UN official on N.Korean human rights in Seoul due Sunday

Special U.N. rapporteur on North Korean human rights Marzuki Darusman will visit Seoul Sunday to discuss the rescue of South Korean Shin Sook-ja and her two daughters, who are in a North Korean gulag.

In a six-day visit to South Korea, Darusman will speak to Shin’s husband Oh Kil-nam on domestic and overseas campaigns to save Shin and her daughters, said the International Coalition to Stop Crimes against Humanity in North Korea on Thursday.

The South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry also said the same day, “Darusman will meet representatives of many civic groups in addition to stopping by the foreign and unification ministries.”

This is Darusman’s second visit to South Korea since assuming his post in June. He has designated issues on the North`s human rights situation, including those on North Korea defectors, abductions by the North, and food shortages in the Stalinist country, and has urged global action to resolve these issues.

A coalition source said, “The meeting between Darusman and Oh is an important opportunity to deal with the repatriation of Shin and her daughters at the international level,” adding, “Our goal is to encourage the U.N. to send its special envoy for their repatriation or a fact-finding team to the North.”

Oh recently visited Washington and New York to ask for help from the U.S. Congress and the U.N. He also went to Germany last month to meet an official in charge of human rights policy at the German Foreign Ministry.

Oh has also joined forces with international human rights promotion groups, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which have joined the International Coalition to Stop Crimes against Humanity in North Korea.

Separately, civic groups for North Korean human rights gathered in Gwanghwamun Plaza in central Seoul Thursday to launch a nationwide campaign to save Shin and her daughters. The civic groups will begin a 690-kilometer expedition across the country in Shin`s hometown of Tongyeong on Saturday and end at Imjin Pavilion on Dec. 11.

lightee@donga.com