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United Nations report described a brutal North Korean state "that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world."" border="0" height="360" id="articleGalleryPhoto001" width="640"/>A North Korean soldier patrols the bank of the Yalu River, which separates the North Korean town of Sinuiju from the Chinese border town of Dandong, on Saturday, April 26. A recent United Nations report described a brutal North Korean state "that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world."
A soldier looks through binoculars inside a sentry post along the bank of the Yalu River on Monday, April 7.
In this photo released Thursday, April 24, by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un smiles with female soldiers after inspecting a rocket-launching drill at an undisclosed location.
A picture released on Tuesday, March 18, by the KCNA shows Kim attending a shooting practice at a military academy in Pyongyang, North Korea.
A North Korean soldier uses binoculars on Thursday, February 6, to look at South Korea from the border village of Panmunjom, which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War.
A North Korean soldier kicks a pole along the banks of the Yalu River on Tuesday, February 4.
A photo released by the KCNA on Thursday, January 23, shows the North Korean leader inspecting an army unit during a winter drill.
Kim inspects the command of an army unit in this undated photo released Sunday, January 12, by the KCNA.
Kim visits an army unit in this undated photo.
A picture released by the KCNA on Wednesday, December 25, shows Kim visiting an army unit near the western port city of Nampo.
Kim inspects a military factory in this undated picture released by the KCNA on Friday, May 17.
Kim visits the Ministry of People's Security on Wednesday, May 1, as part of the country's May Day celebrations.
A North Korean soldier, near Sinuiju, gestures to stop photographers from taking photos on Saturday, April 6.
North Korean soldiers gather by the docks in Sinuiju, near the Chinese border, on Thursday, April 4.
North Korean soldiers patrol near the Yalu River on April 4.
Kim is briefed by his generals in this undated photo. On the wall is a map titled "Plan for the strategic forces to target mainland U.S."
Kim works during a briefing in this undated photo.
In this KCNA photo, Kim inspects naval drills at an undisclosed location on North Korea's east coast on Monday, March 25.
Kim, with North Korean soldiers, makes his way to an observation post on March 25.
Kim uses a pair of binoculars to look south from the Jangjae Islet Defense Detachment, near South Korea's Taeyonphyong Island, on Thursday, March 7.
Kim is greeted by a soldier's family as he inspects the Jangjae Islet Defense Detachment on March 7.
Kim is surrounded by soldiers during a visit to the Mu Islet Hero Defense Detachment, also near Taeyonphyong Island, on March 7.
Kim arrives at Jangjae Islet by boat to meet with soldiers of the Jangjae Islet Defense Detachment on March 7.
Soldiers in the North Korean army train at an undisclosed location on Wednesday, March 6.
In a photo released by the official North Korean news agency in December 2012, Kim celebrates a rocket's launch with staff from the satellite control center in Pyongyang.
Kim, center, poses in this undated picture released by North Korea's official news agency in November 2012.
Kim Jong Un visits the Rungna People's Pleasure Ground, under construction in Pyongyang, in a photo released in July 2012 by the KNCA.
A crowd watches as statues of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il are unveiled during a ceremony in Pyongyang in April 2012.
A North Korean soldier stands guard in front of an UNHA III rocket at the Tangachai-ri Space Center in April 2012.
In April 2012, Pyongyang launched a long-range rocket that broke apart and fell into the sea. Here, the UNHA III rocket is pictured on its launch pad in Tang Chung Ri, North Korea.
A closer look at the UNHA III rocket on its launch pad in Tang Chung Ri, North Korea.
A military vehicle participates in a parade in Pyongyang in April 2012.
North Koreans wave flags in front of portraits of Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il during celebrations to mark the 100th birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang in April 2012.
North Korean soldiers relax at the end of an official ceremony attended by leader Kim Jong Un at a stadium in Pyongyang in April 2012.
Kim Jong Un applauds as he watches a military parade in Pyongyang in April 2012.
A North Korean soldier stands on a balcony in Pyongyang in April 2012.
North Korean soldiers march during a military parade in Pyongyang in April 2012.
Soldiers board a bus outside a theater in Pyongyang in April 2012.
North Korean performers sit below a screen showing images of leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang in April 2012.
North Korean soldiers salute during a military parade in Pyongyang in April 2012.
North Korean soldiers listen to a speech during an official ceremony attended by leader Kim Jong Un at a stadium in Pyongyang in April 2012.
Members of a North Korean military band gather following an official ceremony at the Kim Il Sung stadium in Pyongyang in April 2012.
North Korean military personnel watch a performance in Pyongyang in April 2012.
A North Korean controller is seen along the railway line between the Pyongyang and North Pyongan provinces in April 2012.
A North Korean military honor guard stands at attention at Pyongyang's airport in May 2001.
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- North Korean state media hurl foul insults against Obama, South Korea president, others
- Writers: U.N. report finds vile words nothing like the hate crimes against its own people
- Writers: Obama administration can't ignore regime that assists Iran, Syria, terror groups
- They say Pyongyang must be convinced by strong sanctions that change is its only choice
Editor's note: Joshua Stanton, an attorney in Washington, D.C., has advised the House Foreign Affairs Committee on North Korea-related legislation and blogs at OneFreeKorea. Sung-Yoon Lee is Kim Koo-Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Studies and assistant professor at the Fletcher School, Tufts University. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writers.
(CNN) -- In the past weeks, North Korean state media have called the female President of South Korea a "dirty political harlot" and an "old prostitute"; the gay chairman of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on North Korea "a disgusting old lecher with 40-odd-year-long career of homosexuality"; and, in a loathsome screed, referred to U.S. President Barack Obama as a "monkeyish human monstrosity."
Still, North Korea's exceptionally vile words pale in comparison to its criminal actions.
In North Korea, racism isn't just talk. That U.N. Commission of Inquiry's report summarizes testimony from North Korean refugee women and former border guards who say that the regime forcibly aborts or murders the babies of refugee women sent back to North Korea by China, on the presumption that the babies' fathers were Chinese, to maintain the myth of state-mandated "racial purity." It described a system of hereditary discrimination, based on perceived political loyalty, that denies lower-caste North Koreans opportunities for education, employment, and even food.
The report asserts that Pyongyang fines women for wearing pants or riding bicycles, and forces thousands of them into sexual slavery by denying them an adequate supply of food. As for gay North Koreans, Pyongyang denies that they even exist, and said the report was spurred by lies and "hostile forces."
North Korea's repellent language and actions teach us some uncomfortable lessons:
First, North Korea's remaining defenders on the far left do not deserve to be described as liberal or progressive. Although increasingly fewer in numbers, these ideologically committed apologists echo Pyongyang's justifications for its nuclear weapons programs, deny its responsibility for crimes against humanity, and -- despite Pyongyang's repeated violations of the 1953 Armistice -- insist that only a peace treaty can prevent war. To defend Kim Jong Un's rule, they must also defend its racism, its sexism, its homophobia, its class discrimination, and its extreme repression.
Second, we should stop infantilizing North Korea and dismissing it as ridiculous. The temptation is understandable. The North Korean regime's very weirdness causes much of the world to dismiss its invective as the rant of a regime that is merely isolated, eccentric, and misunderstood.
But North Korea is not just a bizarre abstraction --- an impoverished kingdom ruled by a young, overly well-nourished hereditary leader with an affinity for the National Basketball Association. It is a murderous regime that is approaching nuclear breakout, and whose human rights violations, according to the Commission of Inquiry, "have no parallel anywhere in the world." North Korea's words reflect the character of its political system. They manifest the malice of a regime that practices hate and inflicts it on its own people and its neighbors alike. It's time to treat Kim Jong Un like the threat to civilization that he is.
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Third, North Korea is not a problem the Obama administration can keep ignoring. North Korea has been caught assisting Syria's nuclear weapons and chemical weapons program; has sold ballistic missiles to Iran and Syria; and has sold arms to Hamas and Hezbollah. Yet, it has not been penalized for most of these actions. Indeed, North Korea may be the most influential regional actor in history in relation to its economic, political and cultural power, and the size of its territory and population. Over the past two decades, this poor, aid-dependent, isolationist state has outplayed the biggest and wealthiest nations in the world, including the United States, China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea, on high international politics -- nuclear diplomacy.
Fourth, North Korea can't be appeased or patronized away. Since the mid-1990s, Pyongyang has reaped billions of dollars from the U.S. and its allies in return for empty pledges of de-nuclearization while forging ahead with its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Since 2008, North Korea has refused to show up at six-party de-nuclearization talks, in spite of U.S. and South Korean offers of aid. Despite years of aid and engagement, North Korea shows no interest in reform, has become more dangerous to South Korea as well as to its own people, and has become more hostile to the U.S. and the world. Today, North Korea is on the verge of a fourth nuclear test.
North Korea must be held to the standards of the civilized world. For decades, diplomats and nongovernmental organizations alike have excused Pyongyang's transgressions, lies and crimes out of a desire to maintain relationships with it at all costs.
The consequences of such appeasement are telling: Aid doesn't get to the hungry, disarmament deals collapse, U.N. sanctions leak, and a regime sustained by hate and contemptuous of human life and dignity acquires the bomb. Pyongyang uses its access to the civilized world to supply its increasingly wealthy elite with cash, while, according to the United Nations, 84% of North Korean households have poor or borderline food consumption. The world cannot sanction and subsidize the same regime at the same time. It must first pressure Pyongyang into understanding that change is its only choice, by taking the enforcement of U.N. Security Council sanctions seriously.
For once, actions must have consequences. For Pyongyang to enjoy the benefits of civilization, it must live by the standards of civilization. Accepting Pyongyang's hate at face value is a first step toward credibly presenting Pyongyang with that dose of reality.
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