Inaugural Post – Dude, Where’s My Special Envoy?

Dude, where’s my Special Envoy for North Korean human rights issues?

On February 21, 2009, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made it abundantly clear that human rights concerns would not be a priority for the Obama administration.

“Successive administrations and Chinese governments have been poised back and forth on these issues, and we have to continue to press them. But our pressing on those issues can’t interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis, and the security crisis” (CNN).

While Mme. Secretary was explicitly referring to domestic Chinese human rights, we can infer that she implied any human rights issues regarding China.  In other words, China’s support of genocidal dictatorships (North Korea, Burma, Sudan) and Tibet (this is where the usually brilliant Christopher Hitchens is just nutty), among others.

We didn’t have to wait for Obama to have his 100 days in office to judge where he stood on human rights issues.  On January 28, 2005, he and members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation signed a letter stating that they would “NOT support the removal of [North Korea] from the State Department list of State Sponsors of Terrorism” until North Korea came clean about Kim Dong Shik, a pastor who aided North Korean refugees in China and was abducted into North Korea.  On the campaign trail, Obama supported Christopher Kim-Jong-Hill/Condi/Bush’s removal of North Korea from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.

On November 10, 2008, President George W. Bush nominated Michael J. Green to be the next Special Representative and Policy Coordinator for Burma, in accordance with the Burmese JADE Act.  Michael Green, now at Georgetown & CSIS, is a brilliant scholar (mopped the floor with his debate opponents) and “compassion” doesn’t come as an afterthought or inconvenience to him (unlike a great many who fill up seats in our foreign service corps).

In a stunning show of the end-of-partisanship, non-partisan hoolala, Michael Green’s nomination was held.  The Democrats didn’t want some Bush appointee to stand for Burmese human rights, no matter how qualified and dedicated s/he might be.  Obama has not nominated his own candidate yet.  How many days has he been in office now?

We still don’t have a nominee for Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues.  But this is where it’s a little tricky…

There is something interesting about the Burmese JADE Act.  The Burma envoy “may not simultaneously hold a separate position within the executive branch, including the Assistant Secretary of State, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, the United States Ambassador to Burma, or the Charge d’affairs to Burma.”  The North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2008 (NKHRRA) contains no such language – the staffers in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee were careful to leave it out.

So when will Sung Kim, Stephen Bosworth, or some mid-level State Department official take the title of Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues?  I don’t know…maybe the early months of 2010?  I predict that the current North Korean nuclear crisis will take a couple months to calm down or escalate, and then the Obama administration will possibly start bilateral discussions with North Korea (Defense Secretary Robert Gates).  After that, Sung Kim or Bosworth might nominally take the reins and continue to sideline human rights concerns.

Another factor to consider is that it might not be strategic for Sung Kim or Stephen Bosworth to be Special Envoy for NKHR issues.  Human rights will never be a part of the dialogue no matter what framework or engagement strategy the US takes, at least not until the crisis is resolved.  The North Koreans might get peeved if our main negotiators have an additional title of human rights envoy.

Then again, the NKHRRA made the special envoy rank ambassadorial.  Meaning that if the position were filled by someone with a smidge of humanity or compentency, s/he would insert her/himself in talks with North Korea.  We wouldn’t want that now, would we.

It’s much safer to circumvent US law by delaying nominations.  Our national security apparently depends on it.