N. Korea Nuclear Talks Begin
Human rights groups and Christian organizations have called for the United States to consider North Korea's human rights record during this week's talks over nuclear weapons.
A coalition of human rights groups, including prominent Christian organizations, has called for the United States to consider North Korea's human rights record along with any agreement it reaches, as six-way talks over nuclear weapons began Tuesday in Beijing.
On Monday, over 100 human rights, social, academic, and religious groups issued a joint statement cautioning that an oversight of "inhuman" abuses by North Korea against its own people would eventually raise the chances for war.
The groups included the Southern Baptist Convention and the Korean-American Church Coalition.
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"More needs to be done by the international community to ameliorate the human rights crisis in North Korea and the threats to the world order that its regime poses," read the statement.
Although, there has been no progress in the previous three rounds of talks over the nuclear issue, North Korea indicated on Tuesday that it wanted to bring "denuclearization" of the region.
"The fundamental thing is to make real progress in bringing about denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," said North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan in an opening statement.
The nations included in the talks are the United States, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea.
During a private initial meeting between U.S. and North Korean officials before formal talks began on Monday, the atmosphere was described as "businesslike," according to Reuters.
U.S. envoy Christopher Hill was present to reassure the North Korean government that American intentions were not to invade or attack North Korea.
Meanwhile, the coalition of human rights groups united in its stance to ask the United States not to forget the human rights issue. The U.S. government had previously stated that although human rights would likely be a topic, the major goal of the talks would be to persuade North Korea to scrap its nuclear weapons program.
In its statement, the coalition accused the North Korean government of human rights violations, including intentional starvation, kidnapping, forcible separation of families, religious persecution, and trafficking in women and children, in addition to charges that the government uses gas chambers in the possible practice of genocide.
The statement also called out Russia and the United Nations refugee agency for facilitating abuses by North Korea, while also holding South Korea and China accountable for abuses.
"In particular, the government of South Korea has failed to speak out against the regime's treatment of its Korean brothers and sisters, is openly prepared to subsidize and legitimize the regime in exchange for promises of WMD (weapons of mass destruction) reform, and has increasingly added difficulties and diminished the hopes, treatment and prospects of North Korean refugees," said the group, according to the statement.
One particularly difficult situation has been China's willingness to force escaping North Korean refugees to return to the North, where some could possibly face torture and even death.
One of the groups that signed the statement was human rights advocacy group Freedom House, which recently hosted a forum on North Korean human rights that drew over 1,000 people – including aid groups, churches, and a large delegation of pastors from South Korea.
According to the New York Times, American officials in Washington have said that their delegation of negotiators is willing to stay in Beijing for weeks if necessary to reach a deal.
