Page 38 - NKHR Hawaii Conference 2023

PANEL DISCUSSION

taking your position militarily, and why you might have to f ght. It’s not just two boxers
squaring of —but even in that case, there’s a psychological aspect to warfare.

T e question of North Korea is often looked at, or at least used to be looked at, in kind of
a vacuum and isolation.

“Well, it’s this nutty North Korea, and South Korea might have to f ight
them, etc.”

But there is a regional aspect to this because what happens on the peninsula very much
af ects what happens in the rest of Asia, if not the rest of the world, and vice versa.

When looking at the question of how you deal with North Korea, ultimately you have
got to take on the PRC. It provides existential support for the North Korean regime,
including acceptance of North Korea’s human rights atrocities. You have got to go after
China. If you just make it a question of shaming the North Koreans and putting pressure
on them while the people who provide the oil, electricity, and food that keeps it af oat
operate unscathed you’re probably not going to have much success. You have to look
beyond just the question of North Korea and look at it from a regional perspective.

Another thing I would note is that South Koreans and Americans have always gotten
along pretty well, but the move towards improved relations between South Korea
and Japan— something I wouldn’t call an alliance, but certainly some pretty good
cooperation—is very important and it’s something to be applauded. Give credit where it’s
due in all quarters.

T e last thing I would note is that one often hears,

“Well, you know the North Koreans and the Chinese don’t care; you can
criticize them but they don’t care.”

In actual fact, whenever we have made human rights a key issue and have pushed it, they
don’t like it, which tells you that you’re doing something right.

So those are just a few ideas and once again it’s not just a question of hardware. T ere’s a
psychological and political aspect to all of this and human rights need to be up front and
center, even when the military’s thinking through the issues.