The following are excerpts of remarks by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chair of Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, at today’s conference featuring academic and policy experts on North Korean Human Rights hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) together with Stanford University:  

            “I’d like to begin by thanking both CSIS and Stanford for co-hosting this important event, and to especially thank Dr. Victor Cha, Senior Vice President for Asia and Korea Chair at CSIS, for his two-decade long academic and policy making expertise when it comes to North Korea.

            Professor Shin, director of the Asia Pacific Research Center and the Korea program at Stanford, has also played an extremely important role in the promotion human rights and democracy in both North and South Korea.

            In fact, Professor Shin’s article in the Journal of Democracy, “South Korea’s Democratic Decay,” which called out democratic backsliding in the Administration of former President of Moon Jae-in, greatly informed a Lantos hearing that I chaired in April 2021 that addressed deep concerns regarding civil and political rights in South Korea. 

            Thankfully, the new South Korean Administration seems to be taking human rights in both North and South more seriously, as evidenced by the appointment of a human rights ambassador for North Korea, Shin-wha Lee—pursuant to the terms of the North Korea Human Rights Act of 2016. (President Moon failed to fill that position).

            Ambassador and former U.S. Special Envoy to North Korea Bob King wrote an excellent op-ed on September 21^st with the headline: In Significant Shift, President Yoon Highlights North Korean Human Rights Issues.

            It is an honor to join Congressman Frank Wolf on this panel.  There is no greater champion of religious freedom. As you all know, among many other accomplishments, Frank is the author of the comprehensive International Religious Freedom Act of 1998—the amazing law that among other things created the religious freedom office at the State Department headed by an ambassador-at-large and his law also created the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).  

            Today’s conference is an opportune occasion to remind ourselves of a particular fundamental principle of human rights—that those in North Korea who are persecuted by what is one of the world’s most repressive regimes on earth should be able to seek safety and freedom among the world’s leading democracies.

            Unfortunately, North Korea's COVID-19 restrictions have aggravated the country's already egregious human rights violations. A recent UN report, for instance, cited extra restrictions on access to information, tighter border security, and heightened digital surveillance. Like other dictatorships, Kim Jung-um has exploited the COVID crisis to further tighten his iron grip and persecute, torture and kill human rights defenders.

            Meanwhile, North Korea is continuing its provocations. The New York Times wrote this week: “Over the course of the year, North Korea’s missile provocations have become so frequent—23 weapons tests since January, including four last week….”  It then doubled down this week by firing an intermediate range ballistic missile over Japan—a chilling escalation.

            Against this backdrop, we need to remind the Biden administration of the compelling need to integrate human rights into all of its engagement with the North Korean regime.

            At one of seven North Korean human rights congressional hearings I’ve chaired, Andrew Natsios, co-chair of the Committee on Human Rights in North Korea, told my panel in 2014 that the exclusive focus on denuclearization decoupled from  human rights was an “abject failure”.

            John Sifton of Human Rights Watch who testified at my Lantos hearing last year underscored this serious omission: “Let me get straight to the point. Past US policy—and South Korean policy—has not properly or adequately incorporated human rights protection and promotion into strategies to address North Korea.…”

            Finally, I must emphasize that Beijing has continued to play a crucial role in sustaining North Korea’s horrific human rights record.

            Xi Jinping must be called out and to the extent possible, held to account.

            For example, China is complicit in the fate of thousands of North Koreans who try to flee across the 882-mile border between the two countries each year. China has also done little to crack down on the human traffickers who prey on North Koreans.

            North Koreans suffer persecution, torture—even execution—owing to China’s cruel decision to forcibly repatriate them in an egregious  violation of the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol to which China has acceded.

            Everyone in this room knows that the human rights situation across China continues to deteriorate on all fronts.

            That is why I’ve introduced new legislation (H.R. 7193) to link China’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status with serious and sustained improvements on human rights—especially and including ending the regime’s ongoing genocide and forced labor of Uyghurs and others.

            Finally, I want to note, that not only does the United States have a very special friendship and bond with the Republic of Korea, but also my home state of New Jersey.

            New Jersey was among the states that deployed the highest number of troops—191,000—to defend freedom in Korea, including my uncle Frank, a marine, and there is a memorial in Atlantic City honoring five Jersey soldiers who were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

            Our alliance is strong and enduring and forged in blood and sacrifice.”

###