Page 61 - NKHR Hawaii Conference 2023

Congratulatory Remarks
Jill N. TOKUDA

Member of Congress

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the North Korean Human Rights Hawaii Conference! I commend the
Peaceful Unif cation Advisory Council of the Republic of Korea, the East-West Center,
and the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea for hosting this important gathering.

As we mark seventy years since the Armistice Agreement ended the fighting in the
Korean War, North Korea continues to pose a serious challenge to regional security. While
the global community has devoted much attention to the Kim regime’s nuclear weapons
and ballistic missile programs, we can neither forget nor neglect the continued plight of
millions of North Koreans under Kim Jong Un’s repressive, totalitarian dictatorship. T eir
suf ering must be a call to action.

North Korea’s continued systemic human rights abuses, including torture, sexual violence,
forced labor, arbitrary detention, and deliberate starvation, are grave assaults on the
international rules-based order—one that upholds the rights and dignity of each person—
that we so deeply cherish. T e support of ered by countries like China and Russia to the
Kim regime, including in the forced repatriation of North Korean refugees, are equally
grave.

As the United States and global partners work to address North Korea’s nuclear program
and promote peace on the Korean Peninsula, any comprehensive policy must integrate
human rights.

T e well-being and dignity of 25 million North Korean people are inextricably linked
with denuclearization and regional security. T at is why the discussions held and work

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