A Human Rights Lawyer Who Can’t Read a Two-Page U.N. Resolution?

President Roh Moo-hyun on Saturday told South Korean expatriates in New Zealand that preventing North Korea’s possible collapse is a “very important strategy” for our government because the North “will never wage war unless attacked or collapsing.” Seoul is therefore “concerned” about the suspension of humanitarian aid to the North under UN Security Council Resolution 1718, he added.  [link]

Leave aside the sheer density of illogic in that brief statement, most of which speaks for itself.  Either Roh, a former human rights lawyer, did not read Paragraph 9 of this very brief resolution, or he’s lying:

Decides that the provisions of paragraph 8 (d) above do not apply to financial or other assets or resources that have been determined by relevant States: (a) to be necessary for basic expenses, including payment for foodstuffs, rent or mortgage, medicines and medical treatment ….

Consider:  the president of the Republic of Korea, who presumably has speechwriters, goes overseas to give a speech.  No one who prepared his remarks bothered to vet his comments for accuracy?  Resolution 1718 does not restrict in-kind humanitarian aid in any way and contains specific exemptions to avoid interfering with it.  For example, an exemption to 1718’s restrictions on sending funds to North Korea permits the release of funds meant to support the provision of humanitarian aid; all one need do is send advance notification to the U.N. committee in charge of monitoring sanctions compliance.

Another lie buried in Roh’s statement is the fact that UniFiction Minister Lee Jong-Seok unilaterally announced the suspension of humanitarian aid months before Resolution 1718, even before Resolution 1695, a move I criticized at the time for punishing the innocent while continuing to reward the guilty.  Meanwhile, Lee just closed his mendacious tenure in office by paying a supportive visit to the Kumgang project, a suspected funding source for North Korea’s WMD projects, and which therefore does violate 1718.

If South Korea were to shift its humanitarian aid to the World Food Program and join other donor nations in demanding strict monitoring of its distribution, no one but Kim Jong Il would object.  The only thing stopping South Korea from feeding hungry North Koreans is the North Korean military, and Roh Moo Hyun knows it.
South Korea thus joins China and North Korea in ignoring a unanimous resolution of the United Nations Security Council.  And unless the country you lead is known as “the United States” or “Israel,” no one else cares if you ignore them, either.  All of which suggests that the United States look for other means to protect its interests.