20 July 2006
State's Hill Updates Senate Committee on North Korea Situation
Says U.N. resolution offers North Korea a choice of isolation or engagement
By Peggy B. Hu
Washington File Staff Writer
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee July 20. (© AP/WWP)
Washington – U.N. Security Council Resolution 1695, adopted July 15, offers North Korea a choice between greater isolation or engagement, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill says.
"Resolution 1695 offers the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the official name for North Korea] a clear choice of two paths," Hill told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee July 20.
"One will bring the DPRK under increasing international pressure and further economic and political isolation from the community of nations. The other offers a peaceful and diplomatic solution that will benefit all parties: from North Korea, the elimination of all of its nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs; from the other parties, energy and economic cooperation, security provisions, and steps toward normalization subject to bilateral policies."
The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted the resolution 11 days after North Korea test-fired several Scud-type and Nodong short- to medium-range missiles capable of reaching Japan and a Taepodong-2 long-range missile believed capable of reaching U.S. territory.
The resolution demands North Korea suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile program, requires U.N. member states to refrain from trading with North Korea on missile-related goods and technology, and urges North Korea return immediately and without preconditions to the Six-Party Talks with South Korea, Russia, Japan, China and the United States. (See related article.)
The assistant secretary noted that Resolution 1695 is the first U.N. Security Council resolution on North Korea since 1993.
"Its unanimous adoption reflects the gravity with which the world views the DPRK's missile and nuclear programs, as well as the determination of the Council to speak with one voice in condemning them," he said.
NORTH KOREAN ENTITIES' ILLICIT ACTIVITIES
North Korea has said it cannot return to the Six-Party Talks on its nuclear programs unless the United States lifts its sanctions against eight North Korean companies for alleged participation in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). (See related article.)
North Korea also has criticized the United States' designation of a bank in Macau, Banco Delta Asia (BDA), as a financial institution of "primary money laundering concern" under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act. (See related article.)
According to Hill, BDA had been "providing financial services for many years, with little oversight or control, to a number of North Korean entities engaged in illicit activities, including drug trafficking, smuggling counterfeit tobacco products and distributing counterfeit U.S. currency."
Hill noted that the North Korean accounts frozen by the Macao Monetary Authority total roughly $24 million.
As a result, he said, North Korea's "use of the Macanese action as a pretext not to return to the [Six-Party] Talks -- where benefits would dwarf what we're talking about with BDA -- raises questions about how serious the DPRK is at this point about its commitment to implement the September 19 Joint Statement and its willingness to denuclearize." (See related article.)
In a joint statement with the other Six-Party Talks participants issued September 19, 2005, North Korea committed to "abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and returning, at an early date, to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] safeguards."
NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES
Regarding North Korean refugees, Hill said the United States has been working with other governments and organizations to find ways to respond to cases of individual North Korean asylum seekers.
Hill noted that the United States recently accepted some North Korean refugees for resettlement and said that consideration procedures for North Korean nationals are the same as for nationals from other countries. (See Humanitarian Assistance and Refugees.)
"We will consider any North Korean brought to our attention by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), U.S. embassies and consulates, and reputable non-governmental organizations," he said. "In all cases, host government concurrence is required for refugee processing on foreign territory. We will continue to work closely with the Congress … as we pursue this important initiative."
NORTH KOREA'S HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION
Regarding the human rights situation in North Korea, Hill noted that the United States has co-sponsored resolutions at the U.N. Commission on Human Rights for the past three years condemning that country's human rights abuses.
In 2005, the United States also co-sponsored with the European Union a resolution on North Korea's human rights situation at the U.N. General Assembly -- marking the first time the issue had been addressed by the body -- and designated North Korea a "Country of Particular Concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act for its systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom, according to Hill. (See related article.)
"The U.S. has made clear to North Korea that discussion of its human rights record will be part of any future normalization process," he said.
For more information on U.S. policies, see The U.S. and the Korean Peninsula.
The full texts of Hill’s prepared statement and of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1695 are available on the State Department Web site.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)