We might all hope that the regime in North Korea will change its human rights practices, open the gulags, and give its people a chance to air their grievances. But we cannot wait for these developments. The misery suffered by the people of North Korea is often dismissed as being too difficult to deal with and impervious to external pressure. Yet there are initiatives that can be taken to signal to the regime that its abuse of its own people is a matter of global concern and must be changed. There are also measures that can be taken to alleviate the plight of those who have fled North Korea. At HRNK, we wanted to come up with a list of policies that would have an immediate, positive impact on the situation facing North Koreans today.
http://www.hrnk.org/
ReplyDeleteThe result is the ten-point list below, of policy recommendations for the Obama administration to consider. We have already begun a series of consultations with high-level officials of the administration, and we will use every opportunity we have in the next few months to bring attention to these ten objectives:
ReplyDelete1. Broaden United States Policy on North Korea to include bilateral and multilateral approaches to human rights issues
2. Persuade China to Respect the Rights of North Korean Refugees
3. Establish a First Asylum Program for North Korean Refugees
4. Fully Implement the North Korea Human Rights Act (NKHRA)
5. Provide Food Aid that Reaches the Hungry
6. Provide Essential Information Directly to the People of North Korea
7. Provide Opportunities for North Korean Defectors to Improve the Lives of their Countrymen
8. Seek a Full Accounting of Foreign Citizens held in North Korea against their Will
9. Stop the Flow of North Korea’s Ill-gotten Wealth
10. Prepare for Political Transition and a Humanitarian Crisis in North Korea