International human rights groups urge Biden to highlight rights issue in North Korea policy

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, left, and U.S. President Joe Biden / Korea Times file

By Kwon Mee-yoo

Almost a dozen international human rights organizations sent a joint letter to U.S. President Joe Biden, urging him to prioritize human rights in his North Korea policy and negotiations.

According to the letter released Thursday, 11 non-governmental organizations and coalitions asked the Biden administration to incorporate human rights issues into strategy discussions and future negotiations with North Korea and urged the South Korean government to do the same.

"We recognize the significance of North Korea's threats to global security, and we understand why policymaking by the U.S and its allies focuses on counter-proliferation issues. But decades of failure to hold the North Korean government accountable for its human rights abuses have only served to entrench totalitarian rule, and this has made the work of weapons counter-proliferation even harder," the letter reads.

"Negotiations with North Korea need to address improvements on human rights issues and bring the country into the international community."

They also requested more action at the United Nations level, asking the U.S. government to "use its seat at the Security Council to re-establish regular discussions on North Korea's human rights record as a critical component of any assessment of the risk posed by Pyongyang on the Korean Peninsula and the region."

The letter encouraged the U.S. to nominate a high-level ambassador to the special envoy on North Korean human rights and place the envoy at all negotiations with North Korea.

The groups also asked for more information to be made available to the North Korean people, protection for North Korean refugees and the provision of humanitarian relief.

They emphasized international cooperation in promoting health and safety in North Korea amid the COVID-19 pandemic, asking the U.S. as well as South Korea, China, Japan and the European Union to urge the Kim Jong-un regime to restart imports of food and basic necessities and accept monitored humanitarian aid, which have been suspended since early last year following the North's border shutdown amid the pandemic.

The list of human rights groups include Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Human Rights Watch, Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights, Liberty in North Korea and The 88 Project.

The Biden administration is currently reviewing its policy regarding North Korea and human rights issues have emerged as a key agenda item in line with the U.S. government's pledge to prioritize human rights in its foreign policy.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during his March visit to Seoul, "The authoritarian regime in North Korea continues to commit systemic and widespread abuses against its own people. We must stand for fundamental rights and freedoms and against those who oppress them."

Concerns have been rising that such a pledge by the Biden administration could make it hard for the U.S. and South Korea to make a coordinated stance on North Korea policy, as the Moon Jae-in administration has put engagement with the North before human rights. The Moon government sought to ban sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border, and this was approved by the ruling Democratic Party of Korea-led National Assembly last December.

Regarding the leaflet ban, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a U.S. bipartisan caucus of the House of Representatives advocating freedom of speech, held a virtual hearing, Thursday (local time), and expressed worries.

"The law has been widely criticized inside and outside of South Korea of suppressing speech because it appears to cover third countries, and for using vague and overly broad language," Rep. James McGovern of the Democratic Party, representing Massachusetts's second district, said during the hearing.