[Editorial] Park Should Reconsider

Park Kyung-seo, the South Korea Human Rights Ambassador, said at North Korean human rights seminar recently, “We should achieve peace on the Korean peninsula over protecting human rights in North Korea.” He added, “Even within the United Nations, human rights discussions are often manipulated as a means of political gain.”

His remarks were a denunciation of the Resolution on North Korean Human Rights adopted last November by the U.N. Human Rights Commission as political abuse.

Park also argued in an interview conducted in last November, “I feel something wrong in calling for people’s civil rights and political rights in front of North Koreans who are starving to death because of a lack of food.” In May 2004, he also said, “Human rights are violated in many places in the world now. We have to wait until North Korea can solve its problem by itself.”

Park sounds like a spokesperson for North Korean interests and pro-North Korea activists in South Korea. And his argument is completely irrational. For example, in terms of his emphasis on peace, one must question whether the concept of peace on the Korean Peninsula can be separated from the concept of human rights. If people’s human rights are being violated, what can we gain from peaceful conditions? What kind of peace is Park looking for? North Koreans are strictly controlled, and many are suffering from malnutrition and health problems. Does Park find those conditions acceptable as long as peaceful conditions are prevalent? And will North Koreans have to accept that reality until things get better?

Park has visited North Korea 26 times since 1988. He must have seen people suffering from famine and diseases during these visits. If those people were his parents, brothers, or children, he would hold a different view. How could he tell them that since peace is more important than their human rights, they must wait until the Kim Jong Il regime releases them?

We have waited 10 years and have provided as much aid to North Korea as we can. But North Korean human rights violations still exist.

Our government has proudly applauded its efforts to protect human rights and its advocacy of democracy. During past authoritarian regimes, members of the current Roh government condemned them for disguising U.S. intervention in South Korean domestic affairs as activities in the name of human rights. The envoy of that government is now steering the North Korean human rights discussion in the wrong direction. Because of this, the international community is getting an inaccurate view of South Korea’s position. If he has no intention of reconsidering his views on human rights, Park should step down.