The world and the human rights issue in North Korea

Imagine a country that is one huge de facto prison camp where ordinary citizens are not entitled to basic human rights, and can barely survive due to perpetual starvation

In such a country, ordinary citizens cannot access independent media; they have no freedom of expression, public assembly, association, or religion, and they cannot travel outside the country without special permission from the government.

In that country, forced labour without pay is the norm in the implementation of showcase infrastructure projects. Diseases, pandemics and stunted growth of children are also commonplace.

That country is North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

For decades during the Cold War, human rights violations went largely unnoticed by the outside world because they were the norm in many Eastern bloc countries.

Cold War ideological struggles that divided global politics along capitalist and communist blocs provided a socioeconomic cover of sorts for countries such as North Korea.

However, the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union, and economic crunches that engulfed not only North Korea, but also most of the former communist countries led to a steep decline in the quality of life, and exacerbated the dire conditions in which ordinary North Koreans lived.

It was North Korea’s refusal to integrate into the global socioeconomic order like other eastern bloc countries, including China and Russia, which worsened the situation.

The isolation had the effect of turning the communist nation into a pariah state with ever-deteriorating human conditions. But for how long will millions of people continue to live in sub-human conditions?

There is nothing sentimental or ideological about human suffering, especially at such a massive scale. Everyone in the world has the right to a decent life.

That millions of people live in squalid conditions with their daily movements needing permission from authorities should be concern number one to the international community, politics aside.

But the North Korean regime, with the reins of power tightly held by a single family, has been able to outwit the world by making nuclear weapons the main preoccupation of the international community.

The United Nations and the major powers have worked around the clock for about three decades trying to prevent North Korea from acquiring nuclear weapons, while expecting it to become a normal nation. This meant that more often than not, the plight of millions of North Koreans was relegated to the bottom of the agenda for fear of complicating negotiations.

This approach only led to further deterioration of the human rights situation, according to Lee Shin-wha, an expert on North Korean human rights.

This has to change, says Lee, who is also an international relations professor serving as South Korea’s ambassador-at-large on North Korean issues.

In order not repeat past mistakes and support human rights for North Koreans, Lee urges global leaders to put the issue on an equal footing with the regime’s nuclear arms quest, and hold it accountable for its wrongdoings.

“I believe it was a mistake (for negotiators in the past) to consider the issue of human rights as a factor of disturbance when negotiating with North Korea,” Lee says, adding, “North Korea has recently passed a law to declare that its status as a nuclear-armed state is irreversible. We are farther away from the goal of denuclearisation than ever.”

While the US and other global powers should make more efforts to help millions of suffering people, other countries, especially those with diplomatic relations with the DPRK, should also play an active and positive role in the situation.

These “friendly” countries should apply positive pressure on the DPRK regime, knowing that failure to do so is tantamount to complicity with the reclusive state.

These friendly countries should also be moved to act by the duty for the respect of universal human rights, and the fact that better conditions for millions of North Koreans is a just cause for any country to take up despite its ideological leanings.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this opinion are those of the author and does not represent The Citizen's position