N.Korea Urged to Improve Human Rights

President Lee Myung-bak, right, shows U.S. President George W. Bush the Dokdo islets in the East Sea on a wall map before a summit at Cheong Wa Dae, Wednesday. Lee thanked Bush for helping to quickly change Dokdo's designation at the U.S. Board on Geographic Names from undesignated sovereignty back to South Korean territory. / Yonhap

By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

President Lee Myung-bak and U.S. President George W. Bush urged North Korea Wednesday to press forward with nuclear disarmament and do more to improve its human rights record.

The two leaders welcomed recent progress at multinational negotiations aimed at abolishing the North's nuclear weapons program, but still remain cautious over whether Pyongyang will live up to its earlier denuclearization pledge.

In a joint statement issued at the end of a summit in Seoul, the two Presidents pledged an early ratification of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) signed last year. The landmark trade deal now awaits parliamentary approval both in Seoul and Washington, D.C.

Bush said he and Lee discussed South Korea's deployment of non-combatant troops to Afghanistan.

The U.S. President also expressed his regret over the killing of a South Korean tourist at a North Korean resort last month, and urged Pyongyang to accept Seoul's request for a joint on-site investigation of the case.

``The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to improving the human rights situation in North Korea and shared the view that in the process of normalizing relations, meaningful progress should be made on improving North Korea's human rights record,'' the statement said.

Bush expressed his full support for Lee's policy aimed at helping improve the economic conditions for the North Korean people in return for denuclearization, it said.

It is the first time that the North's human rights problem has been addressed in a joint statement by the heads of state of the two countries,'' Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said.

The two leaders also reconfirmed their countries' "seamless" cooperation on the North Korea nuclear issue, the spokesman said.

He said both leaders shared the view that the alliance was strong enough to neutralize the North's policy of communicating with the United States, while alienating the South.

North Korea has long been accused of human rights abuses, such as public executions, political prison camps, torture and restricting freedom of expression and religious practice.

The liberal Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations over the past decade were reluctant to address these issues, fearing it would harm their engagement policy toward the North.

The conservative Lee government, however, maintains a tougher stance, demanding more reciprocity from the North.

As to the nuclear issue, Bush expressed concern about Pyongyang's nuclear proliferation and ballistic missile programs, as well as an alleged secret uranium enrichment program.

He called on North Korea to accept a comprehensive protocol proposed by members of the six-party nuclear talks on ways to verify its nuclear declaration.

The two leaders ``agreed that a rigorous verification regime needs to be established in order to ensure the completeness and correctness of the declaration submitted by North Korea, and that the fulfillment of all the parties' obligations should be ensured through a monitoring mechanism within the six-party talks framework,'' according to the statement.

The North, which conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, handed over details of its plutonium-producing program in June as part of an aid-for-disarmament pact with South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.

Washington promised to remove Pyongyang from its terrorism blacklist on condition that the North fully implements disarmament steps agreed upon in the six-party accord last year.

President Bush informed Congress of his intent to remove the North from the list June 26. The Congress' minimum 45-day term to approve the U.S. government's decision expires August 11.
North Korea should not miss the ``first opportunity'' to be removed from the list, emphasizing an ``action-for-action'' denuclearization process within the six-party framework, Bush said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il should make a decision whether or not to let his country remain a regime receiving the most international sanctions in the world or not, he added.

Pyongyang was put on the list of terrorism-sponsoring states in 1998 after its agents blew up a South Korean passenger plane, killing all 115 people aboard.

Regarding the Seoul-Washington FTA, Lee said: ``President Bush and I discussed and agreed that we will continue to do our best so that the deal will be able to be passed by the end of this year.''

``I will continue to convince the National Assembly for ratification, and President Bush said he will continue his strenuous efforts to try to convince the U.S. Congress to ratify the deal,'' Lee said.

On Afghanistan, Bush said: ``I asked him to consider as much non-combat help as possible to help this young democracy.''

Washington has asked Seoul to dispatch forces again to Afghanistan to support U.S.-initiated anti-terrorism operations there after a 195-strong South Korean non-combatant contingent was withdrawn from the war-torn Central Asian nation last December.

The Korean government, however, is unenthusiastic about the idea.

Since the troop pullout, South Korea has been contributing to the security of Afghanistan by joining the NATO-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT). The PRT is an administrative unit administering international aid to Afghanistan and Iraq, consisting of civilians and military specialists who perform small construction projects or provide security for others involved in aid and reconstruction work.

About 500 South Korean troops are stationed in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil on a humanitarian and rehabilitation mission. The number is a sharp reduction from the more than 3,000 troops initially dispatched to the war-torn Middle East nation in 2004.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr