Human Rights Are the Key to a North Korea Deal
Forcing the subject at next week’s summit would increase U.S. leverage and make any agreement more credible.
Not on the agenda in Singapore.
Photographer: Chris McGrath/Getty Images
If Donald Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi next week goes as the U.S. president hopes, the two will emerge trumpeting promises of North Korea’s denuclearization, the proclamation of an end to the Korean War, and commitments by the international business community and multilateral lending institutions to transform the nation led by “Little Rocket Man,” in Trump’s words, into the “economic rocket” of Asia.
While there’s probably a better chance of pigs flying over Pyongyang, it is important to consider the latter prospect for one important but neglected reason: Trump will never realize his dream of seeing North Korea trade its missile launch pads for beachfront condominiums and casinos unless he addresses the regime’s massive human-rights abuses.