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Yes, the word "Human Rights" was in "quotes" in the headline

By Jeff Emanuel Posted in Contra Tyrannum | Human Rights doesn't belong in quotes | North Korea | standing up to totalitarianism — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

The North Korean state news has lashed out at Lee Myung-Bak, President of their southern counterpart, accusing him of deliberately provoking his northern neighbor and "deteriorating the inter-Korean relations."

Read on.

Said the KCNA:

There has been no "human rights issue" and it can never exist in the DPRK where the exploitation of man by man was brought to an end long ago and there are no legal and institutional factors of abusing "human rights". The Lee group's talk about "human rights issue" is a revelation of their ignorance of the DPRK.


It is ridiculous and disgusting, indeed, for the group of traitors to say anything about someone's "human rights issue" as it is beset with the worst human rights issues.


There are differing ideologies and systems in the north and the south. Proceeding from the viewpoint of national reconciliation, unity and reunification, the DPRK has maintained the stand to develop the inter-Korean relations on the basis of leaving those ideologies and systems in the north and the south as they are and tolerating them. The three principles -- independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity --agreed upon and published by the north and the south serve as inviolable basic principles for developing the inter-Korean relations under any circumstances. Fully embodied in the June 15 joint declaration and the October 4 declaration, a programme for implementing it, the principles serve as a powerful engine for steering the era of independent reunification.


It is the ulterior aim sought by the Lee group through its "human rights" ruckus to defile the dignified system of the DPRK, bring the inter-Korean relations back to those in the era of confrontation and do harm to the DPRK in collusion with foreign forces.


The above-mentioned campaign kicked off by the Lee group in league with outside forces has made it difficult to expect any progress in the inter-Korean relations or any advance in the movement for independent reunification.

In his inaugural address, according to Wikipedia (which cites the Korea Times, "Lee declared:

that he would pursue a campaign of “global diplomacy” and seek further cooperative exchanges with regional neighbors Japan, China, and Russia. Furthermore, he pledged to strengthen South Korea-United States relations and also implement a tougher policy with North Korea, concepts that are encapsulated as the MB Doctrine. Lee has stated that he wants to restore better relations with the United States through a greater emphasis on free market solutions.

One can see why the NORKs would be unhappy at best with the leader of their southern neighbor. Rather than speaking of the reunification of the peninsula (understood to be under North Korean rule) being a foregone conclusion once the United States "imperialists" depart the South, the KCNA appears to be testing out a new talking point: that the two sides are now "different but equal," and that it is the NORKs' wish that the two sides somehow reunite into a single Korea in which the North and South each maintain their current forms of government.

This is a significant backing off of the previous line, with a focus much more on the defensive than on lashing out against any and all who dare oppose Kim Jong-Il's DPRK, and is likely largely attributable to the stance of the current Korean president's willingness to take a hard line for freedom and ROK-Western relations, and against the tyranny of the DPRK's totalitarian system.

Score a small but significant one for the good guys here.