Jeju Forum 2017 Ex-UN director welcomes inter-Korean exchanges
By Yi Whan-woo
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Michael Kirby
Michael Kirby, who chaired the United Nations (U.N.) inquiry on Pyongyang’s human rights abuses, welcomes resuming civil exchanges between the two Koreas as part of efforts to improve the North’s dire human rights record.
But he is cautious about whether to reopen the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) and the Mt. Geumgang resort — the two inter-Korean facilities through which North Korea was suspected of funneling funds for its nuclear program.
“The COI (Commission of Inquiry) in its report on North Korea urged immediate improvement of personal contacts between families, humanitarian outreach between the two Koreas and links between sporting and other bodies,” said Kirby, the former chairman of the U.N. COI on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “There is no reason why dentists, for example, in North and South Korea should not exchange professional links and expertise. Lawyers and politicians may follow some time later.”
Kirby is among a group of panelists scheduled to lead a session titled “Why They Suffer: A Reality Report on North Korea’s Human Rights” at the 12th Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity on June 1.
His visit comes after Moon Jae-in was elected SouthKorea’s president on May 9, restoring progressive rule after nine years.
On May 22, the Ministry of Unification said the government plans to “flexibly review” resuming civilian and humanitarian exchanges between the two Koreas.
The plan adds to speculation on how much of the reconciliatory policies of two late progressive presidents — Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun — Moon will embrace.
Kirby said whether to resume operation of the GIC and the Mt. Geumgang resort will be “basically a matter of detail” for the South Korean government.
But he suggested it would be sensible if the facilities were reopened “to secure in return assurances that profits earned will not be ploughed back into dangerous armaments that threaten the safety and fundamental human rights of the people of South Korea.”
“I accept that some outreach and reopening of peaceful links, person to person between the two Koreas, is desirable,” he said, saying it was recommended in the COI report. “Just to reopen the facilities in North Korea without any benefit or assurance in return would amount to a football ‘own goal.’”
“Reopening should be part of a wider accommodation that includes steps for accountability towards ‘crimes against humanity’ as established in the COI report.”
Kirby said North Korea’s human rights situation might add to security risks in the already tense region.
He called on U.N. member states to step up action against those who are responsible for Pyongyang’s state-sponsored violation of human rights.
“The state of human rights in North Korea is a major cause of potential security risks,” Kirby said.
“If there are no human rights, there is no long-term security.
“Whatever else happens in relation to security concerns, which are very real and also affect human rights, the world must not turn away from its obligation to uphold the human rights of the people of North Korea — and other human rights of neighboring countries which have suffered from its policies. That is the simple message of the COI report that I bring to the Jeju Forum.”