Human rights: Hidden agenda for denuke talks

By Kim Yoo-chul

This year has seen a major breakthrough in diplomatic relations on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea dismantled one of its nuclear testing sites after its leader Kim Jong-un committed to denuclearization.

President Moon Jae-in held his in-person meeting with Kim three times this year alone, and the two agreed to seek permanent peace on the peninsula. A second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un is “near at hand” with the international community hoping to see “sufficient progress” on getting Pyongyang to completely and permanently abandon all of its nuclear programs.

While the North wants to receive a type of concession _ a partial lifting of economic sanctions _ from the United States and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in exchange for its initial steps toward denuclearization, Washington says the measures taken by the North are “insufficient.”

Now, the hidden condition that will significantly help the talks see visible progress is Kim's decision to directly touch on human rights issues as human rights in North Korea remain dismal, according to political experts in Seoul.

“If Kim Jong-un addresses human rights-related issues such as announcing the closure of political prison camps, then that will be just very cool in terms of providing a huge impetus to advance the denuclearization talks,” Moon Chung-in, a special presidential adviser on diplomatic- and unification-related issues, said in a recent interview.

Moon, who is also a seasoned political science professor from Seoul's Yonsei University, said any announcements by Kim Jong-un relating to human rights issues will significantly help Pyongyang gain more trust from the international community to appeal itself as a “normal state.”

Human rights issues are the ones North Korea doesn't want to openly address as this is “very sensitive,” said political analysts.

Data provided by Amnesty International showed that North Korea holds more than 130,000 political prisoners in camps, where forced labor and torture are practiced. Tomas Ojea Quintana, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, recently told reporters in Seoul that the “human rights situation at the moment has not changed on the ground in North Korea.”

Also, a Human Rights Watch report claimed North Korean officials commit sexual violence against women with apparent impunity as part of “systemic oppression” and other abuses tolerated there.

According to Quintana, the U.N. would welcome the rapprochement between the two Koreas, but he cautioned that human rights should not be ignored comparing the North Korean situation to that of Myanmar, where he held a similar role from 2008 to 2014 as that Southeast Asian country saw a transition from dictatorship to fledgling democracy.

Cheong Wa Dae is taking a “low-key approach” in assessing human rights issues in North Korea as Seoul clearly hopes to keep the momentum of denuclearization talks alive without seeing a further impasse.

Simply, South Korea wants to avoid new confrontations with Kim over rights-related issues, instead hoping to persuade the North Korean leader to scrap his country's nuclear program.

“Seoul's stance toward human rights issues in North Korea is to provide various types of humanitarian assistance programs there for gradual improvements linked to the security of Kim's regime,” a government official who asked not to be identified said by telephone.

KCNA, the North's state media, blasted moves by the U.N. General Assembly criticizing North Korea's human rights record calling it a “thinly veiled smear campaign” and saying the U.N.'s move was “designed to block the positive trend of the present situation toward dialogue and peace.”

Regarding Quintana's recent request to help U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet visit Pyongyang, the government official declined to comment. Quintana hasn't been allowed to enter Pyongyang.

But there have been calls for advancements of this issue after Ha Tae-kyung of the Bareunmirae Party wrote on Facebook asking President Moon to address the human rights issues in the North to make the possible visit by Pope Francis to Pyongyang actually happen.

“Pope Francis has never visited China. That's because China has lots of issues relating to human rights. Human rights watchers will ask the pope not to visit North Korea unless Pyongyang announces new steps in addressing its very poor human rights situation, there. Now, it's time for President Moon to ask Kim to do something about this issue,” the lawmaker from the minor opposition party said.

During a recent nine-day trip to European capitals including the Vatican, President Moon received a “conditional green-light” from the pope to an invitation he delivered from Kim to visit Pyongyang. But the pope didn't specify when and how.

The pope plans to travel to Japan and China in the first quarter of next year.