West OC Times

Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA) has urged the Biden administration to address human rights violations by North Korea in anticipation of a United Nations Human Rights Council review. The council is set to conduct its fourth universal periodic review of North Korea in November, gathering information from member countries to create a comprehensive profile of human rights abuses in the nation.

Steel, born in South Korea, submitted a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken highlighting concerns shared by herself and Korean immigrants in her district. Key issues include the forced repatriation of escaped North Korean refugees and past abductions of Japanese, South Korean, and other foreign nationals by North Korea.

These abductions have been documented since the Korean War, primarily affecting individuals from South Korea's border cities and Japan's coastal regions. Many abductees remain hidden within North Korean society for decades.

In recent years, China has cooperated with North Korea to return escapees caught fleeing through Chinese territory. Steel describes this situation as akin to a prison state where escape is difficult and outsiders are held in isolation.

China and Russia benefit from North Korea's control by importing laborers despite U.N. resolutions against such practices. Steel's letter urges Blinken to emphasize that Kim Jong Un’s regime has not adhered to agreed-upon human rights improvements like ending torture.

As a South Korean immigrant with parents who fled the North, Steel expressed personal connection to these issues: “Decades after my parents fled following a communist takeover, North Korea’s government continues to abuse basic human rights and aggressively persecute its own citizens,” she said.

She added that "innocent North Koreans, defectors, and detained foreign citizens need the United States’s help now more than ever."

The urgency surrounding North Korea's actions has increased as evidence shows its troops may support Russia in Ukraine. Thousands of military personnel have reportedly moved from Pyongyang to Vladivostok by ship, expected to join combat in Russia's Kursk region currently held by Ukrainian forces.