By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
A joint inspection team comprised of Asian human rights groups' members is visiting Seoul on the heels of the inspection of Amnesty International to verify whether any acts infringing upon human rights were committed during protests against the resumption of U.S. beef imports.
A total of four inspectors from the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia) and Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) arrived here on Monday for the inspection, according to a statement issued by People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy on Wednesday. The latter group is a member of the Forum-Asia. The inspection result will be publicized on Friday.
The statement said the visit was to confirm growing allegations that Korean riot police frequently violated the human rights of protesters against the U.S. beef imports in the process of dispersing them.
The joint group has taken a closer look at what happened during the anti-U.S. beef protests that lasted over the past three months, the statement said.
``We interviewed Korean human rights defenders and members of civic groups relevant to the demonstrations. We have also tried to meet government officials at the National Police Agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Ministry of Justice and the National Human Rights Commission in order to conduct the inspection in a fair and balanced fashion. But they haven't responded to our request as yet,'' an inspector told The Korea Times on the condition of anonymity. ``We need the government's cooperation to thoroughly and fairly inspect the case.'' Governmental bodies including the Police are yet to decide whether to meet with them.
Forum-Asia is a regional human rights organization with 40 member organizations in 15 countries in Asia. AHRC is a human rights group fighting discrimination stemming from poverty, gender, caste, race and social status.
On July 18, Amnesty International representative Norma Kang Muico briefed its inspection report siding with demonstrators. But police refuted the report, alleging it ignored protesters using excessive force to threaten police officers.