North Korea Claims US Soldier Traveled to Escape Racism, Escalating Human Rights Tensions
In a new development, North Korea contends that US soldier Travis King fled the United States due to racism and maltreatment, adding to the existing friction between Washington and Pyongyang over human rights issues. North Korea broke its silence on King, an African American, by releasing a state media report stating that he confessed to illegally entering North Korea because of the inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination he encountered within the US Army, as well as disillusionment with inequality in American society.
Although King himself has not been heard from directly, his uncle stated in media interviews earlier this month that his nephew had experienced racism during his military service. This latest report from North Korea comes just ahead of a scheduled United Nations Security Council meeting, initiated by the United States, to discuss human rights abuses in North Korea.
North Korea has long highlighted racial discrimination in the United States as a way to challenge what it perceives as American hypocrisy in criticizing its own human rights record. Analysts believe that North Korea will seize upon King’s case to deflect pressure regarding its human rights situation and avoid engaging in negotiations with the US. Instead, it is expected that North Korea will use the issue of racism in the US as a means to counter US criticism.
Rachel Minyoung Lee of the US-based Stimson Center explains that North Korea regularly emphasizes racism in the US to depict it in a negative light and to demonstrate that the US lacks the moral authority to criticize other countries’ human rights conditions. The North Korean foreign ministry echoed this sentiment in a recent statement, denouncing the US for its mockery of human rights and accusing it of conniving with racial discrimination, gun-related crimes, child maltreatment, and forced labor in its own society.
This is not the first time North Korea has turned the spotlight on racial discrimination in the US. In 2018, the country released a White Paper on Human Rights Violations in the US, which accused the Trump administration of exacerbating racial discrimination and misanthropy inherent in the American social system, citing incidents of white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. North Korean officials have also previously criticized the US response to incidents like the 2020 protests following the police killing of George Floyd, denouncing the authorities for resorting to suppression tactics.
Historically, North Korea has even aligned itself with the Black Power movement. In 1969, the country hosted Eldridge Cleaver, an American author and activist associated with the Black Panther Party, who praised North Korea and its leader at the time for raising awareness and empowering those fighting against US imperialist aggressors.
It is worth noting that North Korean state media has a history of making racially charged statements. In 2014, the state news agency published a report using derogatory language to describe then-US President Barack Obama, comparing him to an African native monkey with a black face.
The 2014 United Nations report on North Korean human rights uncovered evidence suggesting that North Korean security chiefs, and possibly even leader Kim Jong Un himself, should be held accountable for overseeing a system of state-controlled atrocities resembling those witnessed during the Nazi era. The report also exposed allegations of forced abortions imposed on women suspected of being impregnated by Chinese men, reflecting North Korea’s desire to maintain a pure Korean race and viewing mixed-race children as a contamination of their purported purity.
As tensions regarding human rights persist, North Korea’s allegations of racism in the US serve as a means to divert attention from its own practices and challenge the US’s credibility in addressing human rights abuses. With the United Nations Security Council slated to discuss these issues, it remains to be seen how the international community will navigate this delicate situation.
