Human Rights Abuses and Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea

Today's hearing and briefing should serve to turn the world's attention to the systematic abuse of human rights in North Korea, which amount to crimes against humanity by perhaps the world's most repressive totalitarian regime. As stated in the United Nations Commission on Inquiry report on North Korea, such a regime is a state that does not content itself with ensuring the authoritarian rule of a small group of people but seeks to dominate every aspect of its citizens' lives and terrorizes them from within. For in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea we see a state that seeks to control all aspects of the lives of its citizens, not only their political lives but also that innermost sanctuary that we call conscience as well. The term "hermit kingdom" is applied to any nation that wilfully cuts itself off from the rest of the world either metaphorically or physically. This term was applied to Korea as long ago as the late 19th century, but it continues to be applicable to North Korea today. This is why the terrible human rights violations in North Korea are little noticed outside of foreign policy circles. We must see that the crimes of the North Korean regime are far more widely known, combated, and raised, and pushed against than they currently are now.