[USFK Forums] US Pushes Seoul to Tackle NK Rights [Korea Times]

[C. Y. Lee]

[Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Friday, Dec. 8, 2005]

US Pushes Seoul to Tackle NK Rights

The Korea Times, Thursday, December 8, 2005

By Reuben Staines, Staff Reporter

[PHOTO] Hwang Jang-yop, right, the highest-ranking official to defect from North Korea, listens to a speech by Suzanne Scholte of the Washington- based Defense Forum Foundation during the opening session of the Seoul Summit at the Shilla Hotel, Thursday. /Reuters

A U.S. special envoy Thursday prodded South Korea to take a more active role in tackling human rights abuses in North Korea. Jay Lefkowitz, who was appointed by Washington earlier this year to monitor the human rights situation in the communist North, urged South Korean officials to tie humanitarian aid deliveries to improvements in Pyongyang’s human rights record.

Lefkovitz made the comments during a visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He is in Seoul to attend the Seoul Summit, a North Korean human rights conference partially funded by the U.S. government. South Korea and the United States have clashed repeatedly over how to approach the North Korean human rights situation.

Washington openly condemns Pyongyang’s humanitarian abuse, while Seoul prefers to remain silent due to concerns that the issue could aggravate the ongoing nuclear standoff. ``I know that the issue of human rights in North Korea is a very immediate issue for the South Korean government,’’ Lefkowitz said during a meeting with Chun Young-woo, deputy minister for international organizations.

He said he wanted to discuss ways the U.S. and South Korea can ``cooperate together bilaterally’’ on the issue. Chun agreed that South Korea shares ``serious concerns’’ about the situation and wants to see rights conditions improve. ``But we have flexibility in the ways and means that we employ to achieve the same objective,’’ Chun said.

Also responding to Lefkowitz’s comments, Vice Unification Rhee Bong-jo said Seoul is trying to ``help the North Korean government improve its human rights situation by itself.’’

On Wednesday, Foreign Affairs-Trade Minister Ban Ki-moon warned the U.S. to avoid provocative statements directed at North Korea in order to give the six-party nuclear talks the best chance of success.

His advice came after Alexander Vershbow, U.S. ambassador to Seoul, described Pyongyang as a ``criminal regime’’ in a sternly worded rebuke. Both Vershbow and Lefkowitz are scheduled to attend the Seoul Summit today. Ban declined to take up an invitation to participate.

Around 700 activists and officials gathered yesterday at the Shilla Hotel to kick off the conference, organized by South Korean human rights organizations and U.S. group Freedom House under legislation passed by Washington last year.

Suzanne Scholte, president of the Washington-based Defense Forum Foundation, criticized both South Korea and the U.S. for failing to seriously address the human rights situation. ``The current government of South Korea has turned its back on the North Korean people,’’ Scholte said during the conference’s opening session.

``Being silent on human rights while negotiating on the nuclear issue means more death for the North Korean people.’’ Hwang Jang-yop, the highest-ranking official to defect the communist regime, told participants the summit will raise awareness for North Korean human rights abuse and deal ``a fatal blow to (leader) Kim Jong-il’s dictatorship.’’

``North Korea is sparing no efforts to abolish people’s conscious needs for human rights and to make them spiritual slaves of the supreme leader,’’ Hwang said. North Korea has not yet issued any direct response to the conference in Seoul.

However, Pyongyang watchers are predicting an angry backlash from the North, which is sensitive to comments on its human rights record. The North’s state-run media has frequently accused the U.S. of using humanitarian issues to pressure it to scrap its nuclear programs.

Last week, North Korea said it would boycott the long-protracted nuclear talks until Washington agrees to discuss the lifting of recently imposed financial sanctions. The U.S. has applied sanctions on several North Korea-linked firms it accuses of being involved in drug smuggling and counterfeiting of American money.

rjs@koreatimes.co.kr 12-08-2005 17:24