Ha Tae-keung |
By Kim Young-jin
Longtime North Korean human rights advocate Ha Tae-keung declared his candidacy Monday for the upcoming National Assembly elections as he sought to raise the profile of the cause on the national agenda.
Ha, known for his work broadcasting radio programs into the North, said he would seek selection by the ruling Grand National Party in the Gwanak district of Seoul, saying the Assembly had been passive on rights in the Stalinist state, while vowing to fight corruption in the South.
“Over the past four years there has been no significant progress on North Korean human rights,” Ha, 43, said during a press conference, flanked by North Korean defectors and rights activists. “I thought we needed someone else in the Assembly who would do their best to promote (the issue).”
The North is considered one of the world’s worst violators of human rights, blocking citizens from outside information and operating brutal political prisoner camps. Activists criticize the Assembly for failing to pass North Korean human rights legislation as the United States and Japan did.
Last year, Ha received the Human Rights Award from the National Human Rights Commission for his work on the issue through his organization Open Radio for North Korea and other campaigns.
He said his first agenda item should he win in the April polls would be to eliminate what he called “pro-North Korean forces” in the South.
He said such factions “blindly object to any policy that South Korea is trying to seek,” adding they “are the people who are obstructing real progress and development.”
Society here remains split over how to handle the nuclear-armed neighbor, with the conservative camp favoring a tough line as opposed to the engagement policy of the left. Ha has long called on South Koreans to pay closer attention to the possibility of national unification.
More recently the activist has turned his attention to domestic issues, setting up a task force last year to identify false rumors being spread about the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement.
Ha vowed to fight corruption brought onto society by “vested interest groups” and the “dominant class” and to reform the conservative camp to reflect the needs of the working class.
“I want to create a new conservative who lives with the grassroots people and suffers together with them,” he said.
Joining Ha at the press conference was Oh Kil-nam, the retired economist whose wife is detained in the North, who the activist has been supporting. Also in attendance was Lee Ae-ran, the first female North Korean defector to earn a doctorate, and a human rights advocate.
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