Biden administration praises N. Korean defectors, human rights activists

The Biden administration on Sunday elevated its push to attract consideration to human rights abuses by the regime of North Korean chief Kim Jong Un, asserting that the regime “continues to exploit its own citizens, including through mass mobilizations of school children and forced labor.”

“Addressing [North Korea’s] egregious human rights situation remains a priority for the United States, and we continue to work with the international community to highlight abuses and violations,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller stated in an announcement marking the division’s recognition of the beginning of the twentieth annual North Korea Freedom Week.

Mr. Miller praised the “courage of the North Korean defector and human rights community” for drawing worldwide consideration to abuses carried out by the regime, which he stated makes a follow of diverting sources “to build up its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.”

“We remain deeply concerned about the plight of North Korean asylum seekers, including some 2,000 North Koreans detained in China who are at risk of repatriation to the DPRK,” Mr. Miller stated. “North Koreans forcibly repatriated are reportedly commonly subjected to torture, arbitrary detention, forced abortion, other forms of gender-based violence, and summary execution.”

North Korea has constructed nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles [ICBM] in violation of repeated U.N. Security Council resolutions throughout current many years. The former Trump administration sought direct diplomacy with the Kim regime, pursuing a serious denuclearization settlement in change for potential reduction of broad financial sanctions on North Korea.

The pursuit in the end failed after two summits between Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim, whose regime has since ramped up ICBM assessments and nuclear actions.

While the Biden administration has struggled to maneuver the ball ahead on nuclear diplomacy with the Kim regime, administration officers have lately elevated efforts to attract consideration to human rights abuses in North Korea.