ID :
20306
Sat, 09/20/2008 - 09:31
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/20306
The shortlink copeid
Right Group calls for more foreign missions in Pyongyang to help improve rights
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (Yonhap) -- A human rights group Friday urged the
international community to consider establishing diplomatic missions in Pyongyang to better engage North Korea on human rights and other issues.
In a report, the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea also demanded
attention to the issue from participants in the six-party talks on ending North
Korea's nuclear programs.
"Foreign governments without a diplomatic presence in Pyongyang should consider
establishing such missions to provide greater opportunities to engage with North
Korea on human rights, humanitarian issues and other concerns," said the report,
titled "Failure to Protect: The Ongoing Challenge of North Korea."
Few Western countries maintain a diplomatic presence in North Korea, one of the
most reclusive communist regimes in the world.
In a six-party aid-for-denuclearization deal, the United States and Japan have
pledged to normalize ties with the North if Pyongyang ends its nuclear weapons
ambitions.
The six-way process, also involving South Korea, China and Russia, stalled in
recent months over a verification regime of the North's nuclear programs, with
Washington insisting on unfettered access to any suspected nuclear facilities --
a non-starter for Pyongyang.
North Korea's Foreign Ministry earlier in the day said it would no longer seek
its removal from a U.S. terrorism blacklist, adding it has already begun
preparations for restarting the nuclear reactor disabled under the multilateral
nuclear deal.
Sean McCormack, U.S. State Department spokesman, however, reiterated just hours
later that the U.S. would not budge on its position that the North will be taken
off the list only once it produces a complete verification protocol for its
nuclear facilities.
The report, co-authored by former Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel,
ex-Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik and Boston University professor
Elie Wiesel, the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, also demanded that human rights
issues be addressed in all working groups of the six-party talks, excluding the
working group on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The six-party talks have working groups on economic aid to the North,
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, normalization of ties between Pyongyang
and Washington and Tokyo and establishment of a permanent peace regime on the
Korean Peninsula to replace the fragile armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean
War.
The demand echoes the position of conservative U.S. politicians like Sen. Sam
Brownback (R-Kansas), who delayed the congressional approval of incoming U.S.
ambassador to South Korea Kathleen Stephens until early August, complaining about
what he said is Washington's lukewarm position on North Korea's human rights.
Brownback dropped his opposition to the first U.S. woman ambassador to South
Korea, nominated in January, only after a pledge by Assistant Secretary of State
Christopher Hill at a Senate hearing to address North Korea's human rights abuses
at the six-party talks.
Hill, the chief U.S. nuclear envoy to the multilateral nuclear talks, also told
the Senate hearing in early August that he will invite the U.S. special envoy for
human rights in North Korea, Jay Lefkowitz, to attend "all future negotiations
with North Korea, except those specifically dealing with nuclear disarmament."
Meanwhile, the report urged the hardline government of South Korea's President
Lee Myung-bak to provide food aid and enhance economic cooperation with reluctant
North Korea as a means of improving human rights there.
"The government of South Korea should respond affirmatively, in light of the
renewed threat of famine, to the request of the World Food Program for food
donations for the people of North Korea, notwithstanding North Korea's refusal to
request food aid from South Korea," it said.
Angered by the new conservative government of Lee, which pledged not to seek
economic ties and provide aid to the North unless Pyongyang abandons its nuclear
programs, North Korea has refused to accept corn or any other food aid from the
South and said it could live without the South's assistance.
Lee's liberal predecessors have provided hefty assistance to the North despite
international concerns over the North's nuclear ambitions and long-range missile
tests.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (Yonhap) -- A human rights group Friday urged the
international community to consider establishing diplomatic missions in Pyongyang to better engage North Korea on human rights and other issues.
In a report, the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea also demanded
attention to the issue from participants in the six-party talks on ending North
Korea's nuclear programs.
"Foreign governments without a diplomatic presence in Pyongyang should consider
establishing such missions to provide greater opportunities to engage with North
Korea on human rights, humanitarian issues and other concerns," said the report,
titled "Failure to Protect: The Ongoing Challenge of North Korea."
Few Western countries maintain a diplomatic presence in North Korea, one of the
most reclusive communist regimes in the world.
In a six-party aid-for-denuclearization deal, the United States and Japan have
pledged to normalize ties with the North if Pyongyang ends its nuclear weapons
ambitions.
The six-way process, also involving South Korea, China and Russia, stalled in
recent months over a verification regime of the North's nuclear programs, with
Washington insisting on unfettered access to any suspected nuclear facilities --
a non-starter for Pyongyang.
North Korea's Foreign Ministry earlier in the day said it would no longer seek
its removal from a U.S. terrorism blacklist, adding it has already begun
preparations for restarting the nuclear reactor disabled under the multilateral
nuclear deal.
Sean McCormack, U.S. State Department spokesman, however, reiterated just hours
later that the U.S. would not budge on its position that the North will be taken
off the list only once it produces a complete verification protocol for its
nuclear facilities.
The report, co-authored by former Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel,
ex-Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik and Boston University professor
Elie Wiesel, the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, also demanded that human rights
issues be addressed in all working groups of the six-party talks, excluding the
working group on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The six-party talks have working groups on economic aid to the North,
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, normalization of ties between Pyongyang
and Washington and Tokyo and establishment of a permanent peace regime on the
Korean Peninsula to replace the fragile armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean
War.
The demand echoes the position of conservative U.S. politicians like Sen. Sam
Brownback (R-Kansas), who delayed the congressional approval of incoming U.S.
ambassador to South Korea Kathleen Stephens until early August, complaining about
what he said is Washington's lukewarm position on North Korea's human rights.
Brownback dropped his opposition to the first U.S. woman ambassador to South
Korea, nominated in January, only after a pledge by Assistant Secretary of State
Christopher Hill at a Senate hearing to address North Korea's human rights abuses
at the six-party talks.
Hill, the chief U.S. nuclear envoy to the multilateral nuclear talks, also told
the Senate hearing in early August that he will invite the U.S. special envoy for
human rights in North Korea, Jay Lefkowitz, to attend "all future negotiations
with North Korea, except those specifically dealing with nuclear disarmament."
Meanwhile, the report urged the hardline government of South Korea's President
Lee Myung-bak to provide food aid and enhance economic cooperation with reluctant
North Korea as a means of improving human rights there.
"The government of South Korea should respond affirmatively, in light of the
renewed threat of famine, to the request of the World Food Program for food
donations for the people of North Korea, notwithstanding North Korea's refusal to
request food aid from South Korea," it said.
Angered by the new conservative government of Lee, which pledged not to seek
economic ties and provide aid to the North unless Pyongyang abandons its nuclear
programs, North Korea has refused to accept corn or any other food aid from the
South and said it could live without the South's assistance.
Lee's liberal predecessors have provided hefty assistance to the North despite
international concerns over the North's nuclear ambitions and long-range missile
tests.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
