Land, others urge U.S. to do more for North Koreans
- Jul 29, 2005 -
Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Richard Land and about 100 other religious and human rights leaders have called on the United States and other members of the international community to do more to protect the rights of North Koreans.
A July 25 statement signed by Land and others was released on the eve of the resumption of talks in Beijing, China, among the United States, North Korea and four other countries—China, Japan, Russia and South Korea—about the elimination of nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula.
The statement endorses a set of principles calling for the United States to: (1) include human rights—such as religious freedom, family reunification and prison monitoring—at the highest level of priority in its negotiations with North Korea; (2) provide assistance when North Korea makes significant reforms on human rights and weapons of mass destruction; (3) hold China accountable, requiring the communist regime to choose between good relations with America or its support for North Korea’s human rights abuses.
The statement asserts military action is not required to produce improved conditions in North Korea.
China, the northern neighbor to North Korea, has helped make the continued human rights abuses and WMD development possible for its fellow communist regime, the statement says. In violation of international treaties, China captures refugees and returns them to North Korea, where they face imprisonment, torture and execution. The number of North Korean refugees in China is estimated to be from 100,000 to 500,000.
The statement is a “sound, reasonable approach, “ said Barrett Duke, vice president for public policy at the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, at a Washington news conference accompanying the statement’s release. “China’s leaders will face God’s judgment for [their] cruel treatment of the marginalized. And they will certainly answer to God for each North Korean refugee chased or forced back into North Korea who is consequently murdered, raped, imprisoned or otherwise brutalized. And surely the world is already judging this inhumane behavior by the Chinese authorities.”
Before making his comments, Duke read Jesus’ account of the future judgment, as recorded in Matthew 25, where the sheep and the goats will be divided.
“While we agree that an improved economic environment would lift many North Koreans, we cannot sanction an approach that ignores the very people Jesus brought to our attention and valued so highly,” Duke said. “We will not sleep better knowing that peace was purchased at the expense of the weak and vulnerable. If we value what Jesus valued and the people Jesus valued, we must insist that the marginalized North Koreans are not left to die by our peace.”
Other signers included Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.; Steve Lemke, provost of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and Jerry Johnson, president of Criswell College in Dallas, Texas.
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