[Editorial] Cooperating with world on NK human rights

South Korea has published its 2023 North Korean Human Rights Report, the first in seven years. After much wrangling between conservative and liberal parties, the North Korean Human Rights Act was legislated in 2016. But the report was not made public because it was classified as confidential material. The disclosure of the report by the Yoon Suk Yeol administration is a meaningful step toward the improvement of the human rights of North Korean residents.

The report, based on testimonies from 508 North Korean defectors from 2017 to 2022 and on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights treaties, details vast cases in which basic human rights have been tramped in North Korea. They include shooting to death for those who broke the rigid Covid-19 rules along the border areas and public executions for watching or spreading South Korean videos.

The birth of the report was smooth. Former liberal president Moon Jae-in turned a blind eye to North Korean human rights issues to win favor with Pyongyang. From 2020 until last May, when conservative President Yoon took over, the government banned civic groups related to North Korean human rights issues from visiting Hanawon, a resettlement education facility run by the Ministry of Unification, effectively blocking their interviews with defectors. The ministry claims to have carried out an independent probe of the defectors during the Moon administration but did not reveal the details.

After the disclosure, other actions required by the North Korean Human Rights Act must follow. For one, the establishment of the Human Rights Foundation has been delayed due to noncooperation from the liberal Democratic Party (DP). The governing People Power Party has already recommended five candidates for the foundation board directors, and the government recommended its share of two. But the DP has not recommended any of its share of five yet. On March 21, 2013, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution to create the Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the North Korean Human rights situation through unanimous backing from 47 countries. The COI’s first report was released in April 2014. South Korea’s North Korean Human Rights Act in 2016 demands North Korea respect human rights and recognize its defectors in return for international support.

Yoon administration must bolster diplomatic efforts to urge North Korea to respect the human rights of its people. The issue could have been removed from the official UN Security Council agenda over the last five years, but Seoul and Washington have brought back the issue and helped the defectors testify at UN Security Council meetings. The government must continue exposing the cruel human rights violations in the North to bring about changes.