On Feb. 19th, the United Nations provided a report on inhumane atrocities taking place in North Korea. According to the report, Kim Jong-un’s regime is conducting systematic human rights abuses against its own people that are as horrible as those of Nazi Germany during World War II. The report was developed in accordance with testimonies and public hearings. Such crimes against humanity include arbitrary imprisonment, torture, deliberate starvation and execution without trials. It has been long known by South Koreans and those who care about the issue that the notorious North Korean regime is conducting such atrocities, but it is the first time the international community has officially addressed the issue.
Thanks to the United Nations’ efforts, the horrifying facts have been revealed to many people, but one more fact has to be addressed by the people: China is supporting North Korea in numerous ways despite knowing such atrocities are taking place. It is well-known that China has been a supporter of North Korea for a long time, but most of the people do not know exactly why.
For three reasons, China has supported North Korea for decades, ignoring horrifying tyrannical deeds being done there. The reasons are: 1) the Northeast Project, 2) vast underground natural resources and 3) preventing unification of the two Koreas.
China’s Northeast Project stands for Serial Research Project on the History and Current State of the Northeast Borderland. Since 1978, China’s Communist Party has heavily invested in scholarly research to restore historical facts that prove there was an ancient Chinese state that included Manchuria and the northern part of Korea under its territory. Through this process, China is trying to develop a legitimacy, which enables it to intervene and take over North Korea when the regime collapses. According to China’s Impact on Korean Peninsula Unification and Questions for the Senate, which was developed by a Minority Staff Report for Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States Senate, 41 percent of Chinese companies registered as doing business in North Korea in 2010. These companies extracted coal, iron, zinc, nickel, gold and other minerals such as rare earth elements that are crucial base materials for semiconduction. Various immense corporations are under this process of mining expensive materials with extremely cheap labor under the condition that they share some amount of the profit with the North Korean dictator.
Preventing the unification of the Korean peninsula is a major interest of China. Many people around the world think the possibility of the unification depends on North and South Koreas’ stances, but it does not. China is the key for the unification because it is the one that attached a respiratory machine on decomposing North Korea, who had several economic crises that could lead to a collapse of the system. However, to pursue the regional stability and maintain its significant political influence in East Asia, China backed up North Korea whenever there was a severe problem within the country.
China’s support for North Korea has been a very effective tactic for leveraging South Korea, Japan and the United States. With its “national interests” that only benefit China itself and the notorious dictatorship of North Korea, China is not fulfilling its important role of being a member of the Permanent Five in the United Nations Security Council. According to the United Nation’s incumbent Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, UNSC has to lead the international community to halt crimes against the humanity in accordance with the Responsibility to Protect principle. However, China, one of the leading countries within the UNSC, is aiding and abetting North Korea’s crimes against humanity. If China really wants to be an influential country, it needs to address the human rights violations that are being perpetrated by North Korea. Similarly, the United Nations must hold China accountable for its aid provided to North Korea.
Do you agree the United Nations needs to assess China’s actions since they are part of the United Nations Security Council? Do you think China must address North Korea’s human rights atrocities? Please send feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
