Friday, June 30, 2006

the tokyo school of human rights.

Anyone else puzzled why Japan insists on treating the North Korea kidnappings as an international "human rights" issue? Normally in such cases, you'd expect to be defending the human rights of a group of people who are losing them as a consequence of belonging to that group, whether it be a race, creed, or political belief.
The only thing linking the kidnapping victims is their status as kidnapping victims. Of course, they are being held in North Korea against their will, but so is every other North Korean. What makes this a case if human rights rather than the simple criminal actions of a foreign government?

I try to cock my head to the side, and figure out why Japan insists on barking up the wrong tree, but I get nothing. Anyone got a clue?

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