Anne Applebaum has an important piece in the Washington Post on the death camps of North Korea – concentration camps every bit as terrible as Auschwitz that the media seems to have ignored.
Later — in 10 years, or in 60 — it will surely turn out that quite a lot was known in 2004 about the camps of North Korea. It will turn out that information collected by various human rights groups, South Korean churches, oddball journalists and spies added up to a damning and largely accurate picture of an evil regime. It will also turn out that there were things that could have been done, approaches the South Korean government might have made, diplomatic channels the U.S. government might have opened, pressure the Chinese might have applied.
Historians in Asia, Europe and here will finger various institutions, just as we do now, and demand they justify their past actions. And no one will be able to understand how it was possible that we knew of the existence of the gas chambers but failed to act.
The fact is that these camps have been confirmed by enough people that we know that they exist. We know that North Korea is a hell on Earth, a state in which starvation is common, and the people are oppressed in a way that makes Nazi Germany seem almost tame in comparison.
Yet the international human rights community would rather talk about the conditions at Camp Delta in Cuba than the horrors of Korea. The UN’s too busy covering up its complicity in helping Saddam Hussein build palaces and elaborate mosques rather than providing food or medicine. Even the Bush Administration has put this member of the "Axis of Evil" on the back burner.
Even so much as a drop of radios and a broadcasting station showing the truth about the real world could make an incredible difference in North Korea. Increased political pressure on China could force change in North Korea. Eventually this problem will have to be dealt with, and by that time military options may be the only options left on the table. The situation in North Korea is one of unspeakable human misery that is compounded with each day of inaction. The Kim Jung Il regime is one of the worst abusers of human rights in the world today and quite possibly in human history. Ignoring this problem as so many have done is not a positive step towards eliminating the concentration camps and gas chambers of the North Korean regime.
Damn, it sucks in North Korea. We’d better invade them right away!
Try reading things before commenting on them… I specifically said that unless we do something now, military options may be the only options we have.
why are you blaming the press Jay? As far as I know, only nations have surveillance satellites!These weird american satellites…they can see WMDs that don’t exist, but cannot see extermination camps that do exist…Before talking about going to war, I think the US should first clean the mess in Afghanistan and Irak. There’s no rush to put another region on fire. Plus this fire would be nuclear.
Yet the international human rights community would rather talk about the conditions at Camp Delta in Cuba than the horrors of Korea.
Maybe that’s because they rightly presume that it’s easier to get elected officials to change their policies than an insane dictator.
So, the fact that it’s worse in North Korea excuses our own bad behavior? Is that really how conservatives think?
No, it shows how horribly out of whack the priorities of NGOs are.
Furthermore, if you feel the need to attach “how conservatives think” to every sentence, you’re showing how liberals think – mainly not at all.
Let’s invade North Korea and save the people like what we did to Iraq!