Human cost of sanctions

By John Burton

One of the ironies of Donald Trump's engagement policy with North Korea over the past two years, is that while he praises the "beautiful letters" he has received from Kim Jong-un, he has done nothing to ease the "maximum pressure" sanctions that he imposed in 2017 when the U.S. president was in his "fire and fury" phase. Trump's refusal to move the needle is a key reason why Kim is now threatening to pursue a more aggressive course in dealing with the U.S. at the end of the year.

Sanctions are a blunt instrument that often hurts ordinary people rather than their intended target of the elite. Little attention has been paid to how international sanctions have affected the lives of the average North Korean. But a recent report, "The Human Costs and Gendered Impact of Sanctions on North Korea," commissioned by the activist women's group Korea Peace Now, attempts to address their effect on humanitarian aid and development programs in the country.

"There is increasing evidence that the sanctions regime on [North Korea] is having adverse humanitarian consequences," the report concludes, since it is causing a shortage of medical supplies, reduced agricultural production and less access to potable water.

Although the U.N. sanctions are not supposed to affect humanitarian aid to North Korea, in practice they have interfered with the ability of international aid groups to provide assistance. A draconian ban on providing any item with a metallic component, including nails or screws, has meant long delays for aid groups to gain U.N. exemptions for delivering medical appliances and agricultural equipment.

The resulting red tape to secure exemptions and funding shortfalls for U.N. humanitarian aid programs in North Korea are estimated to have caused the deaths of more than 3,900 North Koreans in 2018, according to a recent study led by Dr. Kee Park, a neurosurgeon and lecturer at the Harvard Medical School. Most of the victims were either children under 5 or pregnant women.

Sanctions have also crippled the growth of North Korean export industries from fisheries to textiles that provide a livelihood for workers. The biggest impact has been felt by women who constitute the majority of the labor force in many of these sectors. The resulting social disruption has caused a rise in prostitution and human trafficking as well as domestic violence.

Additional unilateral sanctions imposed by the U.S. may violate international law since they might go against humanitarian principles such as the prohibition of collective punishment and prohibitions on the starvation of civilian populations, according to Henri Feron, an international lawyer and one of the authors of the Korea Peace Now report. The "current sanctions regime against North Korea appears difficult to reconcile with international law," he said.

Financial sanctions have been one of the chief unilateral U.S. instruments against North Korea. This has made financial institutions reluctant to deal with North Korea, causing difficulties for independent NGOs trying to carry out planned activities in the country.

All sides, including the North Korean government, the U.N. Security Council and the countries imposing unilateral sanctions, need to take responsibility to address the humanitarian consequences of sanctions, the report recommends.

It urges North Korea, for example, to work more closely and share data with the U.N. and humanitarian groups to help assess more accurately the humanitarian and human rights conditions in the country and the impact of sanctions.

The report also recommends that there should be a lifting or modification of sanctions that appear to violate international law. Participating countries need to adopt "all measures available" to mitigate and ultimately eliminate the negative impact of sanctions on North Korea's population, while stopping the politicizing of humanitarian aid. These measures could include the adoption of a "whitelist" to systematically exempt humanitarian-sensitive items.

"We should not take innocents hostage on account of the policies of an authoritarian government they have little to no control over. North Koreans have rights as human beings regardless of what one side or the other believes is necessary for national security," notes Feron.

It might prove useful for Trump to heed these recommendations. A relaxation of sanctions as they affect humanitarian aid could amount to a goodwill gesture that might persuade Pyongyang that the U.S. is serious about trying to find a peaceful solution to the nuclear crisis.

Meanwhile, conservative national security groups in Washington are beginning to mount new calls for the U.S. to resume a tougher stance on North Korea. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a leading cheerleader for U.S. sanctions efforts worldwide, is calling for a new "maximum pressure 2.0 campaign" against Pyongyang to force it to relinquish its weapons of mass destruction.

Time is running short.

John Burton (johnburtonft@yahoo.com), a former Korea correspondent for the Financial Times, is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist and consultant.