‘N Korean rights are uppermost’
ACTIVISTS: ADVISE TRUMP NOT TO IGNORE ABUSES
As US president is set to meet Kim, there is call for him not to look at weapons only.
Absent from last week’s summit between the leaders of North and South Korea was Pyongyang’s human rights record, and the issue appears to have faded from US President Donald Trump’s public agenda as he prepares for his own meeting with Kim Jong-un.
Rights activists and North Korean defectors fear that when Trump sits down with Kim, possibly as soon as this month, he may avoid the thorny issue of rights altogether if that helps seal a deal on getting North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons.
Just a few months ago, rights abuses were a focal point of Trump’s criticism of North Korea, along with its pursuit of nuclear-armed missiles.
Trump called Kim “obviously a madman who doesn’t mind starving or killing his people”.
More recently, he called Kim “very honourable” and “open”.
“President Trump should raise human rights concerns with Kim Jong-un, but I would be very surprised if he does,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director of advocacy group Human Rights Watch’s Asia division.
“He will not let human rights stand in the way of a deal, that’s for sure.”
Former US officials and diplomats have criticised Trump for often playing down rights in his foreign policy, except when it comes to abuses by certain US adversaries like Cuba, Venezuela, and North Korea – at least until recently. The White House did not respond immediately to a question on whether Trump would raise human rights with Kim. But it referred to Trump’s recent assurance to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that he would bring up the issue of North Korea’s abduction of Japanese citizens.
The US state department said on Wednesday it remained “gravely concerned and deeply troubled” by rights abuses and “will continue to press for accountability for those responsible”.
Last month, the department labelled China, Russia, Iran and North Korea as “morally reprehensible” governments.
United Nations investigators have reported the use of political prison camps, starvation and executions in North Korea, saying security chiefs and possibly even Kim himself should face international justice.