Seoul Summit: ‘Resolving the nuclear question and NK human rights are not mutually exclusive.’

(by guest blogger Andy Jackson)

This a part of a series of posts on the Seoul Summit: Promoting Human Rights in North Korea and related events. The portions in the blockquote were taken from my notes. I apologize for any inaccuracies

Thomas O. Melia, is Deputy Executive Director at Freedom House. He is also a Democrat, as are a majority of the staffers at Freedom House according to someone I talked with who works there. I mention that now only because it is inevitable that Korean leftists will declare Freedom House to be a “˜neocon cabal’ (if they haven’t already done so).

I later spotted Melia at an outdoor rally and concert sporting a cool looking pakol, which needs to go on my Christmas list.

Unfortunately, I only got a small part of his speech in my notes as the battery in my laptop was starting to die on me. He was the last speaker at the morning session:

During [the Korean War] the United States and many other nations came to South Korea’s aid. The South Koreans took the lead in that struggle [NOTE: and the bulk of allied casualties]. To think of what a unified Korea under Pyongyang would be like is ‘too terrible to contemplate.’

The United States and the international community were slower to respond [to the Korean democracy movement] but did eventually aid in transforming South Korea into a democracy”¦

North Korea is the only country to get the lowest possible “˜freedom scores’ for all 34 years of Freedom House survey.

QUESTION: How does Freedom House plan to follow up on this conference? [Also asked a question on the six party talks.]

ANSWER: Resolving the nuclear question and human rights in North Korea are not mutually exclusive [NOTE: will some please inform the leadership of the OOP]. The USA and USSR talked about nuclear weapons and human rights simultaneously. Can have a multifaceted dialog with North Korea as well. Freedom House will continue to broaden understanding of North Korean human rights in the United States, the European Union and South Korea.

Melia was also asked, but declined to answer, a couple of questions about US government positions. That he was even asked means that some people are still confused about the nature of Freedom House. Now repeat after me children; Freedom House is NOT part of the United States government. It is an independent organization which gets funding from the US Agency for International Development and the State Department, among others sources. Getting government grants does not make you part of the government. For a Korean comparison, the grants that the Korean government provided Hwang Woo-suk did not make him a Korean government employee.

And, no, it is still not a neocon cabal.