Government Should Raise Issue of Human Rights Condition in NK

Unification Minister Jung Sei-hyun, with respect to a vote at the UN Human Rights Committee on the resolution denouncing North Korea’s human rights violations, said that an “appropriate approach should be adopted to solve human rights issues in North Korea.”

Minister Jung attended at the meeting of the National Assembly’s unification, foreign relations and trade committee on April 14. During the meeting, he said that “although it is undesirable to express the South Korean government’s position on the issue at a time when the United Nations’ vote is only two days away, our government should pay more attention to North Korea’s human rights issues.”

Analysts interpreted the minister’s remark as the government’s intention to differentiate its policy toward the North from that of the Kim Dae-jung administration given the fact that the previous government tried to avoid touching the sensitive issue of human rights in North Korea in the process of pursuing the ‘Sunshine Policy’ of engaging the North along with the international community.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Korea Independent Commission against Corruption, Lee Nam-joo hinted at a meeting of the National Assembly’s judiciary committee that the anti-corruption commission would legalize asset registration of the president’s close relatives and family members and push ahead with a plan to assume such a job.

“Should whistle blowers regarding corruption be protected by law like the U.S?” Millennium Democratic Party lawmaker Choi Bae-sook asked Chairman Lee. The anti-corruption commission chairman hinted that the commission is currently seeking ways to protect the rights of informants and said that he “agreed with the idea.”

“I will not run for the next year general elections and do my best to ensure fairness in the upcoming general elections as the responsible minister. I will keep my promise,” Government Administration and Home Affairs Minister Kim Doo-kwan said at the National Assembly committee.

Meanwhile, Sim Jae-chul, a lawmaker in the opposition Grand National Party, raised suspicions over Health and Welfare Minister Kim Wha-jung’s involvement in a government education project at the parliamentary welfare committee. Lawmaker Sim said that the current Health and Welfare Minister exercised influence in the selection of Goksung County in Jeonlla Province, where her husband serves as governor. The county was designated for an educational pilot program promoting appropriate class size, as carried out by the Kim Dae-jung government, when she was a member of the National Assembly education reform committee.

“As far as I know, Goksung County was selected because it wanted to be designated for the pilot program among the competitors,” the minister retorted.

Yeon-Wook Jung jyw11@donga.com