North Korean state-run media yesterday denounced the US for raising the issue of the North’s dismal human rights record ahead of crucial talks between the countries to resolve the nuclear standoff.
The comments published on North Korea’s government-run Uriminzokkiri Web site came hours before US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was to arrive in Pyongyang for talks aimed at hammering out details on denuclearizing the North.
Washington should stop provoking the North with an “anachronistic human rights racket” at a time of diplomatic attempts to improve ties, the Web site said.
Uriminzokkiri specifically raised objections to a resolution by the US House of Representatives last month that called for “complete, verifiable and irreversible human rights improvements” to be part of US strategies for denuclearizing the North.
The Web site also criticized the US Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report, which this year included North Korea among the tier-3 countries with the worst standards in human trafficking.
Authoritarian North Korea is sensitive to outside criticism about its human rights record, because it sees it as an insult to its supreme leadership.
“When you are calling for deep talks to establish new relations [between North Korea and the US] and establish permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, but at the same time denying the dignity and legitimacy of your counterpart, that’s like trying to move forward with your feet tied together,” the Web site said.
North Korea has been accused by outsiders for extensive crimes against humanity, with the government using extreme surveillance, coercion and punishment to prevent dissent.
As many as 120,000 people are believed to be held at the country’s massive prison camps for inmates accused of political crimes, such as criticizing the government or attempting to escape to South Korea.
Human rights groups have said inmates are subject to horrific conditions, including forced labor, torture and rape, and are often executed.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has also shown a brutal side while consolidating his power, purging and executing a slew of senior government officials for slighting his leadership.
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