12/9/2019

HUMAN RIGHTS/NORTH KOREA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/UN: “The Trump administration has refused to support a move by members of the United Nations Security Council to hold a discussion Tuesday [12-10-19] on North Korea’s rampant human rights abuses, effectively blocking the meeting for the second year in a row. The American action appeared aimed at muting international criticism of Pyongyang’s human rights record in the hope of preserving a tenuous diplomatic opening between President Trump and Kim Jong-un, the authoritarian leader of North Korea. Tensions between Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim have broken out into the open in recent days. On Monday [12-9-19], North Korea called Mr. Trump a ‘heedless and erratic old man’ after the American president warned that Mr. Kim could lose ‘everything’ if he resumed military provocations like nuclear or long-range missile tests before the 2020 elections in the United States.”

Edward Wong and Choe Sang-Hun, “Trump Officials Block U.N. Meeting on Human Rights Abuses in North Korea,” The New York Times online, December 9, 2019