The recent Trump-Kim meeting in Hanoi achieved nothing concrete. President Donald Trump properly refused to remove all economic sanctions from North Korea as demanded by Kim Jong-un. Pyongyang offered only to close part of the Yongbyon complex, a sprawling site covering multiple facilities.
At both summits, the elephant in the room was ignored—North Korea’s horrific human rights record during three generations of a Stalinist monarchy. A 2014 United Nations Commission report concluded that the regime’s violence amounted to crimes against humanity and the perpetrators should be held to account at the International Criminal Court.
