Two of the three key officials in the state human rights agency offered to resign Monday, paralyzing the organ’s operation. Disappointing as it is, the unprecedented simultaneous resignation was neither entirely unexpected nor surprising for those familiar with the situation unfolding there over the past 16 months.
The trouble started in July 2009 when President Lee Myung-bak named Hyun Byung-chul, a professor of realty law, as the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK).
Hyun has since been setting an example of exactly how the head of a state agency can ruin his own organization. He has weakened the authority of the commission by refusing to take official positions on most sensitive issues related with basic rights. Even when he convened meetings, Hyun pushed ahead with unilateral proceedings without reflecting on the opinions of the other participants. ``You can call me a dictator,” he reportedly told protesting officials.
So the commission remained silent on the government’s attempts to put limits on people’s freedom of speech and rights to demonstrate, while showing unusual zeal in condemning the abuse of human rights in North Korea.
We don’t agree with some leftists’ arguments that Seoul should set North Korean matters aside as sacrosanct for inter-Korean relationships. Human rights are a global issue and a universal value that should transcend territorial borders and ideological differences. Just like charity begins at home, however, so should the issue of basic rights, however dire the situation in the North probably is.
For the same reason, we can hardly understand what critics call Hyun’s attempts to neutralize the standing committee, whose three members are liberals, and replace it with an 11-member plenary council, in which conservatives would enjoy a majority status.
Opponents say the foremost concern of NHRCK under Hyun seems to be not to make moves burdensome for the government.
The commission’s self-denial and dereliction of duty have led the Asian Human Rights Commission to ask the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions to downgrade the status of NHRCK from A to B.
President Lee is going all out to drum up popular support for the successful hosting of the upcoming G20 Summit to upgrade the national prestige in the global community. When it comes to human rights, however, his administration is going the opposite way. What better way would there be to improve a nation’s dignity than marking a significant progress in guaranteeing its people’s basic rights?
There are two ways for the President to handle the turmoil in NHRCK. Lee can accept the resignation of the two commissioners and replace them with conservative non-specialists. Or he can sack its incompetent and despotic head and start anew.
It is all too apparent which one would better ensure the success of the global event as well as Lee’s legacy as a democratic leader.