The Responsibility to Protect and Northeast Asia: The Case of North Korea

The Responsibility to Protect in international relations and international law has been widely debated during the past decade. However, relatively few commentators have focused on Northeast Asia as a whole and analyzed whether the Responsibility to Protect applies to North Korea. Therefore, the following article examines the Responsibility to Protect from the perspective of Northeast Asia and elaborates on the question of whether North Korea has manifestly failed the R2P and whether the international community has a responsibility to act. There appears to be strong evidence that North Korea has violated its responsibility to protect its own citizens by committing crimes against humanity. Nevertheless, there has been little recognition by governments that the current human rights situation would trigger the responsibility of the international community. There will also be voices arguing that the denuclearization of the peninsula should have priority over human rights concerns. This article will argue, however, that treating human rights issues as a taboo will not guarantee any success in future arms negotiations.