I urge people to read the Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Orphan Master's Son, for a thinly disguised fictional account of life in North Korea. And you state with a straight face that the Kims "hardly seem to be the heads of a state."? I refer you to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Jong-un
Kim Jong-un is the supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea).
North Korea does have nuclear weapons capability. Nuclear non-proliferation in North Korea has long been on the U.N. council agenda. North Korea is under U.N., U.S. and other national sanctions for repeated nuclear and ballistic missile tests since 2006 in defiance of international demands to stop. But speaking Real Politik, they
are a nuclear power.
The country is under one-man rule by an arguably egomaniacal, or to use a clinical term, batshit crazy, arrogant man. He and his human rights abuses need to be dealt with, and the U.N. is taking steps this month to do so. What the situation does NOT need, is some rock-em, sock-em, Hollywood assassination action flick, advertised as a
COMEDY, for god's sake!
Sharp pointed stick, meet Bear with bombs.
Will the U.N.Security Council be any more effective on human rights issues than it has been on nuclear proliferation? No guarantee there. In the long term, the pitiable economy and China's attitude toward No. Korea will probably determine the outcome. China has terrible human rights issues as well, but Chinese nationals are U.S. trading partners and big investors in California real estate - jacking up prices by paying cash - and the studios are not bankrolling films calling for the murder of Chinese leaders.
Finally, and to me most importantly, it's about the Rule of Law - pretty much tossed under the bus by the Patriot Act, but I still believe in it, and it precludes assassination. I don't condemn it when it's Martin Luther King, or Bobby or Jack Kennedy, or Abraham Lincoln, but say, "Oh, never mind," when it's a bad guy. The International Criminal Court is where Kim should be tried, in absentia if necessary. China is predicted to block the U.N. referring this to the ICC. Like I said,
China is the key to controlling Kim. This is a man who likes the high style of western life - Switzerland, London, going abroad for medical treatment, etc. If the ICC puts a life imprisonment sentence on his head, he won't be able to step foot out of his country. Pressure China to close its borders and economically boycott. Finally, pressure China to approve referring the matter to the ICC.
U.N. Security Council members push to put North Korea rights on agenda
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/05/us-northkorea-un-idUSKCN0JJ1TP20141205
(Reuters) - Two-thirds of the U.N. Security Council's members pushed on Friday for the human rights situation in North Korea to be added to the council's agenda and for a formal meeting to be held this month, a move that cannot be blocked by Pyongyang ally China. A U.N. Commission of Inquiry report in February detailed abuses in North Korea that it said were comparable to Nazi-era atrocities, and a U.N. committee last month urged the Security Council to consider referring North Korea to the International Criminal Court (ICC) alleging crimes against humanity.
China, likely supported by Russia, would probably veto any referral to the international court based in The Hague, diplomats say, but it cannot block having the rights situation added to the council agenda.
Ten of the Security Council's 15 members - Australia, Chile, France, Jordan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, South Korea, Rwanda, Britain and the United States - signed a letter drafted by Australia asking for the council to be briefed by U.N. officials on the human rights situation in North Korea. "We are particularly concerned by the scale and gravity of human rights violations detailed in the comprehensive report" by the Commission of Inquiry, said the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters. "These violations threaten to have a destabilizing impact on the region and the maintenance of international peace and security," it said.
China, Russia, Argentina, Chad and Nigeria
did not sign the letter. North Korea's U.N. mission was not immediately available for comment. Majority support is needed to add a new item to the U.N. Security Council agenda and such a move
cannot be blocked by any of the five veto-wielding powers - the United States, Russia, France, Britain and
China, diplomats said.
= new reply since forum marked as read
