By Bernard Rowan
Before the historic Kim-Trump summit, human rights figured to be on its agenda. Various mentions in the media and officials' statements highlighted the issue of returning soldiers' remains to the United States and to Japan. But it didn't happen. Human rights pale in comparison to the hard power of weapons and sanctions. This silence speaks volumes about the talks and their context. Let's take a look at human rights and the Korean Peninsula.
With some qualification, Northeast Asia has much work to do. If we include, Russia and China, the comparisons worsen. The United States also has issues with rights. That sounds just so negative and general, but it's true!
Of course, there are no human rights in North Korea. The gulag state views life as a dispensation of the ruler. While not named a divinity, Kim need only adopt a fickle temperament about life's sanctity. The North's regime competes for the worst record on earth now. The peace overtures give him a pass. As Human Rights Watch makes clear (www.hrw.org), there is no freedom in North Korea, except for the ruling elite's conception of collective national freedom. In fact, to borrow some words, North Korea's record on human rights is a collection of "deplorables." State-sponsored murder, rape, and torture, imprisonment of innocents and dissenters, and the complete absence of official channels for disagreement with the government all mark North Korea as a joke in terms of freedom.
Let's not be one-sided. More advanced peoples and states have work to do too. South Korea doesn't accord a full conception of individual freedoms and allows inadequate safeguards for workers' organization. Women face widespread discrimination and unequal treatment that slows the further progress of the country and succeeding generations.
China is North Korea's big brother, but in terms of human rights, this ancient civilization stacks up more like a bad teacher. China's human rights record is horrible. The state considers itself competent to guide not only public but private information. It is afraid of political dissent and organizes an extensive machinery to disable and prevent it. China fears democratic norms of government and coins with Kim Jong-un in making the world safer for autocracy. Tibetans, Muslim Uighurs, political dissenters, and peoples of faith in China live lives of precariousness or danger.
It's tiresome to rehearse the similar story that is the Russian state. Under Lord Putin, human rights take a backseat to his reinvention of Greater Russia. Oligarchs and gangsters have more freedom than regular citizens, Chechens and dissenters. The Russian Revolution never consummated gains for individual freedom.
Donald Trump presides over a beacon of liberty tarnished in too many respects. His government's record threatens to make America groan again! Current and recent government policy on immigration is inadequate, even farcical. The United States imprisons more people than most countries on earth. Administration of criminal justice stagnates without national, state, and local reforms to further strengthen the Bill of Rights. Minority peoples, in particular African- and Latino/a-Americans suffer enduring discrimination. The poor have no bill of rights, even though many middle-class Americans think their lives are not worse off due to welfare.
Each country has scholars and experts on human rights and freedom. I'd say human beings in all nations and states know the desire for freedom. It's also possible to provide guarantees for individual life, liberty, and property in other ways than with Western conceptions of rights. It's just that as governments and most people in our societies go, there's inadequate commitment to their development. Will the 21st century be one of advancement for humane civilization?
We need to make human rights and freedom a priority. The Russia's, China's, and North Korea's of the world think democracies are hypocritical and insincere. They never grow tired of pointing out our faults. We occasionally do the same. However, the real work depends on looking in the mirror and on making this century a time of renewal for human rights ― before autocracy and its evils tear down the doors to a better tomorrow.
Bernard Rowan (browan10@yahoo.com) is associate provost for contract administration and professor of political science at Chicago State University. He is a past fellow of the Korea Foundation and former visiting professor at Hanyang University.
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With some qualification, Northeast Asia has much work to do. If we include, Russia and China, the comparisons worsen. The United States also has issues with rights. That sounds just so negative and general, but it's true!
Of course, there are no human rights in North Korea. The gulag state views life as a dispensation of the ruler. While not named a divinity, Kim need only adopt a fickle temperament about life's sanctity. The North's regime competes for the worst record on earth now. The peace overtures give him a pass. As Human Rights Watch makes clear (www.hrw.org), there is no freedom in North Korea, except for the ruling elite's conception of collective national freedom. In fact, to borrow some words, North Korea's record on human rights is a collection of "deplorables." State-sponsored murder, rape, and torture, imprisonment of innocents and dissenters, and the complete absence of official channels for disagreement with the government all mark North Korea as a joke in terms of freedom.
Let's not be one-sided. More advanced peoples and states have work to do too. South Korea doesn't accord a full conception of individual freedoms and allows inadequate safeguards for workers' organization. Women face widespread discrimination and unequal treatment that slows the further progress of the country and succeeding generations.
China is North Korea's big brother, but in terms of human rights, this ancient civilization stacks up more like a bad teacher. China's human rights record is horrible. The state considers itself competent to guide not only public but private information. It is afraid of political dissent and organizes an extensive machinery to disable and prevent it. China fears democratic norms of government and coins with Kim Jong-un in making the world safer for autocracy. Tibetans, Muslim Uighurs, political dissenters, and peoples of faith in China live lives of precariousness or danger.
It's tiresome to rehearse the similar story that is the Russian state. Under Lord Putin, human rights take a backseat to his reinvention of Greater Russia. Oligarchs and gangsters have more freedom than regular citizens, Chechens and dissenters. The Russian Revolution never consummated gains for individual freedom.
Donald Trump presides over a beacon of liberty tarnished in too many respects. His government's record threatens to make America groan again! Current and recent government policy on immigration is inadequate, even farcical. The United States imprisons more people than most countries on earth. Administration of criminal justice stagnates without national, state, and local reforms to further strengthen the Bill of Rights. Minority peoples, in particular African- and Latino/a-Americans suffer enduring discrimination. The poor have no bill of rights, even though many middle-class Americans think their lives are not worse off due to welfare.
Each country has scholars and experts on human rights and freedom. I'd say human beings in all nations and states know the desire for freedom. It's also possible to provide guarantees for individual life, liberty, and property in other ways than with Western conceptions of rights. It's just that as governments and most people in our societies go, there's inadequate commitment to their development. Will the 21st century be one of advancement for humane civilization?
We need to make human rights and freedom a priority. The Russia's, China's, and North Korea's of the world think democracies are hypocritical and insincere. They never grow tired of pointing out our faults. We occasionally do the same. However, the real work depends on looking in the mirror and on making this century a time of renewal for human rights ― before autocracy and its evils tear down the doors to a better tomorrow.
Bernard Rowan (browan10@yahoo.com) is associate provost for contract administration and professor of political science at Chicago State University. He is a past fellow of the Korea Foundation and former visiting professor at Hanyang University.
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