Parties locked over NK human rights bills

By Jun Ji-hye

Government subsidies for anti-North Korea activists have emerged as a bone of contention at the National Assembly as rival parties are competing to get their respective human rights bills related to North Korea passed.

The subsidies allegedly have been used to fund the campaign of releasing balloons containing leaflets criticizing the Pyongyang leadership that are blown across the border.

The ruling Saenuri Party said Monday it favored keeping the subsidies for civic groups as a tool against North Korea, while the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) argued that it will only anger the North.

The two parties failed to reach a compromise so the competing bills are now being deliberated at the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee.

“Basically, the North Korean human rights bills are not directly related to the leaflet launches. The bills only stipulate that the government shall support groups working to improve human rights for the people in the North,” said Rep. Kim Young-woo of the governing camp.

In response, Rep. Kim Han-gil from the NPAD said, “The Saenuri Party bills will virtually serve as a legal ground to support civic groups mainly composed of North Korean defectors that frequently launch balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets near the border.”

The ruling party calls for establishing a body at the Ministry of Justice to investigate and collect instances of violations of North Korean human rights, as well as supporting civic groups.

The NPAD is focusing on humanitarian assistance and inter-Korean cooperation.

The reclusive state cited the leaflet dropping as their main reason for cancelling inter-Korean high-level talks that had been scheduled for late October or early November.

NPAD members expressed concerns over the ruling party’s move to involve the justice ministry, saying collecting information on North Korea could cause controversy over interference in the domestic affairs of the Kim Jong-un regime.

Rep. Kim Young-woo shot back, “Looking into human rights conditions and creating records of the North will become an essential tool to press Pyongyang.

“The South shouldn’t evade such tension as men in power in the North are assailants that invade the human rights of their residents.”

The related bills were first submitted by former Saenuri Party lawmaker and ex-governor of Gyeonggi Province Kim Moon-soo in 2005.

The Assembly’s stalled efforts have resumed in the wake of the United Nations’ adoption of a resolution last week calling for the referral of North Korea to the International Criminal Court for state-perpetrated violations of human rights.

“Residents in the North should be able to enjoy human rights sought by the international community. This will also help Pyongyang receive more international aid,” said Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae, who also appeared in the Assembly session.

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