government has no reason to officially confirm it," he said on the sidelines of the conference.
He said Seoul sought to refrain from "unnecessarily provoking North Korea," which might react to provocation by suspending inter-Korean negotiations.
Lefkowitz, who was appointed this year to the position, has been charged with raising the human-rights issue and providing assistance to refugees fleeing the North.
North Korea has railed against any criticism of its human rights record as a US-backed effort to seek the overthrow of Kim Jong-il's regime.
The North's Minju Joson newspaper said yesterday: "The US has become loud in trumpeting that there exists a human-rights issue" in North Korea.
"This is, however, a product of its strategy to realize a regime change," the newspaper said in a commentary carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
US Ambassador Alexander Vershbow, who introduced Lefkowitz, said Washington was just seeking to urge the North to reform and live up to its obligations under the UN charter and other international treaties.
"The US has no hidden agenda in raising the issue of human rights in North Korea, we simply want to improve the living conditions of the people of North Korea," Vershbow said. "We want [North Korea] to change its policies and undertake reforms that end the hardships endured by its people."
ELECTION DISTRACTION? When attention shifted away from the fight against the militants to politics, losses and setbacks in the battlefield increased, an analyst said Recent clashes in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Jubaland region are alarming experts, exposing cracks in the country’s federal system and creating an opening for militant group al-Shabaab to gain ground. Following years of conflict, Somalia is a loose federation of five semi-autonomous member states — Puntland, Jubaland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle and South West — that maintain often fractious relations with the central government in the capital, Mogadishu. However, ahead of elections next year, Somalia has sought to assert control over its member states, which security analysts said has created gaps for al-Shabaab infiltration. Last week, two Somalian soldiers were killed in clashes between pro-government forces and
Ten cheetah cubs held in captivity since birth and destined for international wildlife trade markets have been rescued in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia. They were all in stable condition despite all of them having been undernourished and limping due to being tied in captivity for months, said Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, which is caring for the cubs. One eight-month-old cub was unable to walk after been tied up for six months, while a five-month-old was “very malnourished [a bag of bones], with sores all over her body and full of botfly maggots which are under the
BRUSHED OFF: An ambassador to Australia previously said that Beijing does not see a reason to apologize for its naval exercises and military maneuvers in international areas China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, military documents showed. Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid. However, these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power. Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters. “We have never seen vessels with this capability
‘NO INTEGRITY’: The chief judge expressed concern over how the sentence would be perceived given that military detention is believed to be easier than civilian prison A military court yesterday sentenced a New Zealand soldier to two years’ detention for attempting to spy for a foreign power. The soldier, whose name has been suppressed, admitted to attempted espionage, accessing a computer system for a dishonest purpose and knowingly possessing an objectionable publication. He was ordered into military detention at Burnham Military Camp near Christchurch and would be dismissed from the New Zealand Defence Force at the end of his sentence. His admission and its acceptance by the court marked the first spying conviction in New Zealand’s history. The soldier would be paid at half his previous rate until his dismissal