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COPYRIGHT 2007 Professors World Peace Academy
North Korea's deteriorating human rights record has been neglected in peace talks in order to address its nuclear weapons program. However, the North Korean human rights issue is a major factor in instability in Northeast Asia. North Korea's implosion would have a disruptive impact on the security of the Chinese-North Korean border. The Helsinki Final Act of 1975 created a successful multilateral framework and eased Cold War tensions in Europe by emphasizing the interconnectedness of security, economy and human rights.
This article suggests that a Northeast Asian version of the Helsinki process could overcome the pitfalls of past efforts to create peace on the Korean peninsula.
INTRODUCTION
North Korea's Nuclear test in October 2006 has cast doubt on the current approach to deal with the North Korean nuclear problem. In February 2007 the stalled Six Party Talks resumed to seek a solution to the problem. North Korea came to the negotiation table from a position of strength with nuclear weapons in hand. The prospect for the Six Party Talks is much lower than the negotiations for the Agreed Framework of 1994. Fundamental shifts in dealing with North Korea are needed to peace-fully solve the North Korean nuclear problem.
The Helsinki process is presented as an alternative model to deal with the North Korean nuclear issue. The Helsinki Final Act of 1975, also known as the Helsinki Accords, was the final product of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe held in Helsinki, Finland. The Helsinki Accords was a set of agreements among 35 countries including the United States, Canada, the Soviet Union and 32 European nations except Albania. The Helsinki process represents one in which the Helsinki Final Act had been implemented since its signing.
The Helsinki Accords consist of three "baskets." The baskets deal with security, economic, and humanitarian issues. The Helsinki process was successful in creating a cooperative multilateral framework and easing Cold War tensions in Europe by adopting a comprehensive approach. It was comprehensive in the sense that the Helsinki Accords emphasized the interconnectedness of the security, economic, and humanitarian dimensions. Before the Accords, security and economic issues attracted more attention and the humanitarian issue was disregarded as an impediment to solving the security issue. The Helsinki Accords represented an innovative approach that gave weight to non-military dimensions during the Cold War period.
The Helsinki Accords also set forth ten principles guiding relations among 35 countries. These principles involve sovereign equality, refraining from the threat or use of force, peaceful settlement of disputes, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedom. The principle on human rights includes freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief. Except for the principle on human rights, the Joint Statement of the Six Party Talks on September 19, 2005 declared the same principles guiding North Korea's relations with the United States and other neighboring countries. A Northeast Asian version of the Helsinki process is an attempt to apply the lessons of the Helsinki Accords to the current North Korean nuclear issue as well as the security situation in Northeast Asia.
International society has begun to pay attention to the North Korean human rights issue. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights appointed Vitit Muntarbhorn, a professor of law at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, as Special Rapporteur for human rights in North Korea in July 2004, just before the US Congress passed the North Korean Human Rights Act in October that year. He is mandated to investigate and report to the UN Commission and the General Assembly on the human rights situation in North Korea. He presented a report critical of human rights abuses in North Korea in March 2005. His report was instrumental in the General Assembly's passage of a resolution in December 2005. The resolution called on North Korea to fully respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. Japan's Diet passed its North Korean Human Rights Act in June 2006, which called for economic sanctions against North Korea unless progress is made on human rights conditions, including resolving the issue of abduction of Japanese nationals....
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