HONOLULU -- Among the policy differences dividing the United States and South Korea, one that stands out is divergence over the issue of North Korea's abuses of the human rights of its own citizens.
In the U.S., President George W. Bush, both houses of Congress, and private, bipartisan committees have condemned North Korean abuses. The U.S. ambassador in Seoul, Alexander Vershbow, has been particularly outspoken.
Just last week, Vershbow chided the South Koreans for not standing up to the North. "I think all South Koreans," he said, "should be worried about a regime that threatens its own people so badly, that wastes its scarce resources on nuclear weapons, and that engages in counterfeiting, drug trafficking . . . and the export of dangerous military technologies."