The Biden administration on Sunday commended the courage of North Korean defectors and human rights advocates who have been drawing international attention to the human rights abuses committed by the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The administration stated that the regime continues to exploit its own citizens through mass mobilizations of school children and forced labor.
The State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, emphasized that addressing the egregious human rights situation in North Korea remains a priority for the United States. The Biden administration is working with the international community to highlight the abuses and violations carried out by the regime. Mr. Miller also raised concern about the plight of North Korean asylum seekers who are detained in China and at risk of repatriation to North Korea. Those who are forcibly repatriated are reportedly subjected to torture, arbitrary detention, forced abortion, gender-based violence, and summary executions.
It is worth noting that North Korea has violated multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions by building nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). Despite the former Trump administration’s attempt to establish direct diplomacy with the Kim regime, seeking denuclearization in exchange for economic sanctions relief, the efforts ultimately failed. Since then, the regime has intensified its testing of ICBMs and nuclear activities.
While the Biden administration has faced difficulties in advancing nuclear diplomacy with North Korea, it has recently intensified its efforts to raise awareness of human rights abuses in the country. Last month, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield chaired a rare meeting of the Security Council that focused on North Korea’s human rights record. This marked the first open public meeting on the issue held by the Security Council in over five years.
