North Korea human rights forum opens amid protests

An international forum on North Korea`s human rights kicked off in Seoul yesterday, despite some protests and the government`s deliberate detachment.

The forum, named "Seoul Summit: Promoting Human Rights in North Korea," will be held until tomorrow with some 700 officials attending.

Among the participants are Jay Lefkowitz, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights, U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Vershbow and North Korean defector Hwang Jang-yop, former secretary of the North Korean Workers Party.

The South Korean government declined to take part in the event, but decided to send an official to observe the seminars. The government has been openly cautious in addressing North Korea`s human rights, citing the delicate inter-Korean relations and the ongoing nuclear negotiations.

The forum is organized by South Korean human rights groups and Freedom House, a pro-democracy organization partially funded by the U.S. government. The conference aims to herald North Korea`s situation to the outside world and to discuss measures against North Korea`s human rights abuses.

"This forum will bring opportunities to awaken 23 million North Korean citizens suffering from the worst kind of human rights abuses of their rights in addition to dealing a blow to the dictatorship of Kim Jong-il and bring power and courage to South Korea`s efforts to protect democracy," Hwang Jang-yop said.

This is the second gathering of the conference following the first in Washington last July. The next one is slated to open in Brussels next March.

While the conference commenced with a welcoming dinner at Shilla Hotel in downtown Seoul, about 20 progressive civic and religious groups denounced the forum in an adjacent part of the city, raising questions over the "hidden political motives" of the forum.

The groups claimed in a news conference that it was "yet another violation to human rights to push for a collapse of one`s regime citing human rights improvement."

The international community`s repeated call for North Korea to improve human rights has intensified the struggle between conservatives and progressives in the South to find a middle point on how to address the problem without excessively provoking the North.

The forum will draw out a joint statement today, when all the formal discussions are to end, demanding stronger commitments from Pyongyang to acknowledge and take measures on the situation.

Grand National Party Chairwoman Park Geun-hye joined the dinner and called for the government`s closer involvement in the international move to deal with North Korea`s human rights problem.

Park said in her speech, "Human rights is a universal value that is superior to any system or beliefs. Being silent on North Korea`s human rights situation is the same as ignoring the value collectively supported by humankind."

The forum began with a luncheon and the first session on the overview of the state of North Korean human rights situation followed by dinner.

A series of conferences will follow today on various themes including "South Korea and international community`s role for the improvement of North Korean human rights," strategy for human rights improvement, and nongovernmental organizations` debate on how to better promote the situation in the North.

Diverse culture-related events are scheduled for tomorrow, including an international conference for university students at Sookmyung Women`s University, and a human rights concert in Cheonggye Stream park in central Seoul.

North Korea has shunned outside criticism of its human rights conditions, calling it part of the United States` scheme to overthrow its communist regime.

Prior to the opening of the forum, visiting U.S. envoy Lefkowitz met with senior officials of the Unification Ministry and the Foreign Ministry. He had originally requested to meet with the ministers. Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon is currently in Malaysia accompanying President Roh Moo-hyun`s ASEAN trip.

Chun Yung-woo, South Korea`s deputy minister for policy planning and international organizations, told Lefkowitz, "On the substance on the matter" we share the same objective (but) we have flexibility in the ways and means that we employ to achieve the same objective."

(angiely@heraldm.com)



By Lee Joo-hee