Defectors Accuse North Korea of Killing Handicapped Kids

I have no way of knowing whether reports like this can be true, but one thing I can say with confidence is that the U.N. High Commission for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, and Jimmy Carter will not demand an independent investigation to find out:

Free North Korea Radio, run by North Korean defectors, reported last Tuesday on the murderous acts toward disabled children by the country’s own government. Disabled children who are born in the city of Pyongyang are taken into government run hospitals and are suffocated to death by smothering wet towel over their face. [….]

Free North Korea Radio confirmed a story about one sailor, a captain of trade ships in Nampo port, who had to give up his grandson 8 years ago because of the gruesome policy. He received a threat from the city after his newborn grandson was born disabled.

The grandfather sailor spoke about the threats given by officials. “Give up your grandson, or you don’t get to live in Pyongyang. We will give you a week to decide,” recalled the sailor. “I was afraid that if I didn’t decide, I would be persecuted as a traitor who disobeyed Kim Jong Il, and then be excommunicated to a wasteland. I had no choice. I had to give up my grandson.” [link]

Visitors to Pyongyang, including Guy DeLisle, have noticed that Pyongyang is suspiciously devoid of disabled people, and this isn’t the first report that North Korea kills off handicapped babies shortly after their birth. Another previous report claimed that North Korea sends the handicapped off to special camps. Those reports aren’t entirely consistent, but they’re not necessarily mutually exclusive. And of course, there have been multiple reports over the years that North Korea kills babies born to repatriated refugee women to prevent the birth of racially “impure,” presumably half-Chinese babies. Ordinarily, my rule is to demand extraordinary evidence for extraordinary claims, but North Korea’s claim on the benefit of that burden of proof weakens in the face of its prior consistent atrocities and its extraordinary secrecy.

In any event, this story broke a week ago, it’s gone pretty much unnoticed within the Human Rights Industry. Take from that what you will about the developmental status of anything like a global conscience.