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A group of lawmakers from the Grand National Party submitted a bill this week that would oblige the government to take steps to improve human rights conditions in North Korea.
The proposed bill calls for President Lee Myung-bak's government to make "all-out efforts to ensure North Korean people's right to live with dignity and improve their human rights record on the basis of freedom, democracy and humanitarianism," according to Rep. Hwang Jin-ha, who initiated the legislation.
Under the bill, the government would be compelled to make efforts to ensure North Korean escapees are not forcibly returned to the communist homeland and recognized as refugees, said Hwang, the party’s vice policy director for national security, unification and diplomacy policies.
The proposed legislation also calls for the government to closely monitor aid programs by Seoul’s civic groups and get aid to North Koreans in need.
Earlier this month, another group of lawmakers from the GNP and minor conservative parties joined to put forward a bill on the South Korean "government's responsibility and duty to improve the human rights situation in North Korea."
“Human rights are a universal value that needs to be pursued beyond borders," the group said in a statement. "It's time for the nation to adopt supportive legislative infrastructure to help move human rights in the North forward," it said.
Either of the proposed bills is likely to get parliamentary approval as the 299-member single-chamber legislature is dominated by the conservative ruling party with 172 seats. The GNP had submitted a similar North Korea human rights bill in 2005 but it was rejected by the ruling, majority liberal party which was pushing for reconciliation with its communist neighbor.
President Lee's liberal predecessor Roh Moo-hyun maintained a low-key stance toward human right abuses in North Korea for fear of creating friction with Pyongyang that could upset the fragile inter-Korean reconciliation process.
But Lee has vowed to speak out against human rights violations in North Korea. Lee, who took office in February as the country's first conservative leader in a decade, said he would not hesitate to criticize the North over its human rights abuses, saying the human rights issue is "something we cannot avoid" and North Korea "should know it."
In March, Lee's government voted in favor of a U.N. resolution against North Korea's human rights abuses, in a stark departure from his liberal predecessors. Seoul had been absent or abstained from a series of U.N. resolution votes on North Korean human rights since 2003, except for 2006 when the North conducted a nuclear weapons test that put the Asia-Pacific region on alert.
In another move to tackle the human rights issue, South Korea's official human rights watchdog has launched its first-ever investigation into human rights abuses in North Korea. This week, Lee named Jhe Seong-ho, a law professor who has been a harsh critic of the North's human rights abuses, as the country's ambassador for human rights.
Jhe, a long-time North Korea specialist, will focus on improving human rights conditions in the Stalinist country. The Unification Ministry that handles inter-Korean relations has also decided to establish a basic plan on improving human rights in North Korea.
The series of moves have angered the North, which has cut off all official dialogue channels with the South in protest. The North's powerful military has taken measures to raise tensions across the border, firing short-range missiles and sending patrol boats into the South's waters. It has threatened to turn everything in the wealthy South into "ashes."
Cross-border tensions heightened after a South Korean tourist was killed on July 11 by the North's military at a mountain resort just north of the heavily-fortified border. The North has rejected Seoul's repeated calls for a joint on-site investigation, claiming the victim entered an off-limits military area.
In response, the South has suspended a joint tour program to Mount Kumgang and is considering halting another tour program to the North's ancient capital of Kaesong, a move that could worsen the North's financial squeeze. The Seoul government has also urged civic groups to cancel planned visits to North Korea.
On Friday, the Unification Ministry again called for Pyongyang to allow South Korean officials to visit the site of the shooting and conduct an investigation. "We urge North Korean authorities to allow us to visit the site at Mount Kumgang and conduct the investigation," the ministry spokesman told a news briefing.
