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Baird Comments on North Korea’s Anniversary

September 9, 2013 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today issued the following statement:

“For 65 years, the people in North Korea have suffered and continue to suffer under a rogue regime.

“Canada unreservedly condemns the ongoing violations of human rights in North Korea. The existence of gulags, arbitrary detentions, forced abortions, intergenerational punishment, indefinite holding of political prisoners, mistreatment of workers and lack of overall freedom, including religious freedom, is absolutely deplorable.

“The true travesty is that the people in North Korea continue to starve while successive Kim regimes squander limited resources. Pyongyang has become a city representing the folly of totalitarianism.

“While there is only darkness in the communist North, we look forward to the day when the lights of freedom turn on. Even the most repressive dictatorships cannot withstand truth or the freedom their people yearn for.”

A backgrounder follows.

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Backgrounder - Canada’s Sanctions Against North Korea

For more information on the extent of the sanctions Canada has already imposed against North Korea and its reaction to North Korea’s human rights violations, please see the following documents: