China and Human Rights in North Korea: Debating a “Developmental Approach” in Northeast Asia

207 Pages·2021·2.161 MB·English

by  Baogang He (editor), David Hundt (editor), Chengxin Pan (editor)

China and Human Rights in North Korea offers a fresh, thought-provoking
perspective on human rights that will surely stimulate lively debate among human
rights scholars and practitioners. In this important new volume, the editors
paradoxically turn to China as a potential model for advancing human rights in North
Korea. In particular, the editors and their contributors explore how a development-
based approach to human rights as adopted by China and practised in other East
Asian countries offers a viable path for improving rights in North Korea and beyond.
— Andrew Yeo, Professor of Politics at the Catholic University
of America and co-editor of North Korean Human Rights:
Activists and Networks
Intractable problems demand innovative solutions. This bold new volume brings
together a stellar group of leading experts to probe the potential for applying China’s
development-based approach to improve human rights in North Korea. Across eight
excellent chapters, the contributors thoughtfully weigh obstacles and risks before
concluding that effective engagement and positive change are possible. Clear-eyed,
ambitious and innovative, this book should be closely read by students, scholars and
policymakers seeking new ways to improve North Koreans’ human rights.
— James Reilly, Associate Professor at the University of Sydney and author of
Orchestration: China’s Economic Statecraft across Asia and Europe
Finally, a comprehensive and in-depth analysis on the viability of developmental
approach to North Korea’s human rights. A compelling collection work by
distinguished experts, the book painstakingly examines the pros and cons of a
Chinese development-based model to alleviate the human rights situation in
North Korea. This thought-provoking book is a must-read for anyone interested
in human rights in North Korea and elsewhere.
— Jaechun Kim, Professor of International Relations,
Sogang University, Seoul, South Korea

China and Human Rights
in North Korea
By exploring the “China factor” in the North Korean human rights debate, this book
evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of applying the Chinese development-based
approach to human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
The contributors to this book treat the relevance of the Chinese experience to the DPRK
seriously and evaluate how it might apply to easing North Korean human rights issues.
They engage with the debate about the relevance of the developmental or development-based
approach to North Korea. In doing so, they problematise, scrutinise and contextualise the
development-based approach in Northeast Asia, including China, and examine different
responses to such an approach and the influence of domestic politics on these responses.
This is a valuable contribution to discussions on possible ways forward for human
rights in North Korea and an insightful critique of the Northeast Asian development
model more broadly.
Baogang He is Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, Alfred
Deakin Professor, Chair in International Relations, School of Humanities and Social
Sciences, Faculty of Arts & Education, Deakin University. He graduated with a PhD
in Political Science from the Australian National University in 1994. Professor He
has become widely known for his work in Chinese democratisation and politics, in
particular, the deliberative politics in China as well as in Asian politics covering Asian
regionalism, Asian federalism and Asian multiculturalism. His publications are found
in top journals, including Science, British Journal of Political Science, Journal of Peace
Research, Political Theory, Political Studies and Perspectives on Politics.
David Hundt is Associate Professor of International Relations at Deakin University.
His research has a regional focus on the Indo-Pacific, especially South Korea and
Australia, and he has explored economic development, foreign policy, immigration
and inter-state relations in the region. He has published 3 books, 24 peer-reviewed
journal articles and 12 book chapters. The quality of his research has been recognised
in the form of awards, prizes and grants. He also has extensive experience in editing
academic journals. He has been Editor-in-Chief of Asian Studies Review since 2018.
Chengxin Pan is Associate Professor of International Relations at Deakin University
and Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Technology Sydney. He is a
co-editor of the Global Political Sociology book series. His book Knowledge, Desire and
Power in Global Politics: Western Representations of China’s Rise (2012) was translated
and published in Chinese by the Social Sciences Academic Press (SSAP) and won an
SSAP Best Book Award in 2017. His latest publications have appeared in European
Journal of International Relations, Review of International Studies, Critical Studies on
Security and Millennium: Journal of International Studies.
Politics in Asia series
Politics of East Asian Free Trade Agreements
Unveiling the Asymmetry between Korea and Japan
Byung-il Choi and Jennifer S. Oh
ASEAN and Regional Order
Revisiting Security Community in Southeast Asia
Amitav Acharya
The United States’ Subnational Relations with Divided China
A Constructivist Approach to Paradiplomacy
Czeslaw Tubilewicz and Natalie Omond
Deliberative Democracy in Asia
Baogang He, Michael Breen and James Fishken
Chinese Foreign Policy Toward the Middle East
Kadir Temiz
Decolonizing Central Asian International Relation
Beyond Empires
Timur Dadabaev
Russia in the Indo-Pacific
New Approaches to Russian Foreign Policy
Gaye Christoffersen
China and Human Rights in North Korea
Debating a “Developmental Approach” in Northeast Asia
Baogang He, David Hundt and Chengxin Pan
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Politics-
in-Asia/book-series/PIA
China and Human Rights
in North Korea
Debating a “Developmental Approach”
in Northeast Asia
Edited by
Baogang He, David Hundt
and Chengxin Pan
First published 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business
© 2022 selection and editorial matter, Baogang He, David Hundt and
Chengxin Pan; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Baogang He, David Hundt and Chengxin Pan to be
identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors
for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-032-00600-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-00602-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-17484-4 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003174844
Typeset in Galliard
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Table of contents
List of figures xi
List of tables xii
List of contributors xiii
Acknowledgements xv
PART 1
The global politics of human rights in North Korea 1
1 A developmental approach to North Korea’s human
rights problem: lessons from China? 3
BAOGANG HE, CHENGXIN PAN AND DAVID HUNDT
1.1 China and the new politics of human rights 5
1.2 The developmental approach to human rights issues
in North Korea 7
1.3 The development-based approach and the study
of North Korea’s human rights 10
1.4 Aims and organisation of this book 14
2 North Korea and human rights: 22
the view from the United Nations
MICHAEL KIRBY
2.1 The United Nations and its role in human rights 22
2.2 The UN COI on DPRK 24
2.3 Change and the Trump administration 31
2.4 The ROK’s ambivalent stand on human rights 35
2.5 Where principle and realism meet 39
2.6 Conclusion 43
viii Table of contents
3 China’s roles in the UN Human Rights Council regarding
North Korea’s human rights 47
BAOGANG HE
3.1 Chinese engagements with the international human
rights regime 48
3.2 China’s development-led approach to human rights 50
3.3 China’s evolving role in the UNHRC 55
3.4 The DPRK’s human right issue in the UN and
support from China 61
3.5 The Universal Periodic Review, its application to the
DPRK and China’s role 63
3.6 Conclusion 67
PART 2
The developmental approach and regional actors 73
4 A development-based approach to human rights: the
case of China and its implications for North Korea 75
CHENGXIN PAN
4.1 A critique of mainstream conceptualisations of human
rights 77
4.2 Reconceptualising human rights: a practice-theoretical
perspective 79
4.3 The development-based approach in the Chinese
context 82
4.4 Development and human rights in China: a work in
progress 85
4.5 To develop or not to develop? Promises and challenges in
North Korea 88
4.6 Conclusion 92
5 Development or human rights first? Japan’s approach
to North Korea 98
KIM KYUNGMOOK
5.1 Three approaches to Japan’s engagement with North
Korea 100
5.2 Post-war Japan and North Korea 102
5.3 Japanese NGOs and North Korea: from humanitarian
assistance to exchange programmes 105
Table of contents ix
5.4 The Japanese media’s growing role in North Korea: image
politics 110
5.5 Conclusions: human rights and the future of Japanese
leadership 116
6 Debating human rights and the development-led approach
in South Korea 121
DAVID HUNDT AND DANIELLE CHUBB
6.1 Approaches to human rights in South Korea 122
6.2 Public opinion about human rights policy in
South Korea 126
6.3 Competing approaches in practice 129
6.4 Another progressive era and another disappointment 134
6.5 Experimenting with the development-led approach? 136
6.6 Conclusion 139
PART 3
Prospects for the development-led approach in
North Korea 145
7 North Korean domestic politics and the potential of
China’s developmental approach 147
BAOGANG HE AND DAVID HUNDT
7.1 The supply of human rights in North Korea: philosophy and
practice 148
7.2 Constraints on the demand for human rights in
North Korea 152
7.3 “North Korean-style” reform and its implications for human
rights 156
7.4 A development-led solution to the North Korean
problem? 159
7.5 Conclusion 164
8 Choosing a developmental approach for and in
North Korea 170
DAVID HUNDT AND BAOGANG HE
8.1 The human rights “war” 171
8.2 The limits of China’s leadership in the politics of human
rights in North Korea 175