Does Jimmy Carter Have No Shame?

Former President Jimmy Carter was just in Pyongyang, North Korea and blames the United States largely for the situation in the country. The United States and South Korea have chosen “to deliberately withhold food aid to the North Korean people because of political or military issues not related” and this amounts to a “human rights violation.”

Carter: drinking up the North Korean policy line?

Carter is on the Korean peninsula with former Irish President Mary Robinson and former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari. The three call themselves “the Elders.” A better name might be “the Seniles” because their view appear to be so off-base. They made their visit to North Korea but neither Kim Jong-Il nor his son and heir Jong-un met them. (Pretty bad sign when the head of a hermit regime doesn’t invite you to come by for a meeting or take you seriously.) Carter was later asked by the South Korean media whether he believes there are human rights problems in North Korea. Carter’s response? He has “concerns” but North Korea’s policies “cannot be changed by outsiders.” Then he went on to declare that the most important human right is “to have food to eat and for South Korea and Americans, and others to deliberately withhold food aid for North Korean people…is indeed a human rights violation.”

Got that? We’re the problem. Not the North Korean dictatorship.