The North Korean government, however, thinks otherwise. They believe that the findings are false and that their enemies South Korea and the United States of America produced them to frame them. According to North Korean officials, such violations do not exist in their country. Nevertheless, North Korea is under some fire now and will be receiving a lot of attention during the next few days.
What do you guys think? Will Kim Jong-un himself face trial in front of the United Nations? Will North Korea refuse to cooperate thus igniting a bigger conflict? If you are the United States what would you do about this?
3 comments:
To me this brings up an interesting question of national sovereignty. The UN can't (and shouldn't) prosecute country's leaders just because they don't agree with their politics. Even if leaders did break some kind of law, it would cause all kinds of political and international havoc if the UN prosecuted presidents and dictators willy-nilly. Obviously, that is not the case here. Kim Jong-un is not just some leader who has angered Congress (like Andrew Johnson) and will therefore be dealt with under an individual country's laws.
How could North Korea truly cooperate? If they said, "Yes, we're sorry, Kim Jon-un is a war criminal," that would look terrible. In the long-term, history might thank them for it, but they would not exactly gain too many brownie points in the game of political prestige.
Also, I'm wondering why the DPRK? Why now? The question is not whether the UN should prosecute this one case so much as how active the UN should be in general in prosecuting human rights cases. This is not the Nuremberg Trials. No one lost a war, at least not directly. I think the UN should do more to promote human rights, but it should be consistent.
Brianne has a valid point. North Korea isn't the only nation that has an inordinate amount of crimes against humanity; if the UN or the U.S. were to crack down more harshly on North Korea, they would have to additionally promote human rights worldwide, as opposed to just one country in particular.
I doubt much will come of this report. I certainly can't see Kim Jong Un facing trial in front of the United Nations, although perhaps I am just being cynical. Although the report provides statistical evidence (but I'm not really sure how this information was procured), all it does is support the already known statement that North Korea is a host of abuse and crimes against humanity. The report does not really bring anything new to the table in terms of news and such, so I don't think much will happen due to it.
We have known and seen evidence of these crimes over the past years, just go look at CNN or Vice. Could this be a true breakthrough? I don't really see it that way looking at the past events and accusations against North Korea. Also, just because there are other countries that face a "host of abuse" does not mean that Congress or the United Nation are not working on them. This is just one article and North Korea happens to be one of the main focus points in international affairs.
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