Human Rights Issues to be included in US-NK summit
According to State Department’s spokeswoman Heather Nauert, human rights issues are expected to be talked about in the U.S.-North Korea summit, which Trump plans to happen in May or beginning of June. The central topic will be denuclearization but human rights abuses, detained American citizens, and abducted Japanese in the past are issues that could be raised during the summit.
On the other hand, South Korea’s foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha stated that human rights issues are not expected to be discussed in the inter-Korean summit, taking place on April 27, due to the need of further preparation.
But 40 organizations, representing more than 200 international non-governmental organizations, urge South Korea’s president Moon Jae-in to include talks about North Korea’s dire human rights situation. Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, expresses the importance of including the topic of North Korea’s catastrophic human rights situation, as “human rights abuses in North Korea and threats to international peace and security are intrinsically connected.”
[Sources: Kyoto News]
