Testimony Before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, June 4, 2013

[On June 4, 2013, I was called as a witness to testify before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. Below is the entirety of my prepared statement – I believe, there were some off the cuff remarks that probably drove the French language interpreters nuts.]

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen of the Committee. Thank you for inviting me today to speak. As I wear several hats when it comes to North Korea, whether it is HanVoice, www.cankor.ca, or the North Korean Human Rights Film Festival Toronto, on behalf of all these organizations, I again extend my thanks.

Canada’s DPRK Policy: Controlled Engagement

Canada’s response to North Korea has been, at least rhetorically, aggressive. Since 2010 our government has pursued what has been termed a “Controlled Engagement” policy. The Controlled Engagement (“CE”) policy restricted bilateral contact with the regime except to four distinct areas: regional security concerns, human rights and the humanitarian situation, inter-Korean relations, and consular issues. It also forbid Canadians from importing and exporting anything into North Korea, and also introduced strict technology and investment sanctions.

Canadians not about to leave or stay away from South Korea

[Canadians don’t seem too worried about war on the Korean Peninsula, judging from interviews with Canadians living in the Republic of Korea, and a group of Canadian Korean War veterans who are leaving on a tour to South Korea. We feature three articles that have appeared in the Canadian media recently. The first, distributed by The Canadian Press is taken from CTV News, 18 April 2013. The second appeared in numerous Canadian newspapers, such as The Chronicle Herald of Halifax, on 11 April 2013, with files from The Associated Press. The third is from QMI Agency and was published by various newspapers in the Sun News Network on 13 April 2013. –CanKor]

Canadian vets to tour South Korea despite threats from North

The Canadian Press, Ottawa, 18 April 2013

Minister of National Defence Peter MacKay looks on as Minister of Veterans Affairs Steven Blaney speaks with Korean War veteran Douglas Barber during an event on Parliament Hill, Tuesday, 16 April 2013. (Photo by Adrian Wyld, The Canadian Press)

Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney is preparing to lead a delegation to South Korea next week, despite bloodcurdling threats by North Korea against its neighbour. Blaney and a group of 36 veterans of the Korean War are to leave this weekend for a commemorative tour of battlefields and cemeteries.

He says Foreign Affairs is keeping a close eye on the Korean peninsula, where North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has been threatening nuclear war against South Korea and the United States. Blaney adds that the South Korean government hasn’t raised any red flags over the trip.

The five-day visit commemorates Canada’s contribution to the 1950-53 Korean War. About 26,000 Canadians took part in the conflict and 516 were killed.

Is there a role for Europe in the Korean crisis?

Until this past week I had never even heard of the Centre for European Reform. On Friday 12 April 2013, my emailed alerts to the North Korea Forum on LinkedIn brought my attention to Ian Bond’s excellent article “Out of range, out of mind: Is there a role for Europe in the Korean crisis?“

As you might have read in the left-hand column, CanKor has always been interested in the “role to be played in northeast Asia by second-tier middle powers like Canada, Australia and the European Union.” I have often puzzled over the fact that after the initial “Sunshine” enthusiasm shown by European countries for a role in North Korea in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Europe by and large seems to have ceded its politically astute and innovative role to the geopolitical interests of the USA.

My own European roots have rebelled against the notion that when it comes to North-East Asia, Europe should act as cheerleaders of a  doomed-from-the-start American policy initiated by an American President politically traumatized by the events of 9-11. Who would have thought that Barack Obama would continue his predecessor’s ill-conceived notion that somehow playing the DPRK’s game of brinkmanship would bring them to their knees? I too wish that doing nothing except wagging a finger would have prevented North Korea from building up to 10 nuclear warheads and a missile capable of launching a (non-functioning) satellite into orbit.

Our best efforts over the past seven years have not been able to stir the Canadian Government into any useful direction. Even playing the “good cop” role, as Andrei Lankov recently suggested in Ottawa, seems beyond our government’s ability or intent. The same apparently goes for Australia and New Zealand.

United Church of Canada issues statement on the crisis in the Korean Peninsula

[The United Church in Canada on 15 March 2013 issued the following “Statement on the Crisis in the Korean Peninsula.” The original text can be accessed here. –CanKor]

The United Church of Canada is gravely concerned about the escalation of tension in the Korean Peninsula. We fear for the safety of the people in North and South Korea, and the whole of Northeast Asia, should a war erupt.

We are concerned by the ongoing joint military exercises of the United States and the Republic of South Korea and the mounting threats of military actions from the Governments of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the United States, and South Korea. We fear that these provocative actions are increasing the danger of armed confrontation in the region.

The current crisis in the Korean Peninsula points to the unresolved issues in the region, including the failure to obtain a peace treaty to end the state of war, and the international sanctions against North Korea. The resolution of these issues requires re-engagement of all parties in finding lasting solutions to the problems in the Korean Peninsula.

We call on the Government of Canada to help in promoting an atmosphere conducive to renewed negotiations among the states involved in the conflict by renewing its engagement in confidence-building measures and contact with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea urging the Governments of the United States and of North and South Korea to return to the negotiating table.

Update on First Steps activities, by Susan Ritchie

[First Steps is a Vancouver-based Christian development organization whose primary purpose is preventing child malnutrition in North Korea through programs that provide essential nutrients to young children. Its founding director Susan Ritchie recently returned from a visit to the DPRK and sent us this report. For more on First Steps and Ms Ritchie, see the Chosun Ilbo article “Canadian Who Became ‘Mother’ to N.Korean Orphans”. –CanKor]

First Steps founding director Susan Ritchie explains her charity’s activities in North Korea while showing a picture taken in a factory she visited there. (Photo by Chosun Ilbo)

First Steps currently has two programs. First Steps’ soymilk program is currently reaching more than 90,000 children with a daily cup of soymilk. The micro -nutrient Sprinkles program is reaching approx. 70,000 pregnant women and babies from 6 – 24 months. Sprinkles prevent anemia and reduce morbidity (for example, deaths from diarrhea and pneumonia as well as rickets, etc.). As in-kind donations are becoming more available we are increasingly able to engage in relief work when there is a need.

We are shipping 3 larger food processing units to Wonsan in the coming weeks and expect that the total number of FS soymilk beneficiaries will soon exceed 100,000 children. The FS soymilk plants are working exceptionally well in the cities, counties and farms where we work. The food processing equipment that we send is a good fit for NK. Last year we shipped 280 metric tonnes of soybeans to supplement the local supply. We currently have 75 tonnes of soys en route.

I mentioned Deokchon in our last newsletter. It’s a city of 250,000 people, almost all of whom are engaged in mining coal (400 metres underground) or relevant activities to feed the coal plant in Pyongyang. We first visited the area after they had suffered a landside that took 46 lives and left more than 8,000 people homeless last summer. We partnered with ShelterBox to send in tents and then we sent in a 20′ container of relief foods for the children. Last week we visited the city again to confirm the arrival of the food, etc.

Canada and the perverse challenge of Northeast Asian regional security, by Paul Evans

[The following paper by CanKor Brain Trust member Paul Evans was originally presented at the “New Approach to Security in Northeast Asia: Breaking the Gridlock” workshop held on October 9th and 10th, 2012 in Washington, DC. The workshop was organized by the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Dr. Evans is Professor at the Institute of Asian Research, University of British Columbia. –CanKor]

For a little more than a decade starting with the end of the Cold War in Europe Canada was an engaged, proactive and sometimes innovative player in multilateral security issues in Northeast Asia. It initiated the North Pacific Cooperative Security Dialogue between 1990 and 1993, a pioneering track-two process including the principal six in Northeast Asia plus Canada and Mongolia intended to lay the foundation for an inclusive regional process in a region re-framed as the North Pacific. It pursued an “engagement without illusions” approach to North Korea that included encouragement of multiple levels of academic and NGO connections and eventually led in 2001 to the establishment of diplomatic relations. The government provided financial assistance to KEDO and supported diplomats and academics in multiple track-two meetings on a multilateral and bilateral basis that focused on regional frameworks and initiatives, including on arms control, missile defense weaponization of space, and non-proliferation.

Resource constraints and a chill of relations with North Korea as the extent of its nuclear ambitions became clear tempered some of these ambitions between 2001 and 2005, though the Liberal government was inclined to support the possibility of Canada playing an active “second circle” role as needed to advance the Six Party Talks.

Canadian Parliament passes unanimous motion on North Korea

[On 18 March 2013, the Canadian House of Commons gave consent to a motion on North Korea by Deepak Obhrai, Conservative MP for Calgary East (Alberta). The following is taken from a Media Release issued by Mr. Obhrai’s office. –CanKor]

Deepak Obhrai (House of Commons photo)

Motion by Deepak Obhrai, M.P. condemning North Korean actions passes unanimously in the House of Commons

(Ottawa) Deepak Obhrai, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, today moved a motion condemning recent actions by North Korea, in the House of Commons. The motion was unanimously passed by Members.

Mr. Obhrai moved:

That this House, reaffirming Canada’s commitment to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons:

• unequivocally condemns North Korea’s recent nuclear test in violation of its international obligations;

• expresses its grave concern regarding the widespread violations of basic rights in North Korea, including torture and other cruel, inhuman punishment, arbitrary detentions, absence of due process and the rule of law, collective punishments extending up to three generations, and the existence of political prison camps;

Canada’s FM Baird Welcomes Expanded Sanctions Against North Korea

7 March 2013 – Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today issued the following statement:

“Canada welcomes the expanded sanctions against North Korea adopted today at the United Nations Security Council and is proud to have been a co-sponsor.

“This response to North Korea’s reckless nuclear test in early February sends a clear and strong message to those responsible in Pyongyang.

“The true travesty is that the North Korean people continue to starve and are denied basic human rights while the regime in Pyongyang squanders limited resources.

“The international community had clearly warned North Korea that its belligerent actions would bear consequences.

“It is high time that the Government of North Korea reverse this dangerous course, abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, and focus its scarce resources on the living conditions of its people.

“Canada will continue to work with our international partners to pursue all appropriate actions against the rogue regime in North Korea.”

For more information on the extent of the sanctions and the available exemptions Canada has already imposed against North Korea, please see North Korea: Overview of New Sanctions and a May 2010 statement by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Related articles

• Canada Unequivocally Condemns North Korean Nuclear Test (CanKor.ca)
• Canadian FM Baird Strongly Condemns Actions of North Korean Regime (CanKor.ca)
• Canadian Foreign Minister urges North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons program (CanKor.ca)
• Canada Warns North Korea Against Provocation (CanKor.ca)
• Canada “Unreservedly” Condemns Failed DPRK Rocket Launch (CanKor.ca)
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Canada Unequivocally Condemns North Korean Nuclear Test

[Just in case you missed it, here is the predictable reaction from Canada’s Foreign Minister to the detonation of the DPRK nuclear test last week. Pity the civil servants who have to draft these expressions of outrage! How many different ways are there to string together the words reckless, provocative, serious, misguided, unconscionable, and irresponsible? After decades of condemnation, how many teeth remain in the concepts of rogue regime, disregard for the global will, threat to peace and security, squandering of resources, and sanctions? The one novel piece of news in this statement: apparently the Government of Canada actually had hopes Kim Junior would disown the legacy of his father. Or is this merely another part of the liturgy? –EW]

February 12, 2013 – Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today issued the following statement:

“The North Korean regime’s reckless disregard for the global will is again on display.

“This test—North Korea’s third—is provocative and marks a serious, misguided threat to regional peace and security.

“What makes such actions even more unconscionable is the fact that the North Korean people starve and are denied their basic human dignity while the Pyongyang regime squanders limited resources.

“While we had hoped the passing of dictator Kim Jong-il would have closed a sad chapter in North Korea, we are disappointed that his son has continued the irresponsible path of placing weapons before the well-being of people.

“Canada will work with our international partners to pursue all appropriate actions and sanctions against the rogue regime in North Korea.”

Related articles

• Canadian FM Baird Strongly Condemns Actions of North Korean Regime (CanKor.ca)
• Canadian Foreign Minister urges North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons program (CanKor.ca)
• Canada Warns North Korea Against Provocation (CanKor.ca)
• Canada “Unreservedly” Condemns Failed DPRK Rocket Launch (CanKor.ca)
• North Korea ‘delights’ in provoking: Harper (CanKor.ca)
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Canadian Foreign Minister urges North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons program

[Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird issued a statement on 23 January 2013, following the passing of UNSC Resolution 2087. This text is taken from the website of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. –CanKor]

Canadian FM John Baird (Photo by AFP)

“Canada is deeply concerned about North Korea’s missile tests and apparent plan to conduct more nuclear tests. We urge the regime to abandon any such plans.

“The regime in Pyongyang has repeatedly violated its international obligations and poses a grave threat to the security and stability of the region, even as the people of North Korea starve and suffer.

“Further defiance of its non-proliferation obligations will lead to further consequences: Canada stands ready to work with the international community to take further measures if the regime continues to demonstrate total disregard for its people by choosing to fund military and nuclear programs.

“We welcome the United Nations Security Council’s latest sanctions against North Korea. These have already been imposed under Canadian law.

“Canada urges the regime in North Korea to abandon its reckless nuclear and missile programs and invest its limited resources in meeting the basic needs of its people.”

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• CSIS annual report worries about DPRK security threat (CanKor.ca)
• Canada “Unreservedly” Condemns Failed DPRK Rocket Launch (CanKor.ca)
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