Defectors decry 2000 agreement

Twenty North Korean defectors will gather today at the Korea Press Center building in Seoul to denounce the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration signed by former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2000 before holding an academic symposium.

The academic symposium will concentrate on the agreement and how to democratize North Korea.

Seven of the defectors carry doctorate degrees and 10 more are on track to earn a doctorate.

Ahn Chan-il, the chief of a research institute on North Korean affairs, was selected as the head of the symposium. Ahn was the first North Korean defector to earn a doctorate in the South.

“The summit meeting between North and South Korea in June 2000 and the joint agreement brought great joy,” the group said in a press release. “But Kim Jong-il threw away his promise of visiting Seoul, which was atop the list for the agreement to be upheld.

“There are still those in the South who carry on as if the agreement is a bible for reunification.”

More than 600 North Korean defectors will sign a petition supporting the North Korean Human Rights Act, which has been pending in the National Assembly, and ask for improved human rights in North Korea.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s Ministry of Unification turned down a request from the Seoul-based All-Korean Committee for Implementation of the June 15 Declaration to visit the North yesterday. The group hoped to hold a festival in North Korea to celebrate the declaration’s anniversary.

The Unification Ministry said that allowing the group to enter North Korea would be a violation of the May 24 protocol that bans inter-Korean cultural exchanges.

By Christine Kim [christine.kim@joongang.co.kr]

한글 관련 기사 [연합]

6·15언론·학술본부 “남북공동선언 이행하라”

6·15공동선언실천 남측위원회(이하 6·15남측위) 언론본부와 학술본부는 6·15공동선언 11주년을 앞둔 13일 국가인권위원회에서 공동토론회를 열고 정부의 대북정책 전환을 촉구했다.

6·15남측위 언론·학술본부는 이날 공동성명을 통해 ▲6·15공동선언, 10·4정상선언 이행 ▲남북간 민간교류 중단 시정 ▲현인택 통일부 장관 경질 ▲'비핵·개방·3000'정책 공식폐기를 요구했다.

또 대북인권법 추진을 즉각 중단하고 금강산 관광·이산가족 상봉을 재개하라고 촉구했다.

6·15남측위 김동한 학술본부 기획위원장은 토론에서 "정부가 우리민족끼리 힘을 합쳐 자주적으로 통일을 하자는 6·15공동선언을 '퍼주기를 위한 변명'으로 폄하해 전쟁의 그늘이 짙어졌다"며 "이명박 정부의 상호주의 대북정책에 막혀 6·15공동선언이 침몰해버렸다"고 주장했다.

6·15남측위는 이날 행사를 남북공동으로 개최하고자 개성에서 실무회담을 하려 했으나 통일부의 방북불허로 무산됐고 '6·15공동선언 11주년 기념 평화통일민족대회' 참가를 위해 오는 15일 개성을 방문하려 했으나 이 또한 불허됐다.