Group to tag Kim Jong-il for abuses
Published: 27 Oct. 2009, 21:38
A Seoul-based private organization on North Korean human rights said yesterday it has begun efforts to take North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to the International Criminal Court for infringing on human rights and his failure to protect lives of his own people.
The Anti-human Crime Investigation Committee announced in a press conference in Seoul yesterday that North Korean human rights must be improved through legal steps. The committee plans to file a suit against Kim at the ICC in December. The committee was formed in July of last year and is made up of dozens of NGOs and private groups representing the interests of North Korean refugees. “The international community must eliminate and punish the Kim Jong-il regime, which has neglected the lives of its own people,” the committee said in a statement.
In his presentation, Kim Tae-jin, who heads an NGO within the committee, pointed out the legal grounds for a suit against Kim Jong-il. “The North Korea government did nothing after massive deaths from starvation,” said Kim, the leader of the Democracy Network against North Korean Gulag. “And it’s committing inhumane crimes such as torture in its gulags.”
Park Seung-je, head of the external affairs at Seoul’s Continental Strategy Research Institute, said taking legal steps was important to raise awareness of human rights problems in North Korea. “Filing a suit at the ICC would appeal to the world to pay more attention to such problems and help promote human rights in the North,” he said.
On its Internet home page, the committee says its main goal is to investigate anti-human crimes committed by Kim Jong-il, to take the North Korean leader to the ICC and to protect North Koreans from Kim’s atrocities.
The committee bases its argument for Kim’s punishment on UN Security Council Resolution 3074. Adopted in December 1973, the resolution reads that states “shall cooperate with each other on a bilateral and multilateral basis with a view to halting and preventing war crimes and crimes against humanity, and shall take the domestic and international measures necessary for that purpose.” It also reads that states shall help each other in bringing to trial individuals suspected of having committed such crimes.
The committee’s announcement coincides with the release of an annual U.S. State Department report that ranked North Korea among the world’s worst offenders in abusing religious freedom. Also yesterday, Vitit Muntarbhorn, a United Nations human rights rapporteur, charged in a report that the North has targeted women in its crackdown on private markets - banning them from wearing pants or riding bicycles - and has deprived starving families of sources of food and income.
By Yoo Jee-ho [[email protected]]
The Anti-human Crime Investigation Committee announced in a press conference in Seoul yesterday that North Korean human rights must be improved through legal steps. The committee plans to file a suit against Kim at the ICC in December. The committee was formed in July of last year and is made up of dozens of NGOs and private groups representing the interests of North Korean refugees. “The international community must eliminate and punish the Kim Jong-il regime, which has neglected the lives of its own people,” the committee said in a statement.
In his presentation, Kim Tae-jin, who heads an NGO within the committee, pointed out the legal grounds for a suit against Kim Jong-il. “The North Korea government did nothing after massive deaths from starvation,” said Kim, the leader of the Democracy Network against North Korean Gulag. “And it’s committing inhumane crimes such as torture in its gulags.”
Park Seung-je, head of the external affairs at Seoul’s Continental Strategy Research Institute, said taking legal steps was important to raise awareness of human rights problems in North Korea. “Filing a suit at the ICC would appeal to the world to pay more attention to such problems and help promote human rights in the North,” he said.
On its Internet home page, the committee says its main goal is to investigate anti-human crimes committed by Kim Jong-il, to take the North Korean leader to the ICC and to protect North Koreans from Kim’s atrocities.
The committee bases its argument for Kim’s punishment on UN Security Council Resolution 3074. Adopted in December 1973, the resolution reads that states “shall cooperate with each other on a bilateral and multilateral basis with a view to halting and preventing war crimes and crimes against humanity, and shall take the domestic and international measures necessary for that purpose.” It also reads that states shall help each other in bringing to trial individuals suspected of having committed such crimes.
The committee’s announcement coincides with the release of an annual U.S. State Department report that ranked North Korea among the world’s worst offenders in abusing religious freedom. Also yesterday, Vitit Muntarbhorn, a United Nations human rights rapporteur, charged in a report that the North has targeted women in its crackdown on private markets - banning them from wearing pants or riding bicycles - and has deprived starving families of sources of food and income.
By Yoo Jee-ho [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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