[imText1]The “Fiscal Year 2008 International Affairs Budget” was released by the U.S. Department of State on the 5th, outlining the amount of funds that would be spent on improving human rights in North Korea. The 2008 fiscal year budget is applicable from Oct 2007 until Sept 2008.
According to the report, President Bush requested $3.32bn for the Economic Support Fund (ESF) of which approximately $2mn was designated on supporting North Korean democracy and $75mn on Iran.
The ESF is a fund which supports countries that cannot be justified under Development Assistance (DA) and will be used to “furnish assistance to countries and organizations, on such terms and conditions as he may determine, in order to promote economic or political stability.”
Normally the fund is given to the government of the recipient country however in cases where the country is known to be largely hostile to the U.S such as Iran and North Korea there is no other way but to provide the funds indirectly. In other words, organizations or movements supporting national democracy are used as intermediaries.
The amount fixed on North Korean human rights for the new fiscal year is double the 2007 fiscal budget.
However, the expenses drafted in the North Korea Human Rights Act in 2004, was once again eluded in this year’s fiscal budget. The U.S. Administration has granted up to $24mn of the budget in which it must abide by until 2008 according to the North Korea Human Rights Act designated to support North Korean democracy and policy. Nonetheless, not once has the funds proposed by the North Korea Human Rights Act been kept.
The Department of State has also assigned a total of $668mn to support Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). The airtime of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) two radio broadcasts in Korean will be extended to 10 hours with additional shortwave frequencies and medium-wave receivers.
The report requested that $20mn be spent on assisting refugees in the East Asian region including defectors residing outside North Korea. In addition to this, $30mn was assigned to the United States Institute of Peace to arbitrate and prevent conflicts related to North Korea.
A program “Disrupt and Dismantle Rogue Regimes” has also been developed to create additional strategies through financial sanction strategies against countries like North Korea. 2 additional policy makers will be employed to develop such strategies in order to solve threats against North Korea’s and Pakistan’s financial issues. For this program, $38.5mn will be spent in the 2008 fiscal year.
Furthermore, the U.S. has assigned $8.9bn in preparation against North Korea’s long distance missile defense.
Professor Kim Sung Han of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security said “Until now the U.S. has put pressure on the financial sanctions and human rights in order to make North Korea surrender its nukes. More recently, there has been a leaning towards intensifying the financial sanctions on the Banco Delta Bank (BDA) issue.
Professor Kim analyzed “$20mn may seem small, if considered small or contrastingly large, if considered large. However, the fact the U.S. is willing to spend this amount on human rights in North Korea is a symbolic act.”
In addition to this report, there has been elevated criticism against the Bush Administration for acting rashly, trying to confront the human rights issue by gaining short term goals.
