President Trump announced a few days ago that he’d received another letter from North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong Un. Not only was it a letter, but it was a “beautiful” letter. Well, I’m sure it was.
But with a guy like Kim Jong Un, it’s not what he SAYS that matters – it’s what he DOES. And what he DID was shoot off more missiles, apparently to dissuade the US from participating in joint military exercises with South Korea – something we’ve been doing for years now, whether North Korea liked it or not. And these exercises are for OUR security, as well as for the security of South Korea, and our other allies in the region.
President Trump says he’s concerned about the cost of the military exercises – specifically that the South Koreans should pay more of the cost (and if President Trump can get South Korea to pick up more of the tab, more power to him.) But the joint exercises should go on – no matter what Kim Jong Un thinks about them, in my humble opinion.
President Trump has pretty dramatically modified US diplomatic and military engagement with North Korea. He’s the first US President to meet with a North Korean leader – and he’s done it twice, thus far (and last Friday said he may well do it a third time.) To Trump’s credit, he has kept in place the tough sanctions against North Korea to keep the pressure on them. And diplomacy is definitely preferable to military action – especially when the other side has nukes, as North Korea does.
But when we talk about “beautiful” letters, it’s important to keep in mind just who this guy is who sent us the letter. A few years back, the United Nations’ Human Rights Council issued a report on conditions in North Korea. And as a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I read the approximately 80-page report at the time. And I just re-read the report, and here are some of the highlights: In Kim Jong Un’s North Korea:
- There are “systematic, widespread, and gross human rights violations.”
- There is “almost complete denial of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, opinion, expression, information and association.”
- There is “absolute obedience to the Supreme Leader” (Kim Jong Un.)
- “Crimes against humanity” are the order of the day.
- “Christians are prohibited from practicing their religion, and are persecuted.”
- “Discrimination against women is pervasive.”
- “Entire families are punished for the actions of one member.”
- “Torture, summary executions, forced marriage, forced abortions, and prostitution under coercive circumstances are widespread.”
- “Deliberate starvation is used as a means of control and punishment, there is chronic malnutrition in children, and military spending is prioritized even during periods of mass starvation.”
- “Significant state resources are spent by the Supreme Leader on luxury goods, rather than on the starving population.”
- “Hundreds of thousands of political prisoners have perished in forced labor camps.”
Unfortunately, there’s no reason to believe that the conditions above have improved appreciably since the report was released, or since the relationship between our two nations’ leaders have “warmed.”
And as one of the representatives of the greater Cincinnati area, I will never forget the barbaric treatment that a local young man, Otto Warmbier, received at the hands of Kim Jong Un’s government. There’s no excuse, and there’s never been any reasonable explanation, for the brutality and inhumanity wrought on this innocent American and his family.
So as this Administration continues its ongoing engagement with one of the most dangerous, certainly one of the most problematic regimes on the globe, I would advise great caution. It doesn’t matter how beautiful the words are, it’s the actions that matter.