N. Korea Could Face Prosecution For 'Crimes Against Humanity' 325
An anonymous reader writes with this news from The Telegraph: "North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, has been warned that he could face prosecution for crimes against humanity after a United Nations inquiry accused him of some of the worst human rights abuses since the Second World War. In some of the harshest criticism ever unleashed by the international community against the Pyongyang regime, a UN panel branded it 'a shock to the conscience of humanity.' Michael Kirby, a retired Australian judge who has spent nearly a year taking testimony from victims of the regime, said much of it reminded him of atrocities perpetrated by Nazi Germany and Pol Pot's Cambodia. Yesterday his team published a 374-page report detailing allegations of murder, torture, rape, abductions, enslavement, and starvation, describing North Korea as a dictatorship 'that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world.' In a bid to put pressure on Kim Jong-un, 31, Mr Kirby has taken the unusual step of writing to the North Korean leader to warn him that both he and hundreds of his henchmen could one day face prosecution."
More at the BBC, including a cache of the report.
Depends on China (Score:5, Informative)
North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, has been warned that he could face prosecution for crimes against humanity after a United Nations inquiry accused him of some of the worst human rights abuses since the Second World War.
Not as long as China protects him he won't. For various reasons I don't entirely understand China has elected to keep this family in power. (I know they want a buffer from South Korea but there has to be more to it than that) They don't even seem concerned about North Korea possessing nuclear weapons.
If China decides to withdraw support, the North Korean regime will be gone pretty quick most likely. Until then, nothing will happen unless a war starts between North and South Korea.
Re:Depends on China (Score:5, Informative)
Aren't they still at war?
Re:Why now? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:And how will they bring him to justice? (Score:5, Informative)
Even ignoring the problem of getting him from power, ICC has no jurisdiction as Korea isn't a signatory and the UN security council is needed either to refer the case to the ICC or to create an ad hoc tribunal. Even if China might as some point decide to stop propping up its neighbour, it is not very likely that they will allow them to be tried in court.
Re:Depends on China (Score:4, Informative)
Aren't they still at war?
Technically yes. The Korean war theoretically never actually ended. There was an armistice but never any permanent peace agreement. $Diety knows what they think they still have to fight about...
Re:They're atheists... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:first (Score:3, Informative)
Have you been to Syria lately?
Have YOU been to Syria?
Syria is a propaganda story. Here's a TINY example, plucked from the firehose of lies:
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2014/02/cnn-propaganda-poor-lone-kid-edition.html [moonofalabama.org]
Same for Venezuela:
https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10360 [venezuelanalysis.com]
Re:first (Score:4, Informative)
So you are poorly informed AND you have a weak imagination.
Hey Anonymous Coward, pull your head out of the sand.
Can Saudis leave their country?
Are Saudis starving to death?
Are mothers of Saudi newborn Saudi babies forced to drown them?
Is crystal meth the only medicine available to a sick Saudi?
Is Saudi Arabia a paradise? No damn way - But to suggest Saudi Arabia is as bad as North Korea is an INSULT to your fellow humans in North Korea, including children for christ's sake, who are suffering and dying.
Re:first (Score:5, Informative)
You are the recipient of other people's "information".
Saudi's CANNOT leave. Unless they are of a certain class, and have been specifically cleared by the secret police.
Saudi's are starving to death in the NW Shiite region
Rural Saudi girls are killed on birth, as liabilities to their poor families
Meth? You are crazy. But yes. Qat is the only medicine for millions.
Re:They're finally going to do something. (Score:5, Informative)
North Korea politics in a nutshell:
The North Koreans brutally maintain their control and constantly threaten massive destruction, test nuclear weapons and fire missiles over Tokyo. They then allow themselves to be "convinced" to back down for food and funds to maintain their grip.
China finds this useful. They support him because the US and the West are constantly at odds with him (technically never signed a Peace treaty after the armistice). They keep him along and it keeps the West distracted, and gives them a cheap bargaining chip to "bring them back from the brink" in exchange for concessions in other parts of Asia.
The US finds them annoying. In general we don't like dictatorships and tyrants and in particular are morally opposed to human rights abuses. However, toppling the regime through force has serious implications. Despite being relatively weak, they are heavily armed with fanatical soldiers with around 1 million troops. While their nukes are essentially a joke, their artillery they have constantly aimed at Seoul is not. The damage they would inflict if backed into a corner on the peninsula would have repercussions throughout the entire Pacific economy. In addition, assuming they are toppled, what then? Who takes over? Does Seoul? How does a dynamic, robust, educated, high standard of living economy of 50 million people somehow take over and integrate 24 million uneducated dirt poor people who have been living under a tyrants thumb for so many years? It would take decades to integrate the two, and meanwhile South Korea, the source of around 51% of the world's new shipbuilding and around 1/3 of the world's steel production, would struggle with global ramifications. The cost and difficulty is very high for war.
North Korea knows this. They constantly bring themselves right up to the line of not being worth it to eliminate, and everyone else gives them concessions to back down from their most recent round of "crazy". It's an odd game they play, but it's worked for them for 30+ years and no one has found a cost effective alternative.