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N.Korea's human rights abuses must be documented

25.05.2008

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said it will start investigating torture and other human rights abuses in North Korea by interviewing 13,000 North Korean defectors residing in the South.

At the International Conference on North Korean Human Rights & Refugees in 2005, a female defector testified that when a pregnant woman gave birth at a North Korean concentration camp for defectors, a nurse killed the baby by putting a wet towel over the infant's face. And the Chosun Ilbo's cross-media documentary "On The Border," which began airing last weekend, depicts the shocking story of how watching North Koreans on an island in the Yalu River scramble to pick up sausages thrown from a boat has turned into a tourist attraction costing 200 yuan or around W28,000 (US$1=W977) per person.

Such is the state of human rights in North Korea, yet the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations ignored the issue. In December 2006, the NHRC announced its official position that human rights abuses occurring in North Korean territory cannot be the subject of its investigations, since they occur outside of South Korea's effective jurisdiction. The NHRC opposed South Korea's troop deployment to Iraq, citing potential human rights abuses against Iraqis. But when it came to North Koreans, it took a hands-off policy.

For 30 years, from 1961 until the two nations were unified, West Germany operated an archive center that collected information on human rights violations by East Germany and investigated 41,390 separate instances of abuse. East Germany demanded that the West close down the center and even passed a law authorizing the punishment of those who worked there. As a result, workers at the center were unable to travel overseas freely. But West Germany did not cave into pressure and the existence of the archive center served as a silent warning and kept up pressure on East German politicians.

Article Three of South Korea's Constitution stipulates North Korea as being part of the territory of the South. That means North Koreans are entitled to the same rights as South Koreans. This is why we accept North Korean defectors. The NHRC needs to know about the inhumane pain suffered by North Koreans and must investigate the difficulties faced by North Korean refugees in China and Southeast Asia. The NHRC must publicize the reality facing North Koreans. If we don't, then we will have nothing to say to our North Korean brethren after reunification, if they ask us what we had done to help them during such hard times.

Source: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/YYAA-7D65B6?OpenDocument

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