U.S. envoy calls on world leaders to meet N.K. human rights activists

Posted on : 2007-11-08 09:49 KST Modified on : 2007-11-08 09:49 KST

A senior U.S. envoy called on world leaders to meet with North Korean human rights activists just as President George W. Bush met with the Dalai Lama, saying such meetings can send powerful signals to the Pyongyang regime.

"When government leaders speak clearly about human rights, it can help those in repressive countries immensely," said Christian Whiton, deputy special envoy for human rights in North Korea. The transcript of his remarks, made in Belgium on Tuesday, was released through the U.S. State Department on Wednesday.

"A recent example of this has occurred over the past several months, with separate meetings between the leaders of Canada, Germany and the U.S. and the Dalai Lama, a widely revered spiritual figure," Whiton told the Transatlantic Institute. The meetings with the Tibetan leader drew criticism from China.

"The three leaders were willing to sustain this criticism in order to signal the importance they place in a key human rights issue," he said. "When leaders of free nations take the time to signal their support for human rights movements, to meet with leaders of the movement, it can have a powerful effect."

The U.S. seeks to build an international consensus on Pyongyang's human rights situation in part through U.N.

resolutions, Whiton said. As in the past, the European Union proposed a resolution again this year.

South Korea voted in favor for the first time last year, and hopefully will continue to support such efforts, he said.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack emphasized that North Korea's human rights issue has always been high on Washington's agenda and consistently raised around the globe.

"And I expect we are going to remain quite concerned about the plight of the North Korean people," he said at a daily briefing.

Whiton is deputy to Jay Lefkowitz, an envoy appointed in 2005 by the Bush administration pursuant to the North Korean Human Rights Act passed the previous year. Lefkowitz has been tasked with raising international awareness about government abuse of the North Korean people.

Whiton expressed frustration in trying to begin a human rights dialogue with Pyongyang, a regime he said has yet to recognize the legitimacy of these issues.

Lefkowitz' annual report to the Congress, for example, was followed by a reaction from the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) that called it "U.S. sinister aim lurking behind the nonsensical malarkey" that does not "deserve even a passing note," he said.

"The (Pyongyang) regime churns out propaganda so strident and improbable it would make the likes of a Leni Riefenstahl blush," said Whiton, referring to a Nazi propagandist.


WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (Yonhap)