South Korean President Park Geun-hye expressed concern Monday over remarks sympathetic to the communist regime in North Korea, saying such views are "greatly biased and distorted."
   
Park made the remarks during a weekly meeting with her senior secretaries, citing the comments of a Korean-American woman during a series of on-stage talks.
  
Shin Eun-mi, who has published a book detailing her trip to North Korea, has been accused of making pro-North Korean remarks in violation of South Korea's National Security Law, which prohibits any "anti-state" activities attempting to praise, encourage or propagandize North Korean political ideals.
   
"The social conflict surrounding the so-called pro-North Korea concerts has recently reached worrying levels," Park said. "It has become a problem as certain people who have made several visits to the North have closed their eyes to the appalling living conditions of the North Korean people or the human rights violations and distorted and exaggerated their certain biased experiences as if they are the real state of affairs in the North."
   
Even the international community has voiced growing concerns about the human rights situation in the communist country, Park said, citing a U.N. resolution calling for the referral of North Korea's leaders to an international tribunal.
   
"But the fact that the opposite story is coming out of the Republic of Korea, a party concerned, is greatly biased and distorted," she said. "As we strive for peaceful reunification, efforts to properly understand the reality in North Korea are needed, but I would like to make clear that all such actions must take place under the overarching principle that our constitutional
values and national identity are kept."   
   
Park also called for thorough preparations for the 2018 Winter Games to be hosted by South Korea's PyeongChang, saying it is "meaningless" to discuss the possibility of splitting events with other locations when the construction of venues is already underway.
   
Last week, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved a set of recommendations made by its president, Thomas Bach, which included an option for the host city to stage some competitions in different countries to save costs.
   
The PyeongChang Winter Games organizing committee rejected the proposal, saying all events for both the Olympics and Paralympics will be held in the country as planned.
  
"We got to host the games with difficulty on our third bid and construction of each stadium is already underway, so it is meaningless to discuss splitting (the events) and relevant ministries should respond to the IOC with clear, persuasive logic," Park said.
  
"As there isn't much time to prepare for the games, pending issues must be settled quickly and outstanding preparation tasks must be handled swiftly and steadily." (Yonhap)