The United States is currently faced with serious challenges in opposite corners of the globe. In Iraq, Saddam Hussein continues to defy the international community; in North Korea, the brutal communist regime oppresses its own people while continuing to press forward with developing its nuclear capabilities.

In December, my travels took me to places and to people who are directly involved in these areas, and I would like to share my experiences and insights with you today.

I made a journey to Northeast China along the North Korean border after stops in London and New Delhi. Over the course of five days in mid-December, I spent three days in the Yanbian Prefecture, including a six-hour drive along the North Korean border, and two days in Beijing. The purpose of my trip was to discuss a wide range of issues with the Chinese with the primary focus on the circumstances facing North Korean refugees and border-crossers inside China, and human rights and economic conditions inside North Korea.

While in China, I met with State Department personnel, local mayors of cities along the North Korean border as well as officials of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture and Jilin Province, and national officials including the Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen, human rights and refugee organizations, scholars and educators, clergy and journalists. My staff went on to South Korea and held discussions with South Korean and international non-governmental organizations and government officials in Seoul.

In addition to our official meetings, we had informative unofficial and informal contacts, including interactions in Northeast China with local citizens such as shopkeepers and drivers, although many of these activities were significantly curtailed by the presence of our Chinese "hosts," which included a senior member of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., and the local Yanbian Prefecture officials.

As I think about my journey to the North Korea border area--especially in light of the continuing nuclear brinkmanship on the Korean peninsula--a few points are worth emphasizing:

1. While none of the local mayors and officials in Northeast China--those with the most direct knowledge of the plight of the North Korean refugees--were willing to directly confirm the testimonies of persecution and torture in North Korea that I had heard in Washington last year, not one of them denied that these violations were happening.
   
2. The terrible conditions faced by the North Korean refugees--and the number of refugees fleeing--are likely to get much worse this year. Earlier this week, the World Food Program predicted that supplies of food for almost 7 million North Koreans--almost a third of their population--will likely run out in a few months.
   
   
3. I believe the Administration is doing the right thing by insisting that the North Koreans comply with their obligations under the Agreed Framework. The ball is in their court. Their threats are not just against the United States but our allies in the region as well as the rest of the international community.
   
   
4. As the Administration has consistently stated, if they take affirmative and verifiable steps to show that they are willing to submit to inspections of their nuclear programs and other weapons of mass destruction programs, then, perhaps, we can begin to discuss resumption of aid--provided that it can be monitored.

The journey to this part of China near the North Korean border has only reinforced my belief that the international community must not neglect this enormous human tragedy: the starvation, deprivation, persecution, and direct murder of thousands and maybe even millions of the citizens of North Korea. They deserve our intense focus and a sustained public advocacy.

We should be working vigorously to support many of the non-governmental organizations working under difficult circumstances to provide humanitarian relief to North Korean refugees in Northeast China.

In particular, we should aggressively press the Chinese to grant access to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) so that it can live up to its mandate to care for refugees. Otherwise, it is difficult to make a formal assessment of the full scope of the North Korean refugee problem in Northeast China.

Refugees are the human dimensions of a failed state. Whether we like it or not, the plight of hundreds of thousands of North Korean refugees--and the prospect for many more fleeing across the border in the coming months and year--is a problem that will not go away and one that our allies in the region, especially the Chinese, must face. The nuclear threats by North Korea are specifically designed to divert us from this problem. They want us to focus on this issue exclusively, but we should not be so easily fooled--again, I might add. Only when the international community, along with our allies in Northeast Asia, rise up to meet the challenge of finally recognizing and providing assistance and encouragement to these refugees through a sustained and public advocacy of their plight will the North Korean problem and the threat it poses be solved.

This year will mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice in 1953 that ended the Korean War. Those who are trying to soften our approach to the North Koreans are willing to wait a little longer, hoping that things will change. But I'm not sure that the North Korean people can hold out much longer to be liberated from the tyranny that continues to hold them in bondage.