대북인도지원은 북한인권법의 대안인가?

Abstract

The North Korean Human Rights Act has not been passed in the Korean National Assembly since it was introduced in 2005 mainly because of the stubborn objection by the Opposition party. The Opposition and some pro-North Korean groups try to legislate for humanitarian aids Act claiming that it could promote ‘peace’ and help famine-ravaged country. They argue that human rights act might bring more tension and it could not make any positive result. However it is very doubtful that resuming humanitarian aids toward North Korea could change its path of Military-first spirit and reduce people’s suffering. The counter legislation proposed by the Opposition party seems to try another version of failure-prone ‘Sunshine Policy 2.0’, which has proved nothing of its promises of mitigating North Korean food crisis and bring a peaceful relationship between two Koreas. This article tries to demonstrate incompetence and conceptual confusion in the counter legislation proposal. They confuse humanitarian aids with political aids and/or developmental aids. Humanitarian aids are basically a temporary assistance and it cannot make any significant progress in terms of economic as well as political development. Rather North Korean Human Rights Act is needed as it could provide normative ground for more governmental involvement and accelerate NGO activism world wide protecting North Korean refugees and promoting substantial pressure on North Korean government.