DPRK Forum

Video 1:

Transcript

Video 2:

Transcript

For the first post after a break of blogging, I would like to post the U.S. State Department’s 2007 Human Rights Report. Without much surprise, North Korea ranks in the top ten of countries with human rights abuses, and I am sure this is not going to go away any time soon until the regime is finally gone. Even when the regime is gone, it will most likely take many years to get stable. The choices are few all around, but in all, while freedom can be suppressed, the human spirit cannot. With the hopes of freedoms so many take for granted, it is hard to imagine what it is like not to freely move from one place to another, worship or not worship, criticize government and have free elections.

North Korea has none of these freedoms, and as the report and the Chosun Ilbo suggests, freedom and human rights in Norh Korea is in the top ten. As it is well-known to Korea bloggers, human rights watchers, political junkies and others, North Korea deserves to be in the bottom of the human rights list and once it is in history, the regime will be alongside Nazi Germany, Stalin’s USSR, Saddam’s Iraq and Fidel’s Cuba. When will North Korea see human rights? When will the DPRK be a painful footnote in history? Nobody knows, but someday, it will be. Hopefully, peace will once again prevail in Korea, and people can freely cross that line in Panmunjom. To what ends it will be achieved is unknown. All I know is we all have hope, and North Koreans are beginning to understand the current form of government is not working and that hope can bring forth human rights and freedom.

Of course, there are critics to the report:

The report is said to reflect the stances of hardliners at the department’s human rights bureau. The Washington Post said on March 4 that the report sparked “internal tussling” at the department. According to the newspaper, diplomats at the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs disagreed with officials at the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) over the tone and nuance of the report. DRL officials tend to be hardliners, the newspaper said, while those at the regional bureau prefer a more diplomatic approach to smooth the way for the resumption of six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear problem.

Link and emphasis mine. According to the WaPo, an email was sent (WaPo):

So on Friday, Glyn Davies, the principal deputy assistant secretary in the East Asia bureau, sent an e-mail to Erica Barks-Ruggles, a deputy assistant secretary in the DRL bureau, regarding some changes in the introductory language of a report on North Korea.

“Erica,” he wrote, “I know you are under the NSC [National Security Council] gun,” apparently to get the report done so the NSC can review it, “but hope given the Secretary’s priority on the Six-Party Talks, we can sacrifice a few adjectives for the cause.

“Many thanks. Glyn.”

And the changes? Eliminated words are in brackets, and additions are in italics:

“The [repressive] North Korean government[regime] continued to control almost all aspects of citizens’ lives, denying freedom of speech, press, assembly, and association, and restricting freedom of movement and workers’ rights. Reports of extrajudicial killings, disappearances, and arbitrary detention, including of political prisoners, continue to emerge [from the isolated country]. Some forcibly repatriated refugees were said to have undergone severe punishment and possibly torture. Reports of public executions continued to surface[were on the rise].”

So, as you can see, I guess it was too hardline, and the wording had to be changed a bit. The final wording is found here:

The repressive North Koreanregime continued to control almost all aspects of citizens’ lives, denying freedom of speech, press, assembly, and association, and restricting freedom of movement and workers’ rights. Reports of extrajudicial killings, disappearances, and arbitrary detention, including of political prisoners, continued to emerge from the insular country. Some forcibly repatriated refugees were said to have undergone severe punishment and possibly torture. Reports of public executions also continued to emerge.

I left the typo in place. It seems some compromise was made. whichever is the case, North Korea is what it is no matter how it is worded. It will not change the fact North Korea is isolated, repressive, desperately poor and all under the grip of Kim Jong Il. What is not fully known is the extent of the human rights abuses, but reports are all over the place. Until the country does open up, there is no way to know until that time.

According to the Chosun Ilbo the countries in the list are:

The top 10 in the latest report are North Korea, Iran, Burma, Syria, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Eritrea and Sudan.

Edit: Darn it, I should have checked the other blogs before making this post. Check out One Free Korea for better analysis.