Testimony of Victor Cha before the UN Commission of Inquiry on North Korean Human Rights

Korea Chair Platform

Mr. Chairman, as you are aware, North Korean human rights has not traditionally been a high priority in U.S. policy to the North. The primary focus has been on the security threat in two respects: 1) conventional deterrence of a second North Korean invasion; and 2) denuclearization. On the first of these objectives, we have been quite successful in the sense that there has not been a second attempt by the North to invade the South since June 1950. Conventional deterrence has worked. On the second, however, we have not been very successful. Despite two agreements in 1994 and in 2005, North Korea has not been denuclearized. Indeed, its arsenal has only grown over time.

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Victor Cha
Senior Vice President for Asia and Korea Chair