Rights Commission to Evaluate North

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC, led by Jo Young-hwang) announced plans to evaluate the North Korean human rights situation yesterday.

The NHRC will create a North Korean human rights section in its human rights library and equip it with current data, including North Korean source materials and legal codes.

With respect to the controversial National Action Plan for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (NAP), the NHRC said, “We will monitor and assess whether the government fully implements the NAP.” The human rights commission plans to run a policy officials council and, if necessary, a NAP implementation assessment group. Meanwhile, the government will organize a national human rights policy council chaired by the Justice Minister to discuss NHRC’s NAP-related recommendations at the government level.

With the launch of the council, the government is expected to embark on a substantial review of NAP recommendations before devising and publicizing a first draft by June, followed by the release of the final draft around the Human Rights Day on December 10, celebrating the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

Kang-Myoung Chang ditto@donga.com tesomiom@donga.com