北韓人權의 論議動向과 展望

Abstract

This paper aims to survey the process and the situation of the discussions on human rights of the North Korean people and seeks to find the possibility of its improvement. Independent of President Bush's expression ‘axis of evil,’ North Korea is a notorious country of the severe violations on human rights. This totalitarian government abuses the human rights of the its citizens in various forms. The U. S. government adopted the North Korea Human Rights Act in 2004, and the Democracy Advancing Act in 2005. We are observing the effects of these legislations for the improvement of the current situation. Several hundreds of human rights activists, politicians and members of Christian groups rallied on July 19 2005 in Washington, D.C., on “North Korean Freedom Day.” This kind of action was shown in December 10, 2005 in Seoul as well. On the other hand, the Human Rights Committee of the UN has expressed its resolutions for three times. On those resolutions the UNHRC sent a special investigator and reporter to North Korea in 2004. A Thailand scholar, Dr. Vitit Muntarbhorn, issued an official report on the situation of North Korean's human rights situation. He proposed some immediate measures for the improvement of the N.K. human rights. Finally, UN general assembly passed a resolution on N.K. human rights on Nov.17, 2005. Towards such comments and critics from the outsides, North Korean government has declared certain severe anti-criticisms. The govermental officials argue that the concept of human rights is relativistic in accordance with its cultural and political context. They blame the U.S. government's attitude as abusing the human rights concept for its “imperialistic” power politics. Furthermore, they claim that the U.S. has many serious violations on human rights in the domestic and foreign policies. On February 16, 2005, the 6th International Symposium on Human Rights and Refugees of North Korea sponsored by the North Korean Human Rights Citizen's League was held in Seoul and declared some resolutions. On the other hand, the attitude of the South Korean government is sensitively politicized for its unification policy. As the result, it has avoided joining the UN resolutions for three times. This attitude has raised some blames from the foreign countries. The National Committee on Human Rights began to make a resolution toward the North Korean human rights, but the opinions within the Committe are still in the conflict. North Korean government is also situated in a dilemma concerning the human rights. This writer concludes this article by suggesting a more active and wise policy on human rights of the North Korean people. The North Korean authorities should immediately and fully cooperate with the UN human rights experts to improve the nation's abysmal human rights conditions.