'UN close to launching NK rights investigation'

By Kim Young-jin

Joanna Hosaniak, left, head of international campaigns at Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR), talks with Navi Pillay, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, during a meeting at the latter’s office in Geneva, Dec. 3, 2012. Courtesy of NKHR

U.N. member states are showing “positive moves” toward launching a full-fledged international inquiry into North Korea’s human rights situation, an activist said Friday.

Joanna Hosaniak, head of international campaigns at the Seoul-based Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR), said proponents of an inquiry commission got a boost this week when the U.N.’s chief human rights officer, Navi Pillay, came out in support of the move.

The language of the resolution is under negotiation by governments including European Union countries and Japan, Hosaniak said.

Should it be approved during a session of the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHCR) in March, the activist believes the commission would add to the pressure on Pyongyang over its political prisoner system and abduction of foreign nationals.

The North refrains from cooperating with the U.N. Special Rapporteur on North Korean human rights.

“If the commission is established, this means there will be financial and human resources; and independent experts who will look into (human rights violations) broadly, interview thousands of people, look into satellite images and so on,” Hosaniak said in a phone interview. “Even without access to the country, they can do a real investigation.”

The insertion of the language will not be easy, as countries with programs or embassies in the North may fear fallout from the resolution. Still Hosaniak pointed to resolutions on the North last year, passed at the UNHCR and General Assembly without a vote, as signs of progress.

She added there would be “very good membership” at the council in March as traditional allies of Pyongyang including China would not be part of the rotating council.

On Monday, Pillay called for the international community to put greater effort into tackling the “deplorable” human rights situation in the North. This came after talks last month with NKHR, which brought North Korean defector and political prison camp survivor Shin Dong-hyuk to Geneva for the meeting.

Pillay also called for the “urgent” need to clarify the “fate of the many South Koreans and Japanese, abducted by (the North) over the years … and seek truth, justice and redress for their long-suffering families.”

Seoul believes over 500 South Koreans, mostly fishermen, abducted by the North following the 1950-53 Korean War remain captive. The sprawling gulag system is thought to hold around 200,000 prisoners.

“We needed (Pillay’s) statement for us to step up our advocacy work vis-a-vis other governments,” the activist said, adding that the support would ensure appropriate funding for the inquiry.

The 2011 death of dictator Kim Jong-il and the emergence of his son Kim Jong-un as the new leader brought some hope of improvement.

Kim Jong-un has promised to improve living conditions for his people and there are signs in Pyongyang of economic modernization. He has also piqued international interest by attending concerts featuring American pop songs and cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse.

But activists say a withering crackdown on the border with China, which last year contributed to a significant drop in the number of North Korean defections to the South, points to ongoing problems.

“It is very important to step up pressure on North Korea and show the situation is no less severe than in Syria, Sudan or other countries,” Hosaniak said. “Mickey Mouse will not close political prison camps.”

Pillay expressed concern that “the spotlight is almost exclusively focused on (the North’s) nuclear program and rocket launches. While these, of course, are issues of enormous importance, they should not be allowed to overshadow the deplorable human rights situation.”

Hosaniak added the international community should not hold its breath and wait for Kim Jong-un to implement change.

“We have to act on present circumstances, not on future hopes,” the activist said. “The fact is that there are no changes, and the situation has in fact deteriorated.”