Seoul can show that it's serious about protecting human rights.
This is more about looking good than feeling good ...
By SUZANNE SCHOLTE
There are many horrible stories about the North Korean regime's disregard for human rights, but I recently heard one that's hard to forget: On a recent trip to Seoul, a North Korean mother told me she and her 14-year-old daughter fled North Korea but were separated in China. The mother waited in China to reunite with her daughter only to discover that Chinese security agents had forced the girl back to North Korea, where border guards beat her to death.
It is hard to conceive of human beings who are capable of killing a 14-year-old girl simply for fleeing with her mother in search of a better life. Yet these same monsters are continuing this brutality in detention centers and political prison camps all over North Korea. What can a civilized society do to stop the atrocities being committed right now against the North Korean people by the Kim Jong Il regime?
South Korea has a tool it can use: It should establish and convene a tribunal of South Korean judges and legal experts to collect evidence and take defectors' testimonies with the hope that, eventually, those guilty of these heinous crimes face prosecution. Under the Constitution of the Republic of Korea, North Koreans are citizens of South Korea and thus have standing in South Korean courts. There are a number of reasons why this action is critically important.
The author perhaps believes that the fear of a tribunal will moderate Nork behavior. I truly doubt that. If anything it will make the Norks even more suspicious and insane (yes, yes, we all thought they pegged the needle on those attributes long ago). But the biggest problem is that a tribunal will become locked in: gullible Westerners (hell-o-o-o-o, Bambi! And Hilde!) will come to view the tribunal as an end rather than a means. We'll sit back and wait for the tribunal to charge parties and assign guilt. In the meantime the North Korean citizens will continue to starve.
First, the only hope civilized society has in stopping North Korea's human-rights violations today is to start this tribunal now.
No, the only hope civilized society has to stop North Korea's re-education concentration camps is to conquer the country like we did Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Anything less guarantees continuation. Documentation can as easily be done after, and the data is so much better when one has access to the files, the mass graves, and the prisoners en masse. We have all the evidence we need to justify such actions, were anyone willing to act
Decades of negotiations with Pyongyang have done nothing to stop human-rights violations, nor curbed Kim Jong Il's nuclear ambitions. In recent years, North Koreans -- including former officials, former political prison camp guards and average citizens -- have defected to the South, underscoring the fact that despite living under the Kim regime, human dignity can survive. Convening a tribunal and reporting regularly on its findings would send a powerful message that one day the North's criminals will be held accountable for their actions.
Just don't let the UN run the tribunal. Don't site the tribunal at The Hague. And never, ever put Carla del Ponte in charge.
This is especially important now because North Korea is no longer isolated from the rest of the world. Surveys commissioned by the Broadcasting Board of Governors and National Endowment for Democracy suggest a rapidly growing number of North Koreans are listening to other sources of information besides the regime's propaganda. Much of this information is transmitted by word of mouth, radio and television broadcasting. Even Pyongyang now has the Internet.
'rapidly growing' doesn't mean 'most' or even 'many'.
Second, the evidence to begin such proceedings exists. Over 16,500 defectors have fled North Korea -- and most have been victimized in some way -- by traffickers, corrupt government officials, prison guards or border security agents. While the South Korean government and nongovernmental organizations have worked to collect evidence of atrocities, it is time to focus attention specifically on the human-rights violators as well. Just as the testimonies of Holocaust survivors were and continue to be used to hunt down those responsible for the Nazi death camps, the North Korean gulag survivors' testimonies must be utilized to hold accountable those who are committing today's Korean holocaust.
Other than the reasons they have already -- greed, avarice, fear, anger, and loathing?
With millions of people starving to death, thousands trying to flee, half a million imprisoned and growing discontent, Kim Jong Il's grip on power has never wavered because anyone who dares to rise against him is crushed. The elites, who represent about 20% of the population, owe everything they have to Kim Jong Il's success. However, reform-minded potential leaders who would oppose Mr. Kim number among those elites; their existence is confirmed by elites who regularly defect along with the general population.
The North Korean people are perfectly capable of dealing with Kimmie and his closest advisors when the day comes: stand them against a wall and shoot them. The day has not yet come.
Finally, a tribunal would contribute to the healing process for those who have been victimized and lead to the reconciliation process that must accompany the two Koreas' reunification. It is redemptive for victims to know that their testimony is being recorded with the hope that perpetrators will be prosecuted.
The world has already learned horrible things about Kim Jong Il's dictatorship despite the regime's aggressive attempts to hide its atrocities and limit contact with the outside world. Imagine what the world will learn once the political prison camps are liberated and the captives are set free. North Koreans, once they are free, will inevitably ask South Koreans who ignored their suffering: "Why were you silent? Why didn't you help us?"
"Because your barking-mad Dear Leader threatened to attack us with nuclear weapons."
The tribunal is a way to begin this healing process now and show that South Korea recognizes the atrocities being committed against the Korean people by the Kim Jong Il regime, cares for their suffering and is willing to take action.
Ms. Scholte, the 2008 Seoul Peace Prize Laureate, is president of the Defense Forum Foundation.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Over the past year we have seen a fundamental shift in our economy. With the government holding a significant stake in many of our banks, insurance and auto companies and looking to extend its reach into our energy sector through ill-conceived cap-and-tax legislation, it appears we are entering unchartered waters.
Considering the precedent that has been set, it should come as no surprise that those behind this shift toward a politically controlled economy have set their sights on our health care system.
One proposed "solution" to the palpable problems in the health care sector aims at injecting Washington directly into the market through a government-backed insurance alternative. According to the advocates of this approach, it will "encourage greater competition" in the market and "drive down costs" throughout the system.
However, recent history suggests nothing could be further from the truth. A government-backed insurance provider will kill competition within the health care sector; it will quash the great progress made in our medical industry and inevitably lead to taxpayers paying down the road.
It was not long ago that we were talking about the manipulation of the mortgage market by government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
For years their perceived government backing let Fannie and Freddie borrow at rates reserved only for branches of the federal government.
This government backing eventually led to the formation of a duopoly in the secondary mortgage market and prevented other (fully private) firms from entering Fannie and Freddie's territory. This failed public-private experiment, with the resulting arbitrage and overleveraging of 100-to-1, was at the heart of our mortgage meltdown and the ensuing economic downturn.
Another compelling illustration of what happens when government competes in a private market can be found in Florida's homeowners' insurance market. In 2002, the state formed Citizens Insurance to offer homeowners' coverage to residents that "fell through the cracks" in the existing market. After a few years in business, Citizens created to be the state's insurer of last resort quickly became that of first resort.
Today Citizens is the largest provider of homeowners' insurance in Florida, dominating the little competition that remains by charging below-market rates that fail to reflect the given risk. It should be no surprise that Citizens is not actuarially sound and if (when) it runs into financial trouble, the taxpayers will be asked to pay for their mistakes.
Fannie, Freddie and Citizens Insurance have taught us a resounding lesson: Government-backed competition in a private market undoubtedly distorts markets, drives out competition and often leads to taxpayer assistance down the road.
Should a "public option" be inserted into the health care market and perform like other government programs, 120 million Americans would lose their current coverage, according to actuaries at the nonpartisan Lewin Group. It's not hard to foresee employers dumping their private provider in search of less expensive, government-subsidized coverage.
Certainly problems must be addressed throughout our health care system. Paralleling the rising prices in the sector are skyrocketing costs for professional liability insurance faced by hospitals and physicians. Addressing medical liability reform would be a good first step toward lower prices.
Additionally, the uninsured weigh heavily on our infrastructure and are a significant contributor to the escalating cost of coverage. Tax incentives and market enhancements, which will lead to greater consumer choice, will encourage millions of the uninsured to get coverage for themselves and their families.
Further, improving the operation of tax-exempt health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts will increase access to everyday medical expenses and lower costs across the broader system.
But for all of its flaws, our health care system is still the finest in the world. From birth to death, we value and care for life.
As a former president of the American Medical Association, Dr. Donald Palmisano, eloquently noted, surgeons today can perform lifesaving heart surgery on a child that is still in utero, and end-of-life specialists can provide compassionate palliative care to seniors to ensure their last days are spent in comfort. This system did not magically occur, but it can certainly vanish.
To reorient the health care sector toward Washington and away from a market-based system would be a grave mistake. Government does not compete in private markets; it dominates by undercutting everyone else.
Instead of empowering bureaucrats, we should empower doctors and patients through market-based changes to our existing system that will enhance consumer choice and encourage greater competition.
Royce, a Republican, represents California's 40th Congressional District in north Orange County.
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"Healthcare Public Option Will Kill Off Competition"
That's the idea.... :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/15/2009 21:40 Comments ||
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Gotta argue a little bit about his analysis of Citizens in Florida.
In my old county (Brevard), you literally could not buy a policy from anywhere else for a while. It didn't matter if your house had successfully ridden out several hurricanes without damage, was on high ground for the locality, had never been flooded (and that includes the deluge that Melbourne had last year....over 18 inches in 24 hours from Fay), and was up to current post-Andrew construction codes. You couldn't get a policy from anywhere else at any price. They simply refused to issue new ones.
And if you did happen to have an old policy, the companies kept trying to find ways to cancel you without making it official (70% + hikes in the rates each year, even if there were absolutely no hurricanes within hundreds of miles). It got so bad that Florida had to suspend Snake Farm, oops, State Farm from issuing any kind of policy at all (auto, personal liability, etc.) for a while because their cute tricks were even too much for Tallahassee.
I now am able to buy a policy from another insurance company. This one is a local one based in Florida. I'm paying pretty much the same rates that I did with Citizens (Citizens wasn't that much cheaper, even though this guy swears it was dirt cheap in comparison). But for a couple of years there, no way in hell could I have gotten coverage from anywhere else.
Yeah, I know, what do I expect from some California dude but a slam against the Sunshine State.....enjoy your state IOU's, pal.
Long piece on the problems, legal and otherwise, on the West Bank fence. Good primer if you haven't read about the issue lately.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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The failure to take obvious needed measures - an immediate, expedient barrier to be replaced as feasible by something more permanent, and a near-total ban on any Palestinian entry into Iz'rl - baffled me back when the terrorism offensive was in high gear, and it baffles me now.
OK, you can have your school buses and Passover dinners and pizza restaurants blown up with your children and grandparents slaughtered. Or you can do these simple things. Which would you prefer?
... So strong is the women's movement that a web site linked to Iran's intelligence ministry has begun referring to "woman commandos" in describing post-election protests, according to Haleh Esfandiari, who added that there are reports that Zahra Rahnavard, Mir Hossein Mousavi's well-known activist wife, is the leading voice behind the scenes urging Mousavi not to accede to pressure to halt his campaign against the election results. (So well known is Zahra Rahnavard that, when Mousavi became prime minister in the 1980s it was said in Iran that "Rahnavard's husband was named prime minister.")
The panel answered a lot of questions about the role of women in Iran today -- and left some questions hanging.
Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, who quit her term in parliament in 2004 to protest against the Guardian Council's peremptory banning of hundreds of political candidates -- including not less than 80 members of parliament! -- in that year's election, described women in Iran as being on the "front lines" of the Green Movement and the election battles. Often, she said, they protected men from being beaten in the streets, and they formed ad hoc groups such as Mothers in Mourning or Peace Mothers to demonstrate at places like Evin Prison, where many protestors are being held.
Most interesting was the panel's emphasis on the fact that the women's movement in Iran didn't arise out of nowhere to prominence in the Green Movement but was, in fact, a long time in the works. Tohidi said women in Iran had been engaged in many years of quiet educational and organizational work, especially over the past fifteen years, and today the women's movement in Iran is the "strongest in the Middle East." Some of them, she said, were Islamists who have been formulating a more progressive and liberal version of "Islamic feminism" while others are secular women who've moved far beyond Iran's culture of revolutionary Islam. The two currents came together in 1997 in the massive vote that elected President Khatami, and since then they've brought strong pressure to bear on subsequent candidates. Jaleh Lackner-Gohari added that during the 1980s and 1990s, many women went into higher education and the professions precsiely because they were barred from politics and, she joked, "had nothing better to do." Quietly, they built networks, professional organizations, and channels for communications -- including, lately, blogs. ...
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
