Don't Let Kim Jong-un Ignore Human Rights

TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump (R) walks out with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (L) after taking part in a signing ceremony at the end of their historic US-North Korea summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12, 2018. - Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un became on June 12 the first sitting US and North Korean leaders to meet, shake hands and negotiate to end a decades-old nuclear stand-off. (ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP/Getty Images)

The Singapore Summit was a missed opportunity to make progress on human rights issues in North Korea. While the issue was raised at the meeting, subsequent comments by President Trump have revealed that he prioritizes denuclearization over human rights. Indeed, he has now even downplayed some of the serious abuses he so powerfully condemned in this year’s State of the Union address, in his speech before the South Korean National Assembly, and at his Oval office meeting with North Korean refugees.

Mr. President, this is not the time to forget about the suffering of the North Korean people.

Over the next several months, the U.S. will likely enjoy a new opening with North Korea. The administration should use that opportunity to push for progress on previously intransigent issues, like human rights. Pressing for human rights should not be viewed as a distraction or as detracting from forward movement on nuclear security goals. It can actually help advance them.

It can be difficult to grasp the enormity of human rights abuses in the Hermit Kingdom. A United Nations commission of inquiry report concluded the situation is without parallel in the modern world, with between 80,000 and 120,000 people enduring horrible conditions in prison camps. The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea believes that at least 400,000 individuals have already perished in these camps.

These are likely conservative estimates.

North Koreans living outside the camps also face severe restrictions on basic freedoms, from speech, to association, and to religious practice.

In Singapore, President Trump had an historic opportunity to tell Kim Jong-un that there are real risks to continuing its abusive practices.

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