Four years ago, President Bush signed the North Korean Human Rights
Act in an attempt to address the world’s worst human rights atrocities
in our world today: the mind-warping oppression of an entire nation,
the starvation of millions while the regime blocked international aid
and squandered its income on weapons, the murder of refugees and their
babies, and the operation of the world’s worst concentration camps
since Nazi Germany, camps that occupy vast areas of the country.

During the last four years, our State Department blocked key
provisions of that Act that were designed to help North Korean
refugees and make the end of those atrocities a precondition to North
Korea gaining normal trade and diplomatic relations with the United
States. The State Department has instead done Kim Jong Il’s work in
Washington by watering down any criticism of the atrocities in North
Korea to appease its regime. The 2004 Act also created a Special
Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea, a post filled three days a week
by Jay Lefkowitz, who has been privately marginalized and publicly
humiliated by Condoleezza Rice and her State Department. Meanwhile,
human rights issues have been effectively sidelined as an issue in our
talks with North Korea.

In an effort to force the State Department to comply with the law and
throw a lifeline to the desperate and starving people of North Korea,
the House has passed the North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization
Act. The Act would force the State Department to obey the law by
allowing North Korean refugees to seek asylum at U.S. consular
facilities abroad. It would also make the Human Rights Special
Envoy’s job a full-time post with ambassadorial rank so that he can’t
be sidelined from talks with the North Koreans as easily.

The State Department is now trying to block the Reauthorization Act by
working through its wholly-owned subsidiaries in the Senate, Richard
Lugar and Joe Biden. The legislation is now stalled in the Senate.
An OFK reader with direct knowledge informs me that Biden and his
staffer Frank Januzzi, who also tried to block the 2004 Act, are
trying to strip out the provisions on refugees aslyum and
strengthening the Human Rights Special Envoy’s hand.

It’s tempting to say that that North Korean “endorsement” of Obama
paid off, but in fact, toothless diplomacy comes naturally to Joe
Biden, and this is probably about what we should expect from an Obama
administration.

(By the way, if you still believe that sweet-talking the North Koreans
will actually disarm them, let me help you catch up on recent events.
While you were probably watching the presidential campaign, the North
Koreans told Condi Rice to her face that they’re not giving up their
nukes. They also refuse to allow any verification of their incomplete
declaration of their nuclear programs and activities, and they now say
they’re rebuilding the one worn-out reactor they had temporarily
disabled. Meanwhile, a much larger reactor right across the river is
untouched by any disarmament initiative and may be almost ready for
start-up, and we’ve let the North Koreans completely off the hook when
it comes to explaining their past proliferation to other countries and
their suspected secret uranium enrichment program. For this, Kim Jong
Il — who still refuses to hurry up and die – expects billions in aid
and trade benefits and the full restoration of full diplomatic
relations. Some deal.)

Unfortunately for the good guys, the ranking Republican, Richard
Lugar, and his Korea point-man, Keith Luse, are just as much in the
appeasement camp as Biden. With Lugar leading the Republicans on the
Foreign Relations Committee and no GOP members forcing him to stiffen
his spine, foreign policy conservatives are a non-presence there. As
a result, Biden is just days from achieving his goal of letting the
Senate go into recess without passing this legislation.

This is why we need your help. Please urge your senators to pass this
legislation before the Senate goes into recess. Here is a sample copy-
and-paste message you can send to the web forms at this link (opens in
a new window):

Please support the immediate passage of H.R.5834, the North Korean
Human Rights Reauthorization Act, an important effort address the
modern-day holocaust in North Korea. In North Korea, millions are
starving while its regime squanders its funds on weapons and luxuries
for Kim Jong Il. In North Korea, 200,000 men, women, and children are
suffering and dying in the world’s worst concentration camps since
Nazi Germany. Hundreds of thousands who have fled North Korea have
found no place to turn, as other nations refuse to extend a hand to
assist these desperate refugees. Today, the Bush Administration wants
to normalize diplomatic relations with this odious regime without
demanding an end to those atrocities. I believe that policy is wrong,
and that it won’t help disarm North Korea, which has reneged on the
February 2007 disarmament agreement in spite of our silence and the
betrayal of our values that silence represents. Please urge Senator
Biden to stop blocking H.R. 5834 and let it pass in the same form as
previously passed by the House.

I wouldn’t normally suggest writing to Biden if you’re not from
Delaware, but of course, Biden’s place on the 2008 Democratic ticket
means that he wants everyone in America to be his constituent. So
please, send your message directly to Joe Biden, too.

Fortunately for the good guys, Chris Hill’s alter-ego Sung Kim needs
to be confirmed by the Senate to become the State Department’s Special
Envoy to the six-party talks, the latest failed attempt to appeal to
Kim Jong Il’s softer side, and any senator could hold up that
confirmation.

http://freekorea.us/2008/09/16/joe-b...p-un-block-it/