Talking Human Rights With North Korea(The Washington Post, 2004. 8. 29)
북미갈등과 핵위기/자료-시민사회 :
2004/09/30 20:44
요약: 북한과 인권문제를 논의하는 것
로베르카 코헨 (워싱턴 포스트지, 2004. 8. 29)
미국, 일본, 한국정부는 북한정부를 자극하고 북핵협상을 어렵게 할 것이라는 두려움 때문에 6자회담 논의에서 북 인권문제를 제외시키고 있다. 그러나 강력한 핵국가였던 소련을 상대했던 레이건과 카터 전 대통령은 군비통제문제와 인권문제를 연계해서 협상을 한 바 있다. 이러한 연계가 가능했던 것은 동서진영간에 다자간포럼을 통해 안보와 경제, 과학문제를 인권문제와 함께 논의했었던 헬싱키 선언 때문이었다. 미국과 한국, 일본, 러시아 그리고 중국은 한반도문제를 헬싱키 프로세스와 같은 다자간안보협의틀을 만들어 이미 6자회담에서 다루고 있는 핵과 안보문제 그리고 최근 추가된 경제문제와 함께 북 인권문제를 논의해야 한다.
OSCE와 같은 다자간안보틀을 만들어내는데 그 첫 단계로 한국정부의 지지가 있어야 한다. 2001년 이후 북한도 EU와 독일, 스웨덴 그리고 영국대사들과 ‘인권대화’를 해왔다. 다자간 지역안보협의틀에 중국이 참여함으로써 북한 주민들의 중국으로의 탈북을 통제할 수 있을 것이며 러시아와 미국 역시 탈북문제에 부담을 나눌 수 있을 것이다. 헬싱키 프로세스가 7, 80년대 소련과 동유럽의 문제를 다루는데 유효했던 것처럼 아시아에서도 이러한 안보협의틀이 받아들여진다면 북한문제에 대해서도 유효하게 작용할 것이다.
(원문)
Talking Human Rights With North Korea
The Washington Post, August 29, 2004
Roberta Cohen, Senior Fellow and Co-Director, The Brookings-SAIS Project on Internal Displacement
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Whatever would Ronald Reagan think of the six-party talks to get North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program? Although Kim Jong Il's Communist government is the world's worst human rights violator, the United States, Japan and South Korea have managed to exclude all reference to humanitarian and human rights concerns from the discussions. Their fear is that any mention of the 200,000 political prisoners in forced labor camps, the suppression of the population's civil and political freedoms or the punishment meted out to those who try to flee the country would antagonize the North Korean government and jeopardize chances for a nuclear agreement.
This is hard to understand, given that when confronted by the Soviet Union, which had far greater nuclear power and targeted it specifically against the United States, Reagan did not see fit to give up on human rights goals. In fact, he publicly affirmed in 1982 that "the persecution of people" must be "on the negotiating table or the United States does not belong at that table." Similarly, President Jimmy Carter before him negotiated the SALT II arms control agreement with the Soviets while calling attention to human rights concerns.
Reagan and Carter were able to make this link because of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, an East-West agreement that created a multilateral forum for discussing security concerns, economic and scientific issues, and human rights. Moscow signed on for security guarantees -- the acknowledgment of post-World War II borders -- while the West secured a commitment to advance human rights. In fact, one of the lessons of this period was that only in that broad context of strategic, political and economic issues could progress be made on human rights.
Once they resume, the talks with North Korea, which involve the United States, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China, could create a multilateral forum for the Korean Peninsula along the lines of the Helsinki process. The talks already cover nuclear and security issues, and more recently economic questions were added. Human rights and humanitarian issues should be brought in as well. For one thing, foreign investment in a country with forced labor must be linked to human rights standards. Any increase in food aid should go hand in hand with humanitarian principles of unimpeded access and equitable distribution. Nuclear verification and inspections would benefit as well from these openings.
South Korea's support should be sought as a first step toward creating a Helsinki framework. Since 1994 South Korea has gained experience of the Helsinki process through its partnership with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the successor to Helsinki. On the European continent, South Korea promotes democracy and human rights and sends election monitors to the Balkans. But on the Korean Peninsula it looks the other way, fearing that any mention of human rights in the North would trigger turmoil, collapse and an outpouring of refugees.
Yet, since 2001, North Korea has been involved, albeit modestly, in "human rights dialogues" with the European Union and the ambassadors from Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. In a note to the United Nations, the North Koreans claim to have allowed the European Union "access to reform-through-labor centers and contact with former inmates."
Using those talks as a springboard, Europe's Helsinki organization could offer to bring North Korea into observer status. This would expose the country to multilateral discussions about democracy, freedom of movement, family reunification and the safeguarding of civil and political freedoms. Within this broader political and security framework, North Korea might be more willing to face up to its international human rights obligations.
China will need to be brought into the process as well. It hosts the six-party talks and is North Korea's primary ally. Between 200,000 and 300,000 North Koreans have fled to China because of famine, lack of work and persecution. There they face the threat of arrest and deportation. Yet promoting fairer food distribution in North Korea and improved human rights conditions would help curb refugee flows into China. A regional forum could also explore burden-sharing with countries willing to resettle North Koreans, such as Russia, where a provincial government has said it would take 200,000, and the United States, where Congress has expressed readiness to accept North Korean refugees.
Finally, a multilateral framework would help reconcile the differences between humanitarian and human rights advocates over how to deal with North Korea. Relief workers delivering food aid to North Korea fear that any overt criticism of the North's human rights record would limit humanitarian access. But mounting concerns over the diversion of international food aid to the army and communist elite -- rather than to the 6.5 million Koreans reported at risk -- have led to the withdrawal of leading nongovernmental organizations and a reduction in donations from governments. A Helsinki process would make food distribution part of the discussion along with human rights issues. As matters stand, a sense of direction is lacking for dealing with the serious human rights and humanitarian problems on the Korean Peninsula. The Helsinki process provided that essential element for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the 1970s and 1980s. Adapted to Asia, it could do the same for North Korea.
로베르카 코헨 (워싱턴 포스트지, 2004. 8. 29)
미국, 일본, 한국정부는 북한정부를 자극하고 북핵협상을 어렵게 할 것이라는 두려움 때문에 6자회담 논의에서 북 인권문제를 제외시키고 있다. 그러나 강력한 핵국가였던 소련을 상대했던 레이건과 카터 전 대통령은 군비통제문제와 인권문제를 연계해서 협상을 한 바 있다. 이러한 연계가 가능했던 것은 동서진영간에 다자간포럼을 통해 안보와 경제, 과학문제를 인권문제와 함께 논의했었던 헬싱키 선언 때문이었다. 미국과 한국, 일본, 러시아 그리고 중국은 한반도문제를 헬싱키 프로세스와 같은 다자간안보협의틀을 만들어 이미 6자회담에서 다루고 있는 핵과 안보문제 그리고 최근 추가된 경제문제와 함께 북 인권문제를 논의해야 한다.
OSCE와 같은 다자간안보틀을 만들어내는데 그 첫 단계로 한국정부의 지지가 있어야 한다. 2001년 이후 북한도 EU와 독일, 스웨덴 그리고 영국대사들과 ‘인권대화’를 해왔다. 다자간 지역안보협의틀에 중국이 참여함으로써 북한 주민들의 중국으로의 탈북을 통제할 수 있을 것이며 러시아와 미국 역시 탈북문제에 부담을 나눌 수 있을 것이다. 헬싱키 프로세스가 7, 80년대 소련과 동유럽의 문제를 다루는데 유효했던 것처럼 아시아에서도 이러한 안보협의틀이 받아들여진다면 북한문제에 대해서도 유효하게 작용할 것이다.
(원문)
Talking Human Rights With North Korea
The Washington Post, August 29, 2004
Roberta Cohen, Senior Fellow and Co-Director, The Brookings-SAIS Project on Internal Displacement
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Whatever would Ronald Reagan think of the six-party talks to get North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program? Although Kim Jong Il's Communist government is the world's worst human rights violator, the United States, Japan and South Korea have managed to exclude all reference to humanitarian and human rights concerns from the discussions. Their fear is that any mention of the 200,000 political prisoners in forced labor camps, the suppression of the population's civil and political freedoms or the punishment meted out to those who try to flee the country would antagonize the North Korean government and jeopardize chances for a nuclear agreement.
This is hard to understand, given that when confronted by the Soviet Union, which had far greater nuclear power and targeted it specifically against the United States, Reagan did not see fit to give up on human rights goals. In fact, he publicly affirmed in 1982 that "the persecution of people" must be "on the negotiating table or the United States does not belong at that table." Similarly, President Jimmy Carter before him negotiated the SALT II arms control agreement with the Soviets while calling attention to human rights concerns.
Reagan and Carter were able to make this link because of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, an East-West agreement that created a multilateral forum for discussing security concerns, economic and scientific issues, and human rights. Moscow signed on for security guarantees -- the acknowledgment of post-World War II borders -- while the West secured a commitment to advance human rights. In fact, one of the lessons of this period was that only in that broad context of strategic, political and economic issues could progress be made on human rights.
Once they resume, the talks with North Korea, which involve the United States, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China, could create a multilateral forum for the Korean Peninsula along the lines of the Helsinki process. The talks already cover nuclear and security issues, and more recently economic questions were added. Human rights and humanitarian issues should be brought in as well. For one thing, foreign investment in a country with forced labor must be linked to human rights standards. Any increase in food aid should go hand in hand with humanitarian principles of unimpeded access and equitable distribution. Nuclear verification and inspections would benefit as well from these openings.
South Korea's support should be sought as a first step toward creating a Helsinki framework. Since 1994 South Korea has gained experience of the Helsinki process through its partnership with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the successor to Helsinki. On the European continent, South Korea promotes democracy and human rights and sends election monitors to the Balkans. But on the Korean Peninsula it looks the other way, fearing that any mention of human rights in the North would trigger turmoil, collapse and an outpouring of refugees.
Yet, since 2001, North Korea has been involved, albeit modestly, in "human rights dialogues" with the European Union and the ambassadors from Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. In a note to the United Nations, the North Koreans claim to have allowed the European Union "access to reform-through-labor centers and contact with former inmates."
Using those talks as a springboard, Europe's Helsinki organization could offer to bring North Korea into observer status. This would expose the country to multilateral discussions about democracy, freedom of movement, family reunification and the safeguarding of civil and political freedoms. Within this broader political and security framework, North Korea might be more willing to face up to its international human rights obligations.
China will need to be brought into the process as well. It hosts the six-party talks and is North Korea's primary ally. Between 200,000 and 300,000 North Koreans have fled to China because of famine, lack of work and persecution. There they face the threat of arrest and deportation. Yet promoting fairer food distribution in North Korea and improved human rights conditions would help curb refugee flows into China. A regional forum could also explore burden-sharing with countries willing to resettle North Koreans, such as Russia, where a provincial government has said it would take 200,000, and the United States, where Congress has expressed readiness to accept North Korean refugees.
Finally, a multilateral framework would help reconcile the differences between humanitarian and human rights advocates over how to deal with North Korea. Relief workers delivering food aid to North Korea fear that any overt criticism of the North's human rights record would limit humanitarian access. But mounting concerns over the diversion of international food aid to the army and communist elite -- rather than to the 6.5 million Koreans reported at risk -- have led to the withdrawal of leading nongovernmental organizations and a reduction in donations from governments. A Helsinki process would make food distribution part of the discussion along with human rights issues. As matters stand, a sense of direction is lacking for dealing with the serious human rights and humanitarian problems on the Korean Peninsula. The Helsinki process provided that essential element for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the 1970s and 1980s. Adapted to Asia, it could do the same for North Korea.
댓글을 달아 주세요