Minjoo Party sets adrift launch of N.K. human rights agency

A month has passed since North Korean human rights law has been passed through, but the North Korean human rights foundation and North Korean human rights promotion advisory committee have yet to launch. The offices and operation expenses of 8.3 billion won were arranged, but no employee has been hired since board of directors has yet to be established while signboard hanging ceremony has also yet to be hosted. This is because main opposition party Minjoo Party hasn't put forward the foundation's four directors and three advisory committee members. The Minjoo Party has consistently opposed to the law when it was first tabled 11 years ago, and it is still not showing sincerity in introducing the law even as it passed the National Assembly.

The key issue with the memoirs of former Foreign Minister Song Min-soon is whether the Roh Moo-hyun administration in 2007 asked North Korea its intention before South Korea decided to give up the U.N.'s North Korean human rights resolution. Or, whether the South informed of it to the North afterwards. Either way, it doesn't change that the Roh administration closed its eyes to the human rights issue of North Korean people. Even if it was informed afterwards, as former Party leader Moon Jae-in is arguing, it is not common sense that the Roh administration first informed North Korea, instead of South Korea's foreign minister and the U.S., its plans.

As the memoir created stir, Moon first refuted it, and then changed to "I don't remember." On Wednesday, he said, "The (leading) Saenuri Party is again putting forward color logic ahead of the elections, and it is time that we get it right." However, National Intelligence Service chief Lee Byung-ho said Wednesday at the parliament audit, "Song Min-soon's memoir stands to reason and it has details." This means that Moon's arguments are missing the point.

The U.S. Department of State classified North Korea at the lowest level of grade 3 in human rights for the 14th year, calling it a country where 130,000-200,000 political prisoners are jailed while children are also subject to forced labor and human trafficking. In 2014, the U.N. said the North Korean regime is a group that commits crimes against humanity, and also adopted a resolution recommending the U.N. Security Council that the North Korean human rights situations should be transferred to the International Criminal Court.

When the North Korean human rights bill passed the 19th National Assembly, Moon was absent while National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun and Minjoo Party leader Choo Mi-ae gave up, meaning they lack recognition of the seriousness of the problem. If Moon and the Minjoo Party leadership lay importance to human rights, they should uncover the truth of the situations of 2007 and stop delaying the launch of the North Korean human rights agency.

허문명논설위원 angelhuh@donga.com