Activists lament South Korea's hollow promise of human rights diplomacy
Hwang Joon-kook, first row left, South Korea’s top envoy at the United Nations, speaks during a session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Wednesday (local time). Activists on Friday criticized South Korea’s rejection of joining other countries to condemn Beijing over key human rights issues at the U.N. Courtesy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs
South Korea’s rejection of joining other countries in condemning Beijing over key human rights issues at the United Nations is drawing criticism, with many activists expressing disappointment over its hollow promise regarding values-based diplomacy.
According to rights groups on Friday, South Korea refused to join the United States, Japan and 49 other member states in a joint statement voicing concerns over “the arbitrary and discriminatory detention” of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, northwestern China, at a session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Wednesday (local time).
Hwang Joon-kook, South Korea’s top envoy at the U.N., also omitted the name of China when he was calling for international support to protect the rights of North Korean escapees who were forcibly repatriated last week by Chinese authorities. He obliquely stated that the incident occurred “in a third country.”
“By refusing to directly mention the country’s name, South Korea gave China an opportunity not to clarify its position on the issue at a later session. For the families of those repatriated and rights advocates, the precious opportunity to listen was squandered,” Shin Hee-seok, a representative of Transitional Justice Working Group, a Seoul-based rights organization, told The Korea Times.
“There seems to be little political will to resolve the issue, which I believe demonstrates how little value the government places on the lives of North Korean people.”
Peter Jung, head of Justice for North Korea, another Seoul-based group, said the way South Korean diplomats handled the international human rights issues on the U.N. platform was a “big disappointment,” to say the least. He said it was tantamount to “an insult” to everyone who cares deeply about the issue.
“The administration under President Yoon Suk Yeol has promoted its value-based diplomacy, with human rights on the top of the priority list. But its reluctance suggests that it may not be much different from the previous administration, which was largely silent on issues like its own deportations of North Korean fishermen,” Jung said.
“If the administration is to pursue value-based diplomacy, it should not be afraid of telling the truth about the violations of the victims’ human rights under the universal international law.”
In the joint statement, led by the United Kingdom, the participating countries said China’s human rights violations in Xinjiang include “large-scale arbitrary detention and systematic use of invasive surveillance on the basis of religion and ethnicity” among many others. Such practices “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity,” they noted.
At an afternoon session, Zhang Jun, China’s envoy there, strongly refuted those accusations, but he made no mention of the deported North Koreans. Beijing has avoided responding to calls to stop its decades-long practice of repatriating all North Korean escapees caught, which resumed recently after three years of the regime’s extreme pandemic isolation.
Rights activists and experts on foreign policy said the Yoon government’s effort to improve its diplomatic relationship with China may be the reason behind its unwillingness to openly talk about its human rights situation, to which Beijing tends to react sensitively. Japanese media outlets reported on Thursday that South Korea proposed holding top-level diplomatic talks with Japan and China late next month.
In a high-level meeting of foreign officials last month, the three countries agreed to resume their trilateral summit at the “earliest convenient time” and swiftly convene a ministerial meeting for preparations.