Page 123 - Trilateral Korea Japan U.S. Cooperation

Ambassador Julie Turner, who serves as the U.S. Special
Envoy for North Korean Human Rights, has told me that she
agrees with this suggestion.

Ample evidence supports each of these determinations. The
criminal cult known as North Korea has committed genocide
against Christians and those who are not fully Korean
ethnically. Indeed, according to every study (including by the
U.S. State Department) every year North Korea has reigned as
the worst persecutor of Christians in the world. Concentration
camps abound in all manner of crimes against humanity. The
extermination of over 15 million of their own people should
easily qualify. As the Korean War has not ended, the North
Korean regime remains culpable for the array of war crimes
it has ommitted. This relates both to the fully fought Korean
War and to the multitude of such crimes that North Korea has
committed since the Korean Armistice Agreement of July 27
1953.

The office I formerly led, the Office of Global Criminal
Justice, can provide the evidence for these crimes. The Legal
Advisor’s office can supplement this information with its legal
analysis. Together, even without classified evidence, this case
can be brought to the Secretary of State, who has been the one
to make such determinations. Only eight such determinations
have been made; this one regarding North Korea would
rightfully take its place as the ninth one. Such determinations
would exert considerable pressure on the North Korean
government and military and can be coupled with legal efforts
towards accountability as well as further sanctions.

122 Section II : Human Rights, Abductees, Forced Repatriation of Refugees and the Regional Implications