“The Government Should Stop Ignoring the Horrible North Korean Human Rights Situation”

“The Declaration on North Korea’s Human Rights at the 60th Anniversary of National Liberation,” signed by 213 prominent social figures, was announced at the Cecil Restaurant in Jeong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul on Tuesday.

Citizens United for Better Society, Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights, and Liberty Union co-sponsored the declaration, in which signatories urged the South Korean government to “pay focused attention to the North Korean human rights situation,” saying that “turning a deaf ear to the miserable state of North Korea’s human rights issue is a mental suicide that renounces conscious and morality.”

The participants demanded: the government to pay sincere attention to North Korea’s human rights issue; the public to take part in emergency activities to rescue North Korean residents from pain; and the political powers to immediately start discussions on the human rights of the North by, for instance, enacting a North Korean Human Rights law.

Former Prime Minister Kang Young-hoon, Seoul National University Professor and representative of the text book forum Park Hyo-jong, novelist Bok Geo-il, Liberty Union representative Shin Ji-ho, and Hwang Jang-yeop, chairman of the Exile Committee for North Korean Democracy, were among those who signed the declaration.

The signatories will hold an “Improve North Korea’s Human Rights” rally at 2:00 p.m. on August 11 at the Convention Hall of Kim Koo Museum in Hyochang-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul with members of civic groups, North Korean defectors, and 500 university students.

Yi-Young Cho lycho@donga.com