Beyond Demonization: A New Strategy for Human Rights in North Korea

• Published in: Current history (1941) Vol. 107; no. 710; pp. 263 - 268
• Main Author: Moon, Katharine H. S.
• Format: Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oakland Current History, Inc 01-09-2008; University of California Press, Journals & Digital Publishing Division
• Subjects: Authoritarianism; Border areas; Borders; Contemporary history; Engagement; Forced labor; Freedom of Religion; Human Rights; Human rights violations; Human trafficking; International human rights; International organizations; International relations; International society; Living conditions; Negotiation; North Korea; Organized Crime; Peoples Republic of China; Political activism; Politics; Regional security; Religion; Sex crimes; Strategic planning; United States of America; South Korea; North Korea
• ISSN: 0011-3530; 1944-785X
• DOI: 10.1525/curh.2008.107.710.263

Discussion begins with a brief overview of the tricky political circumstances in which a human rights agenda in North Korean attempts to find purchase; central to this are the six-party talks designed to end the nuclear crisis & the disparate standing of the key players vis-a-vis human rights. The nature of the human rights problem in North Korea is described; in addition to its complexity, many abuses, eg, human trafficking, reside outside the traditional state-vs-society framework. China's complicity with respect to the treatment of North Korean border crossers is addressed, along with Japan's reduction of human rights violations down to the politics of kidnapped persons & the polarizing effect that the North Korean human rights agenda has had in the US & South Korea. Called for is clarity on the human rights abuses attributable solely to North Korea; neither US threats nor a human rights component to the six-party talks are seen as viable approaches. Adapted from the source document.