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Marco Rubio and the Outlook for North Korean Human Rights Under Trump 2.0

Analysis, Human Rights
February 12, 2025, by — As the transition takes place with the return of Trump and the arrival of Rubio as the new secretary of state, one of the key questions regarding policy toward North Korea is whether the United States will continue to advocate for human rights and remain a participant in the UN Human Rights Council, which has been the central UN body focused on North Korea’s human rights atrocities, as well as human rights abuses in a number of other UN member countries.

The 20th Anniversary of the North Korean Human Rights Act

Commentary, Human Rights
October 18, 2024, by — On October 18, 2004, President George W. Bush signed into law the North Korean Human Rights Act. The president’s statement, issued on his signing of the law, said the legislation “provides us with useful new tools to address the deplorable human rights situation in North Korea by focusing our efforts to help both those who flee the regime and those who are trapped inside the country.” The statement emphasized that the legislation was bipartisan and reflected “our unified concern for and commitment to the welfare of the North Korean people.” The legislation that became law specified that promoting human rights for North Korea should be “a key element in future negotiations between the United States, North Korea, and other concerned parties.”

The Black Box: Demystifying the Study of Korean Unification and North Korea

Analysis, Health, Human Rights, Nuclear Weapons
September 24, 2024, by — In this groundbreaking book, the leading scholar and practitioner Victor D. Cha shines a light into the “black box” of North Korea and draws critical lessons for the possible reunification of Korea after many decades of division... 2024, Columbia University Press "[The Black Box] calls on privileged insights into North Korea. Peace,…

Garbage, Balloons, and Korean Unification Values

Analysis, Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Humanitarian Aid
June 30, 2024, by and — Since late May, North Korea has launched thousands of balloons into South Korea filled with trash, marking the return of a long-used tactic of psychological warfare between the two Koreas. Rather than a sign of impending conflict, as some posit, the campaign is a manifestation of Kim Jong-un’s new decoupling policy and a preemption of the new South Korean unification policy focused on the values of freedom and human rights.

UN Health and Labor Organizations Rank North Korea Worst on Work-Related Disease and Injury

Health, Human Rights
October 15, 2021, by — The most striking feature of the data for North Korea in both the overall number of work-related deaths and in the number who suffered death from stroke as a result of overwork is that the number went from one of the worst in the world to decisively the worst of all UN member states. In almost every other country in the world over the period of this study, the death rate from workplace disease and injury declined.